Category Archives: U.S. Supreme Court

Kagan — Gays are constituency, not priority

It’s been clear since Elena Kagan was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court that her confirmation hearing would be unusually focused on things gay. First, there were the complaints that she barred military recruiters from Harvard Law School while she was

White House hints Kagan passive on “Don’t Ask” policy

The number of results from a Google search of "Elena Kagan" plus the word "gay" more than doubled from 722,000 on Monday, when President Obama nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court, to 1,950,000 on Tuesday night, when Politico.com reported

Reserved ovation for Kagan nomination to high court

Gay legal activists are applauding President Obama’s second nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court: Solicitor General Elena Kagan. But it could hardly be described as a standing ovation.

Can activists claim right to privacy?

For the second time this month, the U.S. Supreme Court’s most conservative member, Justice Antonin Scalia, on Wednesday took a surprising position—one that is helpful to gay civil rights.

High court seems uncertain about beliefs v. bias conflict

By the time a lawsuit reaches the U.S. Supreme Court, the facts of the conflict are rarely in dispute. But Monday’s oral argument at the Supreme Court revealed a great deal of confusion over those very basic facts of the

Supreme possibilities: How the ‘short list’ stacks up

The White House has begun floating trial balloons for candidates President Obama might appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.

Stevens: a Republican who grew liberal with the times

Some court observers credit U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens with having forged a majority of the court to overturn laws banning private sexual relations between persons of the same sex—the most beneficial gay-related decision ever rendered by the

Stevens makes it official: He’s leaving high court

U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who turns 90 this month, announced today he will retire from the high court at the end of June. The potential impact of the retirement will be measured once President Obama nominates a

Back at high court: Religion versus anti-bias laws

When Concerned Women of America, the Boy Scouts, and Evangelical Scholars line up on one side of a legal case, one might naturally assume that gay groups are lined up on the other side. Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is not

High court to examine limits on Phelps protests

The U.S. Supreme Court continues its unpredictable foray into LGBT-related legal conflicts—this week announcing that it will decide whether a protester has a First Amendment right to use a private funeral service as a staging ground for their hate speech