Court Watch with Alex Swoyer
The 'Court Watch' podcast with Washington Times legal affairs reporter Alex Swoyer breaks down the Supreme Court's major cases and top news stories about the justices, federal courts and perplexing legal battles with key insight from court watchers from both sides of the aisle.
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Recent Stories
Once-prominent Supreme Court lawyer Tom Goldstein loses $1 million from sale of his home
A federal judge has ruled that Tom Goldstein, a major mover in Supreme Court circles before his ignominious conviction for tax evasion, will have to forfeit a million dollars from the sale of his home.
Trump's Supreme Court shot collides with Thanksgiving, Christmas and a Democratic Senate
With Democrats poised to have a significant Senate majority next year, Republicans are resigning themselves to the notion that President Trump won't be able to confirm a new Supreme Court justice for the rest of his tenure.
Senate Democrats will not let Trump put a 'right-winger' on the Supreme Court, Schumer vows
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing that Democrats will not allow President Donald Trump to put "a right-winger" on the Supreme Court once they take power, raising the possibility that his party could block a presidential nominee if there is a vacancy in the next two years.
Court must allow border wall construction to restart
The Trump administration recently filed an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to lift a federal judge's order pausing construction of a key section of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
Supreme Court poised to favor Catholic schools in clash over gay, religious rights
The Supreme Court waded back into the realm of religious liberty Tuesday as the justices heard a case testing whether states can ban Catholic schools from a universal preschool program because those schools exclude families that do not adhere to the church's teachings on homosexuality.
Supreme Court shuts down Trump's bid to block 20,000 California ballots
The Supreme Court on Monday rebuffed President Trump's last-ditch bid to block California from counting 20,000 ballots the feds say were mailed to suspected noncitizens.
Trump takes California case to Supreme Court in last-ditch bid to block suspected noncitizen ballots
The Trump Justice Department filed a Hail Mary petition with the Supreme Court on Monday that asked the justices to block California from counting 20,000 ballots the feds say were mailed to people who might be noncitizens ineligible to vote.
Sandy Hook families urge Supreme Court to uphold state and local bans on AR-15-style rifles
Relatives whose loved ones were killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting are making an impassioned plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold state and local bans on certain semiautomatic rifles, citing the high body counts and devastating injuries the weapons can inflict.
Dobbs returned the abortion question to the people
Four years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its historic decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized unlimited abortion.
Appeals court rejects DOJ bid to pause more Epstein doc reviews
A federal appeals court on Wednesday rebuffed the Justice Department's request to delay having to review and release foreign language material from the Epstein files.
Trump floats Ted Cruz as Supreme Court justice, says he would breeze through Senate confirmation
President Trump is floating Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas as a potential pick if a Supreme Court seat opens up.
Appeals court says Trump's immigration detention policies are constitutional
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that illegal immigrants who snuck across the border without detection can be detained pending the outcome of their deportation cases, effectively blessing President Trump's approach.
Trump lacked good reason to deploy guard troops to Los Angeles, says appeals court
President Trump didn't have good enough justifications when he federalized and deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell anti-ICE protests last year, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.
Supreme Court allows New Hampshire to fully ban student IDs for voting in midterms
The Supreme Court cleared the way Thursday for New Hampshire to fully ban the use of student IDs for voting during the midterm elections.
Parties put Supreme Court on the ballot in contentious battle for control of Congress
The nine Supreme Court justices, unelected but influential, are poised to help sway voters in November in the bitter fight for the Senate majority.
DHS asks Supreme Court to bless Trump's border wall construction
The Department of Homeland Security rushed to the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking the justices' permission to keep building President Trump's border wall in Texas' Big Bend region.
U.S. must pay for gender transitions for prisoners after Supreme Court declines Trump case
The Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to revive the Trump administration's policy barring taxpayer money from going to pay for drugs or operations for prisoners seeking to switch genders.
