U.S. Supreme Court
Recent News About U.S. Supreme Court
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State Supreme Court: Pa.'s consent-by-registration rules to establish personal jurisdiction are unconstitutional
HARRISBURG – In a significant decision sure to have tremendous import, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held in a recent decision that the state’s consent-by-registration rules are unconstitutional, and could not be used to establish personal jurisdiction. -
Constitutional rights claims withdrawn from teenager's Snapchat lawsuit against Ambridge Area School District
PITTSBURGH – A 14-year-old African-American and special needs student at Ambridge High School who claims he was kicked off the football team for participating in an angry exchange with a teammate who had bullied him on Snapchat, has withdrawn claims alleging his constitutional rights were violated. -
Pa. courts drop from the top to No. 4 ranking on ATRA's annual 'Judicial Hellholes' list
WASHINGTON – According to the latest annual report of “Judicial Hellholes” released today by the American Tort Reform Association, Pennsylvania courts have garnered the No. 4 ranking for jurisdictions considered unfriendly to businesses – falling three places from the top spot on the report, where they had been listed for the preceding two years. -
Ambridge school district moves for win in lawsuit from 14-year-old over alleged Snapchat threat
PITTSBURGH – Ambridge Area School District wants a federal court to throw out a lawsuit brought on behalf of a 14-year-old African-American and special needs student at its high school who claimed he was kicked off the football team for participating in an angry exchange with a teammate who had bullied him on Snapchat. -
Black female instructors who allegedly faced racism at school for autistic children deny colleagues' preliminary objections
MEDIA – Two Black female instructors at a school for children with autism spectrum disorders who have alleged that they were the targets of racially-discriminatory behavior from their co-workers, deny any credibility to the defendants’ objections. -
Staff members at school for children with autism deny they discriminated against Black instructors
MEDIA – Staff at a school for children with autism spectrum disorders disavow allegations that they acted in a racially-discriminatory fashion towards two of their Black co-workers, prior to their respective resignation and firing. -
Judge denies injunction to Ambridge high school student kicked off football team for Snapchat exchange
PITTSBURGH – A federal judge has denied a preliminary injunction to counsel for a 14-year-old African-American and special needs student at Ambridge High School, who claims he was kicked off the football team for participating in an angry exchange with a teammate who had bullied him on Snapchat. -
Ambridge High student kicked off football team for Snapchat fight alleges racism
PITTSBURGH – A 14-year-old African-American and special needs student at Ambridge High School claims he was kicked off the football team for participating in an angry exchange with a teammate who had bullied him on Snapchat, and the other student was not disciplined because he was Caucasian. -
Third Circuit vacates federal court's ruling and declares suit over legality of Wolf's COVID-19 measures is moot
PHILADELPHIA – A federal appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling which eliminated Gov. Tom Wolf’s unprecedented COVID-19 emergency restrictions, finding the issue to be moot because not only have those restrictions expired in the interim, but voters statewide have also since amended the state constitution to roll back a governor’s range of emergency powers. -
Butler County says case over Gov. Wolf's COVID orders isn't moot, can prevent future unconstitutional mandates
PHILADELPHIA – An attorney representing Butler County, a county which contested the legality of Gov. Tom Wolf’s COVID-19 emergency measures before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, agrees with a federal judge that state officials should never again enact policies which violate the constitutional rights of Pennsylvanians. -
Third Circuit: In longtime rail project suit, FERA retroactively applies to any case pending when law was passed
PHILADELPHIA – A federal appellate court unanimously ruled that an amendment to the False Claims Act which lowered the burden of proof on whistleblowers does apply retroactively, to any case pending when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that the amendment was designed to cover. -
5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling keeps planned PennEast pipeline alive, for now
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court narrowly ruled Tuesday that natural gas pipeline projects which are granted federal approval can utilize eminent domain for state-owned land, bolstering efforts for the planned 116-mile-long PennEast Pipeline through Pennsylvania and New Jersey. -
Parent of autistic boy allegedly ejected from school settles claims with Erie School District for $85K
ERIE – The mother of an emotionally disabled and autistic male student, who claimed her son was discriminated against and then unsafely ejected from school, has settled her litigation with the Erie School District for $85,000. -
U.S. Supreme Court rules free speech rights of cheerleader thrown off squad after profane Snapchat post were violated
WASHINGTON – In a key free speech case for the Internet age, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of a Pennsylvania teenager who sued the Mahanoy Area School District after a profanity-laced Snapchat photo led to her removal from her high school’s cheerleading squad, though it stopped short of prohibiting public schools from regulating off-campus speech. -
U.S. Supreme Court rules 9-0 that Phila. severing ties with Catholic foster care group violated its constitutional rights
WASHINGTON – The United States Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the City of Philadelphia was wrong to eliminate foster care referrals from being directed to Catholic Social Services, due to its refusal to accept same-sex couples seeking to be foster parents because of their religious beliefs. -
Mom of autistic son who was allegedly discriminated against and kicked out of school, settles with Erie School District
ERIE – The mother of an emotionally disabled and autistic male student, who claimed her son was discriminated against and then unsafely ejected from school, has settled her litigation with the Erie School District. -
U.S. Supreme Court declines to review appeal of $70M Risperdal jury verdict award, punitive damages phase awaits
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a $70 million compensatory damages award given to a Tennessee plaintiff for failure to warn of side effects tied to the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, while another legal fight on the subject of punitive damages against Johnson & Johnson looms in the case. -
Lawyers in class action over Chester strip-searches seek $275K
PHILADELPHIA – Counsel in a class action lawsuit brought by a man arrested for public intoxication and subjected to a strip search by the Chester Police Department later deemed to be illegal by a federal judge, are seeking an award of $275,000 in attorney’s fees as part of a finalized settlement in the case. -
Third Circuit: Professional malpractice cases without certificates of merit were properly dismissed by lower federal court
PHILADELPHIA – A panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has affirmed the ruling of a lower federal court, which stated that a pair of professional malpractice cases were properly dismissed due to their not containing certificates of merit. -
Mashup of federal and state laws impossible to obey, Johnson & Johnson tells U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Johnson & Johnson has asked the U.S. Supreme Court hear its appeal of a $70 million jury verdict over its antipsychotic drug Risperdal, saying it is impossible to comply with state and federal law at the same time in such cases.