Lawrence Hurley is a reporter at Reuters.

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U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-24-2022

Anti-abortion demonstrators celebrate outside the United States Supreme Court as the court rules in the Dobbs v. Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade in Washington, D.C. on June 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday took the dramatic step of overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that recognized a woman's constitutional right to an abortion and legalized it nationwide, handing a momentous victory to Republicans and religious conservatives who want to limit or ban the procedure.

Ketanji Brown Jackson First Black Woman Confirmed to Supreme Court

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson reacts as she meets with Senator Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

Ketanji Brown Jackson was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court in a milestone for the United States and a victory for President Joe Biden, who made good on a campaign promise as he seeks to infuse the federal judiciary with a broader range of backgrounds.

‘Aggressively Conservative’ Supreme Court Embraces Culture War

A general view of the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2021. REUTERS/Will Dunham

Scholars say the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has shown an eagerness to impact abortion, affirmative action, LGBTQ rights, and more.

Supreme Court Refuses Catholic Hospital Appeal Over Transgender Patient


A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by a Catholic hospital in California to avoid a lawsuit over its refusal to let its facilities be used to perform a hysterectomy on a transgender patient who sought the procedure as a part of gender transition from female to male.

The justices turned away an appeal by Mercy San Juan Medical Center, a Sacramento-area hospital owned by Dignity Health, and let stand a lower court ruling that revived Evan Minton’s lawsuit accusing it of intentionally discriminating against him in violation of California law because he is transgender.

The justices on Monday also bolstered a Roman Catholic-led challenge to a New York state requirement that health insurance policies provided by employers cover abortion services. The justices told a lower court to reconsider its decision to throw out a bid by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany and other plaintiffs to widen an existing religious exemption to a 2017 state regulation that requires health insurance policies to cover medically necessary abortions.

Supreme Court’s ‘Shadow Docket’ Favored Religion and Trump

The members of the U.S. Supreme Court pose for a group photo in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS

A Reuters analysis of emergency applications over the past 12 months offers a glimpse into the full range of parties seeking urgent relief from the top U.S. judicial body through the shadow docket. The justices have increasingly relied upon this process to make rulings in a wide array of cases without the normal deliberative process involving public oral arguments and extensive written decisions.

SCOTUS Deals Blow to Republicans in Pennsylvania, N.C. Vote-by-Mail Fights

An election worker places mail-in ballots into a voting box at a drive-through drop off location at the Registrar of Voters for San Diego County in San Diego, Calif., Oct. 19, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

The  Supreme Court on Wednesday dealt setbacks to Republicans by allowing extended deadlines for receiving mail-in ballots in next Tuesday's election in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, states pivotal to President Donald Trump's re-election chances.

U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Allow Extension in Wisconsin Mail-in Ballot Deadline

A voter casts his ballot next to a bottle of hand sanitizer on the first day of in-person voting in Wisconsin, U.S., October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Bing Guan

Siding with Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature, the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to allow an extension ordered by a federal judge in the deadline for returning mail-in ballots in the state, dealing a setback to Democrats.

Supreme Court Rejects Republican Bid to Limit Mail-in Voting in Pennsylvania

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 10-19-2020

Philadelphia City Hall is pictured as early voting for the 2020 election begins at a satellite voting location at City Hall in Philadelphia, Sept. 29, 2020. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski/FILE PHOTO

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed an extension of the deadline for mail-in absentee ballots in Pennsylvania for the Nov. 3 election, declining a Republican request to block a lower court's ruling that gave voters more time.

Abortion, Health Care, George Floyd: What Amy Coney Barrett Said (and Dodged)

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett arrives to continue the second day of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via REUTERS

President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing she is not hostile to the Obamacare law, as Democrats have suggested, and declined to specify whether she believes landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg Dies at Age 87 From Pancreatic Cancer

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivers remarks during a discussion hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger.

Ginsburg, who rose from a working class upbringing in New York City's borough of Brooklyn and prevailed over systematic sexism in the legal ranks to become one of America's best-known jurists, provided key votes in landmark rulings securing equal rights for women, expanding gay rights and safeguarding abortion rights.