Supreme Court won't revive plea deal with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad over 9/11 attacks
The Supreme Court declined Monday to review the Pentagon's decision to cancel a plea deal with the presumed masterminds of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Home distillers fight to make backyard booze legal
The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a case challenging the 1868 law that bans home distilling, in a case that tests how much power Congress can claim under the Constitution's Necessary and Proper Clause.
Supreme Court to hear case challenging Montgomery County's selective school admissions policy
The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a case involving the school admissions policy in Montgomery County.
Americans of faith have ample reason to thank Alito and Thomas
In recent weeks, two books have been released on two of the most influential originalist Supreme Court justices in American history.
Religious preschools want public funding but exemptions from nondiscrimination rules
When Colorado launched its Universal Preschool Program in 2023, the goal was simple: Give every 4-year-old in the state access to free, publicly funded education. To deliver on that promise, the state allowed both public and private providers - including faith-based preschools - to participate, provided they abide by the program's rules.
Supreme Court to decide on whether man who cooked for terrorists can claim asylum
The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will decide whether a Nigerian who says he was forced to serve as a cook for a terrorist organization can claim asylum in the U.S., in a case that goes to the heart of what it means to materially support terrorism.
Supreme Court to decide whether Trump can shield DOGE documents from public view
The Supreme Court said Tuesday it will hear a case involving President Trump's attempt to block a liberal watchdog group from obtaining documents about the internal workings of DOGE, the White House's now-defunct cost-cutting initiative.
A freed man faces life back in prison after a Supreme Court ruling on the First Step Act
Two years after his release from prison, Patrick Dewayne Smith spends Sundays with his family in a modest brick church with a white steeple in rural Tennessee. He works two jobs. He goes to ball games to cheer for nieces and nephews he had never met. After serving 13 years for a nonviolent drug conviction, he is trying to rebuild his life.
Court Watch: What are the biggest Supreme Court cases to watch this term?
The Washington Times' Alex Swoyer breaks down the major cases on the Supreme Court's new docket, from climate change lawsuits and gun rights to religious liberty, voting rules and immigration.
Bats, balls and a 'Silver Glove': inside the baseball shrine in Justice Alito's chambers
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. doesn't just defend the Constitution; he also defends the diamond.
Judge strikes down DOJ's effort to cleanse state voter rolls of noncitizens
The Justice Department's campaign to get ahold of state voter registration lists, run them through federal databases to identify noncitizens, then prod the states to boot those people from their rolls is illegal, a federal judge ruled Friday.
NFL asks Supreme Court to treat prediction markets as gambling sites
The NFL filed a brief to the Supreme Court Thursday arguing that sports contracts offered on prediction markets constitute gambling and should be regulated as such.
Curtis Flowers, a Black man whose death sentence was tossed by Supreme Court, dies in Mississippi
Curtis Flowers, a Black man who spent more than 22 years in prison and was on death row in Mississippi before the U.S. Supreme Court threw out his conviction and death sentence, has died. He was 56.
Justice Alito says 'very little was done' about intimidating protests
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said "threatening" protests against the Supreme Court are part of a campaign to try to intimidate the justices, and he lamented the fact that neither the Biden Justice Department nor local prosecutors attempted to charge those who engaged in the demonstrations.
Justice Alito explains why he thought Clarence Thomas was 'scary'
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. were separated by a year at Yale Law School, but they were worlds apart when it came to their presence on campus.
Justice Alito: Supreme Court isn't using AI
Justice Samuel A. Alito said neither he nor his clerks use artificial intelligence in their court work, and he doubts any of his fellow Supreme Court justices do, either.
Justice Alito: Lower courts haven't 'gotten the message' on affirmative action, guns
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said lower courts "haven't gotten the message" about the Supreme Court's rulings on affirmative action and, to some extent, guns.
High school girl wrestler asks justices for right to refuse to compete against transgender athletes
A girl who is on a high school wrestling team in Washington state asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to wade deeper into the transgender rights battle by allowing her to opt out of matches where she would have to face a transgender athlete.
