Scalia was speaking to students at the Chicago-Kent School of Law Tuesday when he applied his strict brand of originalism to Chicago's pizza recipe of choice. more ›

During the contentious political fight in Wisconsin earlier this year, two Wisconsin Supreme Court justices entered a physical brawl, and now one has filed a lawsuit against the other. Liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley says conservative Justice David Prosser put her in a "chokehold." Prosser doesn't disagree. But he contends he didn't squeeze, and it was simply a reflex because she charged at him with a clenched fist. No criminal charges have been filed, but a district attorney has taken up Walsh Bradley's case as a special prosecutor. more ›

With the new GOP-led House of Representatives set to swear in this week, one Representative had some ominous words for Americans on his last week in the House. Representative John Hall (D-N.Y.) told the New York Observer that America could be on a fast track to fascism thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United decision a year ago. more ›

The Supreme Court has voted 5-4 to overturn the City of Chicago's handgun ban. more ›

The City of Chicago is preparing for today's ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States on the handgun ban as the court issues its opinion on McDonald v. City of Chicago. (The city of Oak Park also has its handgun ban at issue with the case.) The City has been preparing for this day for months and, according to one report from the Tribune, if the ban is overturned, the City Council could take action on new local legislation by as soon as Wednesday. Indications are that the Court will come down with a 5-4 decision of overturning the ban, but that's still speculation. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Scalia, Alito, Kennedy, and Thomas were reported earlier this year as favoring the ban, enough for a 5-4 majority. All five justices also voted to overturn a similar ban for Washington D.C. in 2008. more ›

Calling her "one of the nation's foremost legal minds," President Obama has nominated Solicitor General and former University of Chicago law school professor Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. Kagan will replace the retiring Justice John Paul Stevens, who will step down this summer. Kagan also worked under the Clinton administration and served as dean of Harvard Law School. If she is confirmed, it will mark the first time that the SCOTUS would have three sitting female justices. Of course, with any nomination, there will be partisan scrutiny and while Kagan is said to be a good pick because of her ability to appeal across the political spectrum, there are still some issues that opponents will go after. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," policy and Kagan's brief ban of military recruiters from Harvard Law School's campus while she was dean will be a topic of conversation, even though Kagan did so within the law and the policy was no different than that of several other schools. Kagan will also face questions about her experience, specifically her lack of judicial experience. Per the New York Times: more ›

With the recent announcement that Supreme Court Justice (and Chicago native) John Paul Stevens will soon retire from the nation's high court, speculation has been growing over who President Obama will tab as Stevens' replacement, including a few with Chicago connections. But now a Slate feature that breaks down their Top 21 candidates includes a name we hadn't really considered before: State Attorney General Lisa Madigan. more ›

After weeks of rumors and conjecture, Supreme Court Justice (and Chicago native) John Paul Stevens announced he will retire this summer, in late June or early July. Stevens is the oldest member of the SCOTUS - he turns 90 in less than two weeks - and leads the liberal group of SCOTUS justices, so his departure and subsequent replacement will not likely change the current conservative-liberal balance of the SCOTUS. Stevens' timing will mean the Obama administration will be able to name a replacement and hold confirmation hearings before the November mid-term elections. It'll be the second SCOTUS appointment for President Obama after appointing Sonia Sotomayor last year to replace David Souter. more ›

After twice denying the state of Michigan's request to close a pair of shipping locks in Chicago-area waterways so as to prevent the alleged spread of Asian Carp into Lake Michigan, the Supreme Court of the United States has set one more date in the battle of Asian Carp: April 16. On that date, the SCOTUS will consider whether or not to grant Michigan's request to reopen a 1922 lawsuit over the creation of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, linking the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes and thereby opening a path for the Asian Carp to make their way to the Lakes. Michigan has been joined by the other Great Lakes states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York - as well as the Canadian province of Ontario in this fight. more ›

