US Supreme Court ruling rejects challenges to Indian Child Welfare Act
The US Supreme Court declined on Thursday to disturb a federal statute governing the adoption and foster proceedings for Indigenous children in the US. In a 7-2 ruling, the court rejected non-Indigenous adoptive parents’ and the state of Texas’s challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), siding with concerns from the Indigenous community. The [...]
The US Supreme Court upheld a California law on Thursday that requires farms to provide their livestock, particularly pigs, with enough room to move if they want to sell their products in California markets. The law, Proposition 12, was set to go into effect in September 2022, but the pork industry, led by the National [...]
US appeals court rules Uber drivers subject to employment contract arbitration clauses
The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Wednesday that Uber drivers are not exempt from laws requiring private arbitration of disputes. The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) allows federal courts to enforce private arbitration agreements commonly found in employment contracts. These agreements are included in the standard contract Uber drivers agree to. However, [...]
Medication abortion drug manufacturer challenges West Virginia restrictions
Mifepristone manufacturer GenBioPro Inc. Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the state of West Virginia, challenging the state’s restrictions on medication abortions. Mifepristone is a generic medication abortion pill approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used up to ten weeks of pregnancy. GenBioPro alleges that West Virginia’s Unborn Child Protection Act [...]
The US Supreme Court Tuesday heard oral arguments concerning a California animal welfare law that may impact interstate commerce in violation of the dormant commerce clause. The legislation at issue in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross is Proposition 12, which prohibits California merchants from selling uncooked pork products from breeding pigs confined in a [...]
Collapse of Privacy Rights for Women: The Overturn of Roe v. Wade
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center overturned the landmark case Roe v. Wade. It is essential to clarify the specific right Roe established. It was not an unqualified affirmative right to abortion but a right protecting a woman from unduly burdensome interference with her freedom to [...]
US Supreme Court rules attempted Hobbs Act robbery is not a crime of violence
The US Supreme court ruled in a 7-2 decision Tuesday that attempted robbery under the Hobbs Act does not meet the definition of a “crime of violence” under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(3) . In United States v. Taylor, Justin Taylor was charged with “conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act robbery and attempted Hobbs Act robbery,” which is [...]
Agricultural organizations Friday filed a brief asking the US Supreme Court to strike down California’s Proposition 12, which bans in-state sales of whole pork meat from pigs born to mothers who were kept in confined housing. Proposition 12’s confined pig housing standard is a pig “that was housed with 24 square feet of space and in [...]
NY judge upholds law allowing victims of gun violence to sue gun industry
A New York federal judge Wednesday upheld a New York law that allows victims of gun violence to sue the gun industry. The National Shooting Sports Foundation and gun manufacturers, like Smith & Wesson and Sturm, Ruger & Co. brought the case because they claimed the state law violated the US Constitution. They also argue [...]
The US Supreme Court Monday issued an order list adding three new cases to its merits docket: National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, Cruz v. Arizona and Andy Warhol Foundation, Inc. v. Goldsmith. The three cases involve an animal welfare regulation, criminal procedure, and a copyright dispute. National Pork Producers Council v. Ross concerns Proposition [...]