Abortion, gay marriage and felon voting referendums add a twist to midterm ballot in Virginia
Virginia voters will decide on the November ballot whether to safeguard access to abortion and same-sex marriage, as Democrats attempt to insulate the state from a conservative U.S. Supreme Court.
Supreme Court wades into climate change dispute between energy companies and states
Energy companies begged the Supreme Court on Monday to shut down states' attempts to hold them responsible for the impacts of climate change.
Supreme Court rejects Roy Moore's push to restore $8.2M defamation verdict
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Roy Moore's push to restore an $8.2 million defamation verdict over a 2017 Senate race ad funded by a Democratic-aligned super PAC.
Supreme Court won't hear 'Let's Go Brandon' case
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case involving public school students who were banned from wearing "Let's Go Brandon" sweatshirts to class, because officials said the slogan was "profane."
Alito says he knows who leaked Supreme Court draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. says he has a pretty good idea who was behind the unprecedented leak of his draft of a Supreme Court opinion.
Immigration, religion and AR-15s on Supreme Court's early docket as justices open new term
God, guns, global warming and immigration dominate the early cases as the Supreme Court kicks off its new term Monday.
Ed Martin launches new show to 'name and shame' Biden's lawfare leaders
Ed Martin, President Trump's former pardon attorney and, briefly, his U.S. attorney in Washington, is launching a new show Monday where he will call out the people in the Biden administration whom he believes weaponized the Justice Department against their opponents.
Supreme Court wins hand Republicans a campaign cash edge, with deep ad and mail discounts
The Supreme Court delivered a pair of victories to the GOP on campaign spending cases this year, and Senate Republicans have wasted no time in capitalizing.
Supreme Court will hear dispute over a Kentucky church's plan to build a shrine on residential land
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to consider whether a religious institution has a right to build a shrine to the Virgin Mary on residential property next to its Kentucky church.
Antifa activist who called for 'armed' resistance to ICE asks Supreme Court for release
A self-professed antifa agitator who called for outing and harassing ICE officers "at the barrel of a gun" asked the Supreme Court on Friday to order his release from pretrial detention, telling the justices he's not a real threat to society.
Climate Lawfare: Experts say Supreme Court's Suncor case may stop blue states regulating red states
Can one state govern another? The Washington Times' "Climate Lawfare" event, hosted by Alex Swoyer, brings together West Virginia Solicitor General Michael Williams, Article III Project's Josh Hammer and Alliance for Consumers' O.H. Skinner to preview the Supreme Court's Suncor case.
The Supreme Court should not let Colorado set national climate policy
For years, state and local governments have brought lawsuits against energy companies, seeking damages for the alleged consequences of climate change.
Supreme Court to weigh climate lawfare dispute Monday
The Supreme Court will kick off its new term Monday with a case testing the ability of states and localities to try to punish energy companies for the impacts of climate change.
Climate Lawfare: Senator says it wears down energy firms, but courts are pushing back
In a fireside chat, Sen. Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Republican, joins The Washington Times' Editor-at-Large Alex Swoyer to discuss the escalating legal battles over climate policy.
Supreme Court to hear challenge to detentions at heart of Trump's deportations
The Supreme Court said Thursday it has agreed to take up a case challenging the Trump administration's claim that it can detain migrants without having to give them a bond hearing even if they've been living inside the country for years.
Sen. Jim Justice and Babydog skip fancy dining for a strip-mall Outback in Arlington
Babydog's Outback order, how the GOP is saving big on ads after two Supreme Court rulings and why ailing senators turn to Dr. Barrasso.
3 GOP states go to U.S. Supreme Court to challenge 3 Democratic-led states' abortion 'shield' laws
Three Republican states went to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to challenge abortion "shield laws" protecting providers in three Democratic states, escalating the legal conflict over pills that account for a majority of abortions.