For the second time this year, the Supreme Court has rejected a request by the State of Michigan to shut down a pair of shipping locks in Chicago-area waterways, something Michigan says will prevent the spread of Asian Carp into Lake Michigan. Both the State of Illinois and the Obama administration had asked the SCOTUS to refuse the request on the grounds that they are already working on ways to prevent the spread of the potentially damaging fish. The first request was dismissed in January. Still open to the high court is the request by the State of Michigan to reopen a 1922 lawsuit over the creation of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, linking the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes and thereby opening a path for the Asian Carp to make their way to the Lakes. Michigan has been joined by the other Great Lakes states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York - as well as the Canadian province of Ontario in this fight. more ›

Between blog-fueled conspiracy theories and Asian carp, fishing in the Great Lakes has never been higher profile. Conservative blogs were driven to near apoplexy over a rumor sparked by an ESPN column that the President was attempting to outlaw recreational fishing in the Great Lakes. The kerfuffle has been thoroughly debunked by a wide array of media outlets including FOX News, Media Matters, and Deadspin (unusual to see all three of them covering the same story…). ESPN has apologized and tried to set the record straight. Yet protestations of a conspiracy continue unabated. more ›

The Supreme Court apparently isn't done taking up the matter of the Asian Carp. The Nine will take up an appeal from the state of Michigan once more, two months after dismissing the first appeal. According to the Tribune: more ›

With the Supreme Court of the United States scheduled to hear arguments in McDonald v. Chicago (the case of the City of Chicago's handgun ban) next week, Mayor Daley is making the rounds in Washington, D.C. to garner more support for the ban. Daley appeared at the National Press Club along with a few other civic leaders from around the nation who support such local bans to keep communities safe. Gun rights advocates insist the ban violates Second Amendment rights. A similar ban in D.C. was overturned in 2008. Said Mayor Daley, "In this day and age when we think the right to bear arms in all of our communities that means any type of weapon. I don't think our founding fathers believed that these type of weapons would be on the street and to me every jurisdiction have a right to talk about the health and safety of their communities." Daley was joined by Chicago firefighter Annette Nance-Holt, and her husband Chicago Police Officer Ronald Holt, parents of Blair Holt, the teen shot and killed on board a CTA bus in 2007. The teen who killed Holt was sentenced to 100 years in prison last summer while an accomplice received a 10-year sentence. more ›

• A hearing date of March 10 has been set in the battle over Medill's Innocence Project and the involvement in the Anthony McKinney case.
• Indications are that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of black firefighters who have sued the City of Chicago.
• Bones were discovered at a Gold Coast construction site and authorities are trying to determine if they're human.

It's a familiar story: after taking an entry-level test, would-be firefighters claim racial discrimination kept them from getting a job and take their case to the highest court in the land. But unlike last year's New Haven, Conn. case where white firefighters were the plaintiffs, this year more than 6,000 blacks from Chicago are making the same claim, the Tribune reports. more ›

Yesterday, we lamented a little bit about the general state of electoral politics after the special election in Massachusetts. Today, we weep are outraged over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn a century old law banning corporations from directly using money to influence federal elections. more ›

The Supreme Court issued a one-sentence statement today in which they refused to order the shut down of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent the spread of Asian Carp. However, that doesn't mean the SCOTUS won't take any action on the issue. Still open to the high court is the request by the State of Michigan to reopen a 1922 lawsuit over the creation of the canal, linking the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes and thereby opening a path for the Asian Carp to make their way to the Lakes. more ›

The U.S. Supreme Court has set this Friday, January 15, as the day it will consider the lawsuit against the state of Illinois to close the locks on Chicago-area waterways to prevent the spread of Asian carp into the Great Lakes. The Court will consider the case in closed conference. The lawsuit was filed by the state of Michigan with Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and New York jumping on board. Even the Canadian province of Ontario is getting involved. The SCOTUS was originally slated to take up the carp case last Friday but delayed it for a week. more ›

