The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 28, 2024, decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (consolidated with Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce) eliminated Chevron deference. In a 6–3 ruling, the Court held that judges must independently interpret ambiguous federal statutes rather than defer to agency interpretations. The majority wrote that such deference violated the judiciary’s…
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on April 22, 2025, to block a district court’s ruling that found that Ohio’s fair and truthful requirement for ballot initiative petitions violates the First Amendment. This law requires the Ohio Attorney General to determine whether submitted petition summaries are fair and truthful statements of the proposed law before advancing…
The U.S. Supreme Court decided 6-3 to overturn Chevron doctrine on June 28, holding that federal courts may not defer to an agency’s interpretation of an ambiguous statute. In two consolidated cases—Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce—the court ruled that the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requires courts to rely…
The U.S. Supreme Court on June 13, 2024, unanimously held in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine that the plaintiffs lacked standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) regulatory actions related to approved use conditions of mifepristone—a drug used in medication abortions. The FDA approved the drug mifepristone in 2000…
Campaign finance rules for ballot measures differ from those for candidate elections. “Referenda are held on issues, not candidates for public office,” wrote the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 (First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti). The court has held that spending on ballot measure campaigns is similar to issue advocacy in the lawmaking process.…
The United States Supreme Court on January 17, 2024, heard oral argument in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce—two consolidated cases challenging an agency’s interpretation of a federal fishery law that could affect future applications of Chevron deference by the federal courts. A coalition of commercial fishermen in Loper…
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) accepted 43 cases for the 2023 term as of November 7, 2023. Of those cases, 20 have been scheduled for argument, and one case was dismissed. The Court has seven cases scheduled for its December sitting. Among these is McElrath v. Georgia, which concerns the double jeopardy…
Thirteen Republican state attorneys general sent a letter on July 13 to major corporations suggesting that certain social policies (the S in ESG) like making hiring or promotion decisions based on race might be illegal following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on affirmative action. Ballotpedia tracks support for and opposition to the environmental, social, and…
The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin’s (R) appeal on June 26 of a federal district court ruling that held that Louisiana’s congressional district map should include an additional majority-minority district. The Supreme Court also lifted its 2022 stay of the federal court’s decision and allowed the case to proceed before…
Ballotpedia has identified 17 noteworthy redistricting cases that the Supreme Court has heard since 1946, and the court issued two such rulings this month. In a 5-4 decision in Allen v. Milligan on June 8, SCOTUS affirmed the judgment of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama that the state’s congressional…