Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court bolstered religious schools on Tuesday, ruling that states that give scholarships or tuition grants to children in private schools may not deny the same aid to parents who enrolled their child in a religious school. In a 5-4 decision, the court said excluding them amounted to unconstitutional discrimination based on religion and a violation of the 1st Amendment. The decision is a victory for advocates of school choice, and a setback for those favoring a strict separation of church and state. Court scholars said the...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court bolstered religious schools on Tuesday, ruling that states that give scholarships or tuition grants to children in private schools may not deny the same aid to parents who enrolled their child in a religious school. In a 5-4 decision, the court said excluding them amounted to unconstitutional discrimination based on religion and a violation of the 1st Amendment. The decision is a victory for advocates of school choice, and a setback for those favoring a strict separation of church and state. Court scholars said the...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court has allowed President Trump to defy Congress and continue to spend more than $6 billion diverted from military funds to pay for the construction of a border wall in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. By 5-4 vote, the justices on Friday rebuffed lawyers for the Sierra Club and House Democrats who sued to challenge Trump’s diversion of funds as illegal and unconstitutional.They won rulings before judges in California and Texas, but in , the court allowed Trump to continue spending the disputed funds...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court has allowed President Trump to defy Congress and continue to spend more than $6 billion diverted from military funds to pay for the construction of a border wall in parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California. By 5-4 vote, the justices on Friday rebuffed lawyers for the Sierra Club and House Democrats who sued to challenge Trump’s diversion of funds as illegal and unconstitutional.They won rulings before judges in California and Texas, but in , the court allowed Trump to continue spending the disputed funds...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Anxious to avoid chaos in the electoral college just months before the November vote, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that electors who formally select the president can be required by the state they represent to cast their ballot for the candidate who won their state’s popular vote.The justices unanimously rejected the claim that electors have a right under the Constitution to defy their states and vote for the candidate of their choice. “Electors are not free agents,” Justice Elena Kagan said for the court in . “They are to vote for...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Anxious to avoid chaos in the electoral college just months before the November vote, the Supreme Court ruled Monday that electors who formally select the president can be required by the state they represent to cast their ballot for the candidate who won their state’s popular vote.The justices unanimously rejected the claim that electors have a right under the Constitution to defy their states and vote for the candidate of their choice. “Electors are not free agents,” Justice Elena Kagan said for the court in . “They are to vote for...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Though President Trump and other conservatives blame China for the enormous damage inflicted here by the coronavirus, legal experts say the recent efforts to sue Beijing in U.S. courts for the trillions of dollars in losses are almost certain to fail.That’s because of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which stands as a strong barrier to suing a foreign state, including a “political subdivision” or “instrumentality” of a foreign government. The law warns judges that a “foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Though President Trump and other conservatives blame China for the enormous damage inflicted here by the coronavirus, legal experts say the recent efforts to sue Beijing in U.S. courts for the trillions of dollars in losses are almost certain to fail.That’s because of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, which stands as a strong barrier to suing a foreign state, including a “political subdivision” or “instrumentality” of a foreign government. The law warns judges that a “foreign state shall be immune from the jurisdiction of...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court on Wednesday barred teachers who work at church-run schools from filing discrimination lawsuits against their employers, ruling that the Constitution’s protection for religious liberty exempts church schools from state and federal anti-discrimination laws.The justices, by a 7-2 vote, shielded two Catholic elementary schools in Los Angeles County from discrimination claims by two teachers who complained they were unjustly fired, one due to an illness and the other due to age. The court found that since such schools...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The Supreme Court on Wednesday barred teachers who work at church-run schools from filing discrimination lawsuits against their employers, ruling that the Constitution’s protection for religious liberty exempts church schools from state and federal anti-discrimination laws.The justices, by a 7-2 vote, shielded two Catholic elementary schools in Los Angeles County from discrimination claims by two teachers who complained they were unjustly fired, one due to an illness and the other due to age. The court found that since such schools...