As the fight against the Asian Carp invasion continues, the State of Michigan has filed suit to force the State of Illinois, the Army Corps of Engineers and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago to shut the shipping locks and canals that feed into Lake Michigan. "The Great Lakes are an irreplaceable resource," Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who is seeking the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Michigan, said at a news conference in Detroit. "Thousands of jobs are at stake and we will not get a second chance once the carp enter Lake Michigan." Because the subject of the suit is a dispute between the states, Cox filed his suit in the Supreme Court, which has jurisdiction over disputes between the states. more ›

Opponents of Chicago's handgun ban - who have taken their battle to the U.S. Supreme Court - are finding themselves gaining support from all around the country. In fact, 38 states have shown support for the repeal. [Tribune] more ›

The Supreme Court of the United States today upheld an appeals court ruling that the state of Illinois was not required to offer motorists the option to buy "Choose Life" license plates offered by the organization Choose Life Illinois, which is pro-adoption and anti-abortion. Choose Illinois - which counts Chicago Bears owner Virginia McCaskey as a board member - had amassed over 25,000 signatures on a petition for the plates but the state turned it down claiming it didn't want to appear to take sides on the issue of abortion. more ›

A year after striking down Washington D.C.'s gun ban, the U.S. Supreme Court announced today they will hear challenges to Chicago's similar ban. The cases the SCOTUS will hear are National Rifle Association vs. City of Chicago and McDonald vs. City of Chicago. The suburbs of Morton Grove, Wilmette, Evanston and Winnetka all dropped similar bans to avoid costly lawsuits after last year's D.C. decision. Chicago's ban has been in place for 27 years. more ›

Buffalo Grove's American Needle Inc. is heading to the Supreme Court thanks to a fight with the NFL. The company had been one of many that had previously sued the NFL for violating federal antitrust law when the league signed an exclusive merch licensing deal with Reebok in 2001. American Needle lost its suit and its appeal against the NFL and the league took the case to the Supreme Court hoping to get a more broad ruling against smaller lawsuits, though American Needle has pursued a high court ruling as well. According to the Associated Press, "Football team owners hope the high court will issue a broader decision that would insulate the NFL against what they contend are costly, frivolous antitrust lawsuits." [AP, WBEZ] more ›

• The WHO has declared the swine flu outbreak a global pandemic, the first in 41 years. One company who is benefiting is local company Baxter.
• The Supreme Court has turned down Conrad Black's request for release on bail pending his appeal.
• Mayor Daley surfaced long enough today to confirm layoff notices to city workers will be going out tomorrow.

With a U.S. Court of Appeals recently upholding the city's handgun ban, another fight is brewing between the city and the NRA as the case is likely to head to the U.S. Supreme Court. And CBS 2 spent some time talking to gun owners here in the city who are carrying illegally. more ›

The Associated Press is reporting that President Obama has selected federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court to replace retiring Justice David Souter. Sotomayor, who is currently serving the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, would be the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Earlier speculation had surrounded Judge Diane Wood, of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, located here in Chicago, as a potential nominee. President Obama is due to hold a press conference at 9:15 a.m. this morning to make the announcement. We'll keep an eye on it right here. more ›

• There was a delay on the Blue Line this afternoon when a woman fell on the tracks. Service and power were restored at around 2:30 p.m
• The CTA Tattler takes a look at how the CTA avoided additional fare hikes...for now.
• The Supreme Court has agreed to consider reviewing the case of former Sun-Times owner Conrad Black.

• Major airlines are set to do the hokey pokey at O'Hare on June 1 and United will be sharing space at Terminal 1 with Continental.
• Michael Norton, owner of Norton Sweet Shop - a West Side convenience store - was shot and killed in an attempted robbery last night.
• More change coming to Chicago's parking meters: by the end of the year, 3,000 cash-free payment boxes - on which you can use credit cards - will be installed.

Illinois Judge Diane Wood, one of President Obama's prospects to fill the upcoming vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, will be in the spotlight on Wednesday during oral arguments Wednesday in a case involving religious expression. The arguments will take place at the Dirksen Federal Building. more ›

With such amazing weather this weekend, we can understand if you missed a few things we covered on Saturday and Sunday. If you did, be sure to check 'em out. We looked at: more ›