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Shortly after midnight, the federal government executes Lisa Marie Montgomery by lethal injection for the 2004 murder of Bobbie Jo Stinnett, after the Supreme Court vacated the last stay on her execution. Montgomery is the first woman to be executed by the federal government since 1953.
2021-01-13

In a 7–2 decision on "Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania", the United States Supreme Court upholds regulations that allow employers with religious or moral objections to decline to provide contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
2020-07-8

A second woman accuses US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. However, others she identified as witnesses have denied any such act occurred.
2018-09-23

The Supreme Court of the United States partially reinstates President Donald Trump's travel ban and invalidates certain injunctions that were put on the order by two federal appeals courts earlier. Final oral hearings concerning the legality of the Executive Order 13780 will be held in October 2017 at the Supreme Court.
2017-06-26

A United States federal district judge rules unconstitutional a provision in an Alabama state law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. A Florida law enacted today contains a comparable provision to Alabama's. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments a few weeks ago on the constitutionality of similar abortion restrictions in Texas.
2016-03-25

The Supreme Court of the United States, which currently has just eight justices, today heard the case brought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh ("Zubik v. Burwell", which includes similar ones by other religious organizations) that challenges the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision that employer-paid health insurance plans provide women with access to contraceptives at no additional out-of-pocket cost, and challenges the federal government accommodation offered in 2014 that would have a third-party provide the coverage with costs paid by the federal government. The plaintiffs state that both are unconstitutional because they violate the free exercise of religion. The decision is expected in June. If the result is a split decision (4-4), there would be no national precedent and each case's final decision would be the one made in court before the case was forwarded to the Supreme Court. In the group of cases presented today, all but one appeals court upheld the government mandate.
2016-03-23

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds key elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) including subsidies for healthcare policies and employer mandates, with a 6-3 vote.
2015-06-25

The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear certain major religious freedom cases that will decide whether a company that is for-profit (including family-run ones)- and other entities who are not themselves churches- can refuse to provide contraceptive coverage that would otherwise be required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; lower courts are split.
2013-11-26

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the requirement for citizens to acquire health care by 2014.
2012-06-28

President Obama nominates Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the youngest Justice and third woman for the Supreme Court of the United States.
2010-05-10