Federal Spending Bill Allocates $705 Million to Security for Federal Judges

The federal judiciary is getting an extra $41 million to beef up security as part of the $1.5 trillion measure recently passed by Congress. Part of the latest omnibus spending bill (H.R. 2471), the budget sets aside $704.8 million for court security. That’s an increase of around 6% from last year’s budget dedicated to addressing heightened concerns about judges’ safety. […]

Biden Administration Can Measure “Social Cost of Carbon” for Economically Significant Regulations

Last year, a federal district court prevented the Biden administration from requiring federal agencies to use the “social cost of carbon” (SCC) when conducting cost-benefit analyses during the rulemaking process. In simplest terms, the social cost of carbon is a dollar estimate of the economic damages that result from one additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere. This […]

How Ginni Thomas’s Texts About the 2020 Election Could Impact the Supreme Court

All judges are supposed to be impartial and unbiased; this is all the more important when your job is on the highest court in the land. But Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has repeatedly been in the spotlight for perceived partisanship, often linked to the activism of his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas. Last week, The Washington Post obtained 29 text messages exchanged between Ginni Thomas […]

Fourth Circuit Rules in Favor of Abortion Providers Suing South Carolina AG for “Fetal Heartbeat” Act—But State Asks for Rehearing En Banc

Over the past year, various Republican-led states have steadily curtailed abortion rights. Arkansas, Idaho, South Carolina, Texas, and Wyoming have all introduced new restrictions that would ban most abortions. “Fetal Heartbeat” Act Gets Injunction for Being Unconstitutional In the case of South Carolina, the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act bans abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected. This typically happens approximately six […]