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement This year’s Supreme Court term featured major rulings on abortion, religion and immigration and included a fair number of surprises. In nearly all of the major cases, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was in control, aligning sometimes with his fellow conservatives and at other times with the court’s four liberals. One surprise ruling extended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to and another blocked President Trump’s repeal of the Obama-era program that , the young immigrants who were brought to this country as children.The chief justice...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement This year’s Supreme Court term featured major rulings on abortion, religion and immigration and included a fair number of surprises. In nearly all of the major cases, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. was in control, aligning sometimes with his fellow conservatives and at other times with the court’s four liberals. One surprise ruling extended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to and another blocked President Trump’s repeal of the Obama-era program that , the young immigrants who were brought to this country as children.The chief justice...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to California’s limits on large church gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, dismissing an appeal brought by a San Diego-area church that argued state rules infringed on its religious freedom.The justices by 5-4 vote said California could enforce its rules, at least for now. Chief Justice John G. Roberts joined the court’s four liberal justices in upholding the state’s rules.“The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement A sharply divided Supreme Court on Friday rejected a challenge to California’s limits on large church gatherings during the COVID-19 pandemic, dismissing an appeal brought by a San Diego-area church that argued state rules infringed on its religious freedom.The justices by 5-4 vote said California could enforce its rules, at least for now. Chief Justice John G. Roberts joined the court’s four liberal justices in upholding the state’s rules.“The precise question of when restrictions on particular social activities should be lifted...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The farmworkers movement led by Cesar E. Chavez celebrated a historic victory in 1975 when California became the first state to extend collective bargaining rights to those who toiled in the fields.Thanks to the New Deal of the 1930s, workers nationwide had won the right to organize, but those federal laws did not extend to farms and agricultural laborers. In the mid-'70s, the new California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, in one of its first acts, gave union organizers a “right of access” to farms and processing stations so they...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The farmworkers movement led by Cesar E. Chavez celebrated a historic victory in 1975 when California became the first state to extend collective bargaining rights to those who toiled in the fields.Thanks to the New Deal of the 1930s, workers nationwide had won the right to organize, but those federal laws did not extend to farms and agricultural laborers. In the mid-'70s, the new California Agricultural Labor Relations Board, in one of its first acts, gave union organizers a “right of access” to farms and processing stations so they...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Some California churches on Saturday said they planned to reopen their doors this weekend after the U.S. Supreme Court during the pandemic, ruling that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strict orders appear to violate the Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion.Bishop Arthur Hodges, senior pastor of South Bay United Pentecostal Church in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, called the ruling “a major victory.” “We are thrilled and excited to go back to church without legal threat of fines or arrest,” Hodges said in broadcast on...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement Some California churches on Saturday said they planned to reopen their doors this weekend after the U.S. Supreme Court during the pandemic, ruling that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s strict orders appear to violate the Constitution’s protection of the free exercise of religion.Bishop Arthur Hodges, senior pastor of South Bay United Pentecostal Church in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, called the ruling “a major victory.” “We are thrilled and excited to go back to church without legal threat of fines or arrest,” Hodges said in broadcast on...WW…

Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The 1st Amendment’s protection of free speech sets a high bar for convicting someone in court of incitement of a crime or violence — a point vigorously argued by those defending then-President Trump’s Jan. 6 speech to supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol. “Nothing the president said constituted unprotected ‘incitement’ as narrowly defined by the Supreme Court,” said former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. “It is beyond dispute, therefore, that his speech — disturbing as it may have been — is within the core protection of...…Copyright © 2022, Los Angeles Times | | | | Advertisement The 1st Amendment’s protection of free speech sets a high bar for convicting someone in court of incitement of a crime or violence — a point vigorously argued by those defending then-President Trump’s Jan. 6 speech to supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol. “Nothing the president said constituted unprotected ‘incitement’ as narrowly defined by the Supreme Court,” said former Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz. “It is beyond dispute, therefore, that his speech — disturbing as it may have been — is within the core protection of...WW…