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![Transgender activist Aimee Stephens sits in her wheelchair outside the Supreme Court on Oct. 8, 2019, as the court holds oral arguments in cases dealing with workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/gettyimages-1174526461-faf2549a7a0b961701df20fb0f558add9b0e840d-scaled-e1592232516890-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The Supreme Court says the federal ban on discrimination “based on sex” also applies to gay, lesbian, and transgender employees.
![The Supreme Court in Washington](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ap_20135749977429-16fc3c8fdc6196a33678636e31bc5446439a5bc0-scaled-e1592238515758-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Will Not Reexamine Doctrine That Shields Police In Misconduct Suits
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Justice Clarence Thomas dissents, saying the “qualified immunity doctrine appears to stray from the statutory text.”
![The U.S. Supreme Court could agree to hear qualified immunity cases amid nationwide protests over police brutality sparked by the death of George Floyd.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ap_20159071116344-14a37b2713ebdda2730e4f7c3be37009512449cb-scaled-e1591632849796-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Weighs Qualified Immunity For Police Accused Of Misconduct
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The court-made doctrine that makes it very difficult to sue over excessive force by police is under the microscope.
![The Supreme Court is releasing live audio of its oral arguments, for the first time, this session, beginning Monday.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/gettyimages-1208426153-5353aec0edee5ae89cc127b8ead87389013a597d-900x422.jpg)
Listen Live: Supreme Court Arguments Begin Monday
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The high court begins two weeks of oral arguments — the first time the proceedings will have live audio and the first occasion on which the arguments themselves will be conducted by phone.
![The Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on the DACA program, which covers 700,000 young people.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/ap_19315590747469-2f78c7e4d6f1a3d737fd29e5b444aaeb9a37f280-e1573658040400-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court May Side With Trump On ‘DREAMers’
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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At issue is the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which granted temporary protection from deportation to roughly 700,000 young people.
![Justice Neil Gorsuch (left), with Justice Brett Kavanaugh, asked many of the key questions in Tuesday's case before the U.S. Supreme Court that centered on whether employers can fire gay or transgender workers.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/ap_19078538803431-b0772502d7ccf347f5bf43934a22a9301299d3cd-e1570639347632-900x422.jpg)
Trump Appointee Gorsuch Plays Coy In LGBTQ Employment Rights Case
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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At issue is whether Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which bars sex discrimination, covers gay and transgender workers.
![Demonstrators protest partisan redistricting in 2017 during oral arguments in a case out of Wisconsin.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/gettyimages-857076578-e823ecae3da434661c38c40014774c8e98488af1-e1553531748982-900x422.jpg)
The Supreme Court Takes Another Look At Partisan Redistricting
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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A pivotal retirement and a new conservative majority could give the state legislatures a green light for even more partisanship when it comes to drawing political boundaries.
![A World War I memorial cross sits in Bladensburg, Md., just outside Washington, D.C. The federal government asked the Supreme Court to rule in favor of the cross, which critics say is an unconstitutional state religious endorsement. Arguments are scheduled to be heard this week.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/harlan_npr_scotus_cross-35-e7d4bb74707ceeb3ddeb69b84cdc5b6f1581a545-e1551132701571-900x422.jpg)
Cross Clash Could Change Rules For Separation Of Church And State
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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This week, the newly constituted conservative Supreme Court majority will weigh how the federal government should treat religious symbols paid for with taxpayer funds.
![Crews remove early morning snow during a winter storm at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It's not unusual for the high court to be open when the rest of Washington is closed.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ap_19051529067730-edit-9d70757d741a35ce7ee48a6465ced32a7c0cf506-e1550765024544-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Limits Civil Asset Forfeiture, Rules Excessive Fines Apply To States
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the opinion and announced it on just her second day back at court after surgery for lung cancer late last year.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/AP_18350118411245-e1545414917727-900x422.jpg)
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Undergoes Surgery For Lung Cancer
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Short of complications in recovery, doctors say prospects look good for a full recovery for Ginsburg, 85. She hopes to be back on the court for the start of the new term in early January.
![The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on whether a state had to adhere to the Eighth Amendment's excessive fines clause. That could have consequences for civil forfeiture in crimes.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/gettyimages-1059173910-451736a8f8dba1939be0ebf1adcb60fcc130050c-e1543430949540-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Appears Ready To Make It Harder For States To Confiscate Property
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday about one of the few remaining provisions in the Bill of Rights not yet applied to the states: the ban on excessive fines.
![Brett Kavanaugh (left) speaks in 2006 when he was a nominee for the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Then-Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee looks on.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/gettyimages-71009724-eddbdc8a40b0783466446af8c93b017f53480674-e1530894165483-900x422.jpg)
Trump’s Top 2 Supreme Court Picks Reflect Warring Republican Factions
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Supporters and opponents of Judges Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Barrett have waged a fierce battle for their candidate. But are the differences little more than a summer camp color war?
![Supreme Court Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy, seen here in 2017, announced his retirement in a letter to the White House on Wednesday.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/gettyimages-666925696-30992783469b13d78c6be01bd83dca7474b4c67d-e1530123823269-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court To Lose Its Swing Voter: Justice Anthony Kennedy To Retire
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Justice Kennedy is a moderate and a champion for the gay rights movement. President Trump will likely replace him with a staunch conservative, which would fundamentally shift the culture of the court.
![An iPhone seen in Washington. The Supreme Court ruled that police need a warrant to track location information through cellphones.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/ap_17326610471272-c5c55f0af3fc888af1143b4df58e7edd224b2f70-e1529680502648-900x422.jpg)
In Major Privacy Win, Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrant To Track Your Cellphone
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The Supreme Court ruled police do need a search warrant to obtain cellphone location information routinely collected by wireless providers.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/ap_18024022978075-3a6ac89ae9aabc2dfa92d7b7345bb4f6acdb1520-e1522764187280-900x422.jpg)
Police Shootings Stir Outrage Among Some, But Not The Supreme Court
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The Supreme Court sided with police on Monday when it tossed out a lawsuit against a policeman after he shot a woman in her own front yard.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/gettyimages-621775882-cbc863bd5238fc8a86414ebad309242a6de0d37b-e1519836647187-900x422.jpg)
Polling Place Battleground: Freedom Of Speech Versus Freedom From Intimidation
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Polling places are a politics-free zone. Could that change with a Supreme Court case out of Minnesota? The court is hearing arguments in a key case on this Wednesday.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/ap_536196118040-c4003ad62c48cf17c5c725135f064ea349ec8e51-e1519670773171-900x422.jpg)
Supreme Court Hears Fiery Arguments In Case That Could Gut Public Sector Unions
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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Conservative justices could overrule a 40-year-old decision allowing states to compel union fee payments. But all eyes are on Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was uncharacteristically silent in court Monday.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/gettyimages-621791714-1573ae55a4bcc3dc4b1831393dd3f9021704c8b9-e1515612577447-900x422.jpg)
In Key Voting-Rights Case, Court Appears Divided Over Ohio’s ‘Use It Or Lose It’ Rule
By: Nina Totenberg | NPR
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The justices heard a challenge to an Ohio law, which allows the purging of voter registrations because of a failure to vote in two consecutive elections.