Great news. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been released from a Baltimore hospital, after receiving treatment for what was described yesterday as a possible infection, a court spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Read the rest

If you follow the high weirdness that is American civics, you may have heard that the Supreme Court just ruled that states can prohibit "faithless electors." This handy explainer gives a relatively simple explanation of the idiosyncratic way the USA officially votes for its president. Read the rest

The Supreme Court of the United States ruled Thursday in the Trump financial documents case, and upholds the Manhattan DA's subpoena. In a 7-2 decision, SCOTUS ruled that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance is entitled to see President Trump’s taxes.

Justice Roberts: "In our judicial system, 'the public has a right to 'everyman’s evidence.' Since the earliest days of the Republic, 'every man' has included the President of the United States."

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In its first of 3 decisions today, SCOTUS gives a nod to tribal sovereignty. Read the rest

The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Democrat-led House of Representatives from access to secret grand jury testimony from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Read the rest

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments as to why President Donald Trump should be allowed to prevent Democratic-led congressional committees and a New York City prosecutor from getting his financial records. Read the rest

• Justice Dept. asked justices to temporarily halt lower-court order, saying executive branch would suffer irreparable harm if the evidence is disclosed.

“The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to block Congress from seeing grand jury secrets gathered in the Russia investigation by Mueller, saying the executive branch would suffer irreparable harm if lawmakers see the evidence,” writes Charlie Savage at the New York Times. Read the rest

• In a first, by teleconference • Court will provide live audio feed of arguments to news media

Today the United States Supreme Court announced that on May 12, it will hear a dispute over whether Trump's tax and financial records should be publicly disclosed. Read the rest

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to let Boise ban people from sleeping rough.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Boise would be violating the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishments by enforcing criminal penalties under its anti-camping ordinance when its three homeless shelters are full.

“The state may not criminalize conduct that is an unavoidable consequence of being homeless -- namely sitting, lying, or sleeping on the streets,” the 9th Circuit said.

State abuse of the homeless is one of the nastier trends in 21st century governance—the end is usually accomplished by more subtle means (pictured) than criminalization. Read the rest

For years, rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) has been scanning and posting proprietary elements of the law, such as standard annotations or building and safety codes developed by outside parties and then incorporated into legislation, on the theory that if you are expected to follow the law, you must be able to read, write and share that law. Read the rest

CNBC reports that the Supreme Court has temporarily halted a lower court order requiring accountants to turn over President Donald Trump's tax returns to congress.

Steven Portnoy: "The DC Circuit Court's mandate is stayed pending a response due at 3pm Thursday afternoon." Read the rest

Infuriate your racist Facebook uncle this Thanksgiving with a Leopard RBG shirt. Read the rest

Amazon and its contractors are notorious for their wage-theft from warehouse workers, who are required to endure lengthy, unpaid delays while they wait to have their bags and bodies searched for stolen goods; a group of workers sued Amazon and one of its contractors, Integrity Staffing, under a Nevada state law. Read the rest

Following the Supreme Court's determination that there was no good reason to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, the Trump administration has abandoned its pursuit of the project. Read the rest

In the late 1800s, the American Medical Association invented the anti-abortion movement, but over time, its ceased to advocate on either side of the debate -- until a bizarre 1997 statement supporting a GOP bill banning late-stage abortions (later revealed to be a "blunder" on the part of the trustees), after which the group returned to silence. Read the rest

For years, we've covered the efforts of rogue archivist Carl Malamud (previously) to make the law free for all to read, from liberating paywalled court records from PACER to risking fines and even prison to make standards that have been incorporated into regulation available, to his longrunning fight with the State of Georgia to make the state's annotated legal code public, which may be headed for the Supreme Court. Read the rest