U.S. Supreme Court Allows Broader Religious Exemption to Birth Control Coverage

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 07-08-2020

Children ride scooters across the plaza at the United States Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., March 17, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo

The court ruled 7-2 against the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which challenged the legality of the administration's 2018 rule weakening the so-called contraceptive mandate of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, that has drawn the ire of Christian conservatives.

U.S. Supreme Court Bolsters Trump's Power Over Rapid Deportation

The U.S. Supreme Court building is seen in Washington, D.C. Jan. 21, 2020. REUTERS/Will Dunham

The justices ruled 7-2 in favor of the administration. 

Supreme Court Rules Against Trump Bid to End DACA

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-18-2020

The building of the U.S. Supreme Court is pictured in Washington, D.C., Jan. 19, 2020. REUTERS/Will Dunham

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled against Donald Trump's bid to end a program that protects from deportation hundreds of thousands of immigrants, dubbed "Dreamers," who entered the United States illegally as children.

Supreme Court Endorses LGBTQ Worker Protections

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-15-2020

A general view of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, May 3, 2020. REUTERS/Will Dunham

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday delivered a watershed victory for LGBTQ rights, ruling that a landmark federal law forbidding workplace discrimination protects gay and transgender employees.

Supreme Court Rejects Limits to Partisan Gerrymandering

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-27-2019

Image via REUTERS/Chris Keane

The ruling, authored by Chief justice John Roberts, delivered a huge setback to election reformers who had hoped the court would intervene over a growing trend in which parties that control state legislatures use the electoral district line-drawing process to cement their grip on power and dilute the voting power of people who support the rival party.

Supreme Court Seems Poised to Allow Census Citizenship Question

Demonstrators gather outside the U.S. Supreme Courthouse in Washington, U.S., April 23, 2019. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

The court has a 5-4 conservative majority and has backed Trump in other high-profile cases. Conservative justices indicated a citizenship question would be eminently reasonable, noting that other countries use such questions and that the United States has done so in the past in one form or another.

War Memorial or Religious Symbol? Cross Fight Reaches U.S. High Court

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 02-22-2019

A concrete cross commemorating servicemen killed in World War 1 in Bladensburg, Md. Feb. 11, 2019.REUTERS/Lawrence Hurley

While the Establishment Clause's scope is a matter of dispute, most Supreme Court experts predict the challenge to the Peace Cross will fail, with the justices potentially setting a new precedent allowing greater government involvement in religious expression.

Trump Picks Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court Nominee

FILE PHOTO: Brett Kavanaugh speaks, moments after being sworn-in at a Rose Garden ceremony in 2006 at the White House, June 1, 2006. REUTERS/Larry Downing/File Photo

President Donald Trump has chosen conservative federal appeals court Judge Brett Kavanaugh as his nominee for U.S. Supreme Court Justice, NBC News reported on Monday, just before the official White House announcement.

Kavanaugh would replaced retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. 

Justice Kennedy, U.S. Supreme Court's Pivotal Vote, to Retire

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-27-2018

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (R) and fellow Justice Anthony Kennedy look on in the audience at a reception hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama in honour of newly-confirmed Supreme Court Associate Justice Elena Kagan in the East Room of the White House in Washington, August 6, 2010. REUTERS/Jason Reed/Files

The conservative Kennedy, who turns 82 in July and is the second-oldest justice on the nine-member court, has become one of the most consequential American jurists since joining the court in 1988 as an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan. He proved instrumental in advancing gay rights, buttressing abortion rights and erasing political spending limits. His retirement takes effect on July 31, the court said.

Supreme Court Backs Trump on Travel Ban Targeting Muslim-Majority Nations

by Lawrence Hurley, Reuters 06-26-2018

Trees cast shadows outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, U.S., June 25, 2018. REUTERS/Toya Sarno Jordan

The 5-4 ruling, with the court's five conservatives in the majority, ends for now a fierce fight in the courts over whether the policy represented an unlawful Muslim ban. Trump can now claim vindication after lower courts had blocked his travel ban announced in September, as well as two prior versions, in legal challenges brought by the state of Hawaii and others.