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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 leaked memo from House Republicans reveals cutting provisions from Obamacare such as Medicaid expansions and subsidies for health insurance.
2017-02-25

The Trump administration decides to not immediately appeal the Ninth Circuit's decision, which continues the travel ban suspension, to the Supreme Court.
2017-02-10

The Supreme Court of the United States accepts a petition by five people from American Samoa arguing that people born in this U.S. territory are entitled to U.S citizenship under the United States Constitution. The State Department currently opposes this idea.
2016-06-2

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 United States Supreme Court, in a 6-2 ruling, essentially upholds the state of Colorado's legalization of marijuana, turning down complaints by the neighboring states of Nebraska and Oklahoma that, by federal and their state law, Colorado's statutes allow "illegal marijuana" to pour into their states. Last year, the justices asked the federal government to weigh in; in December, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. urged the court to turn away the lawsuit. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
2016-03-21

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