BREAKING: On a 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court allows the Education Dep't to halt payment of grants.

A district court issued a TRO blocking the cancelation of the grants in a suit brought by eight states. The appeals court refused a stay pending appeal.

Today, SCOTUS stayed the TRO—blocking payments.

I am an independent legal journalist who has been covering LGBTQ legal issues for more than 20 years now, since the Supreme Court's Lawrence v. Texas decision in 2003. Subscribe to Law Dork now: https://www.lawdork.com/

BREAKING: Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex couples' marriage licenses, loses her appeal at the Sixth Circuit of a lawsuit she lost at trial that was brought by same-sex couples whose constitutional right to marry she violated. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca6.151496/gov.uscourts.ca6.151496.6015541768.2.pdf

Purity tests. Control. Policing of bodies. That’s what that has always been about, and the outright hate and absurd weirdness that this boxing situation is bringing out this week is making that undeniably clear as people just flat-out lie and goalpost shift by the minute.

I’ve brought you a lot of important reporting, research, and analysis this week at Law Dork that you won’t get elsewhere.

Consider supporting that essential work with a paid subscription to Law Dork now: https://www.lawdork.com/subscribe

Justice Sam Alito — fresh off the latest reportof his apparent support for insurrectionists — wrote the court’s majority opinion Thursday, severely limiting the power of the Civil War Amendments to protect voters from lawmakers’ racial gerrymanders. https://www.lawdork.com/p/the-roberts-court-conservatives-erode

The 11th Circuit—in an opinion by Judge Andrew Brasher, a Trump appointee—reinstated a man's lawsuit against an Atlanta police detective whose affidavit for an arrest warrant put the man behind bars pretrial for 15 months before all charges were dropped. https://www.lawdork.com/i/142528892/eleventh-circuit-qualified-immunity-decision

Texas is defending its SB4 criminal immigration law at SCOTUS. The law is now on hold til next Monday. At Law Dork, I cover what's going on: https://www.lawdork.com/p/texas-asks-scotus-to-let-it-enforce

UPDATE: Alito extends the administrative stay in the Texas SB4 case until 5p Monday — meaning the law will remain on hold during that time.

The latest on Texas’s SB4 immigration law and qualified immunity, overnight at Law Dork: https://www.lawdork.com/p/texas-asks-scotus-to-let-it-enforce

Sorry, I lack the ability to cross-post this everywhere, but there is more Fifth Circuit BS. This weekend, it’s (again) about immigration. The thread is over here bc I got the info initially there: https://x.com/chrisgeidner/status/1764497625431044520?s=46&t=ghp6hmBEZ-OZggGPMNkXlw

The Trump arguments (audio) will be live-streamed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngUhSD35DoA

NEWS: Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) joins the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving the Democrats a majority on the committee yet again.

Of note, Butler will be the first out LGBTQ person ever on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

BREAKING: In a 2-1 decision, the Sixth Circuit, in an opinion by Judge Jeff Sutton, upholds Tennessee and Kentucky’s bans on gender-affirming care for minors. Judge Amul Thapar joined Sutton. Judge Helene White dissented. More to come at Law Dork: https://www.lawdork.com/

So, the ins and outs and ups and downs of launching a one-person publication can be ... challenging ... at times. But, then I see things like this happening, and I'm just really happy about what Law Dork is becoming. Thanks, all. https://www.lawdork.com/

Alabama, fresh off its #SCOTUS slap-down in the redistricting case, asked a district court today to let it enforce its anti-trans ban on gender-affirming care for minors while the 11th Circuit has the case, withheld the mandate, & is deciding whether to rehear it en banc.

Here's my Law Dork report on this: https://www.lawdork.com/p/scotus-rejects-alabama-congressional-map-stay

BREAKING: A three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit (Elrod, Haynes, Douglas) allows Texas’s book-ban law to go into effect, issuing an administrative stay of the district court ruling enjoining enforcement of the law. Background: https://www.lawdork.com/p/trump-appointed-judge-rips-texas

Breaking: SCOTUS will not stop the scheduled execution of Anything Sanchez today. There were no noted dissents; Justice Gorsuch did not participate. Background: https://www.lawdork.com/p/oklahoma-executions-drummond-sanchez

NEWS: Full appeals court likely to vote on whether to rehear Alabama trans care case after three-judge panel ruled in Alabama's favor last month.

Background on the original decision at Law Dork: https://www.lawdork.com/p/appeals-court-ruling-alabama-trans-care-ban