Elena Kagan

The Supreme Court's current session is likely to prove one of the most important in many years. At the heart of a case the justices will consider is the individual mandate in President Obama's Affordable Care Act , which requires every American to purchase health insurance. If the Supreme Court upholds the individual mandate, it will set a precedent for future Congresses and expand the federal government's reach into our everyday lives. But the outcome of the case is not the only issue of...

Immigrants who are convicted of minor marijuana offenses are not subject to mandatory deportation, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Those whose crime amounts to a "social sharing of a small amount of marijuana" should be able to at least ask the attorney general to spare them automatic deportation, the court ruled 7 to 2. The court sided with Adrian Moncrieffe , who came to the United States legally from Jamaica in 1984 when he was 3...

The Supreme Court debated Tuesday whether Maryland's decision to collect DNA samples from people arrested for serious crimes represents an unconstitutional invasion of privacy or a crime-solving breakthrough with the potential to be the "fingerprinting of the 21st century. " Either way, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said, the case is "perhaps the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades. " At issue are laws in 29 states and on the federal level that allow some version of DNA collections.

The oral arguments last week on same-sex marriage showed clearly the Supreme Court's familiar fault line between liberal justices nominated by Democratic presidents and conservatives named by Republicans. But a decision that got a little lost in the shuffle displayed a different kind of split on the court. And it may become more noticeable as the term continues and the justices dig deep on a part of the Constitution that has divided and vexed their predecessors as well. The question is how to balance law enforcement interests...

Books and other goods manufactured overseas can be imported and sold in the United States without the permission of the copyright holders, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a case important to eBay and the country's big discount stores. The court ruled 6 to 3 that the same rules that apply to goods made and purchased in the United States govern those made overseas. Once the products have been legally purchased, the new owners are free to sell or lend them as they see fit, the court said.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. on Thursday joined the Supreme Court's liberals to save the heart of President Obama's landmark health-care law, agreeing that the requirement for nearly all Americans to secure insurance is permissible under Congress's taxing authority. The court's 5 to 4 ruling was a stunning legal conclusion to a battle that has consumed American politics for two years. Roberts's compromise offered a dramatic victory for Obama and Democrats' decades-long effort to enact a health-care law and a...

Police must be sensitive to the age of child suspects when deciding whether to inform them of their Miranda right against self-incrimination, an ideologically split Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the majority, said the 5 to 4 ruling was merely a "commonsense" application of the court's previous findings that children are not "miniature adults" and should be treated differently. The court ruled in favor of a 13-year-old...

A divided Supreme Court ruled for the first time Wednesday that the guarantee of effective legal representation applies to plea bargain agreements, significantly expanding the constitutional rights of defendants as they move through the criminal justice system. In a pair of cases decided by 5 to 4 votes, the court opened a new avenue for defendants to challenge their sentences on grounds that their attorneys gave them faulty advice, lawyers on both sides of the issue said. The vast majority...

Some people seemed like they'd be naturals for the Supreme Court, but it never happened. No opening on the court materialized when they hit their prime, or the wrong president was in office when the chance presented itself. Some people seemed like naturals, and it worked out. John G. Roberts Jr. and Elena Kagan, for instance, were mentioned as potential stars early in their careers. Roberts was 37 and Kagan 39 when presidents of their parties tried to put them on the U.S. Court...

Justice Clarence Thomas broke his nearly seven-year silence at Supreme Court oral arguments Monday. But no one is sure exactly what he said. Thomas seemed to be making a lighthearted joke about lawyers trained at his alma mater, Yale Law School, or its rival, Harvard; the Ivy League is a common Thomas target. But several justices were speaking and laughing at the time, and Thomas's exact comments apparently are lost to history. It was over so quickly that some observers hadn't...

Books and other goods manufactured overseas can be imported and sold in the United States without the permission of the copyright holders, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a case important to eBay and the country's big discount stores. The court ruled 6 to 3 that the same rules that apply to goods made and purchased in the United States govern those made overseas. Once the products have been legally purchased, the new owners are free to sell or lend them as they see fit, the court said.

The Supreme Court debated Tuesday whether Maryland's decision to collect DNA samples from people arrested for serious crimes represents an unconstitutional invasion of privacy or a crime-solving breakthrough with the potential to be the "fingerprinting of the 21st century. " Either way, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said, the case is "perhaps the most important criminal procedure case that this court has heard in decades. " At issue are laws in 29 states and on the federal level that allow some version of DNA...

Not everything that floats is a boat, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday, even if it is docked at a marina. Case in point: Fane Lozman's approximately 60-by-12-foot floating two-story home, which featured French doors and a staircase but no motor or rudder. The city of Riviera Beach, Fla., trying to evict Lozman, declared it a "vessel" and used federal maritime law to win a judgment against the former Marine. The city eventually bought the floating home when it was being auctioned off to satisfy the judgment...

Justice Clarence Thomas broke his nearly seven-year silence at Supreme Court oral arguments Monday. But no one is sure exactly what he said. Thomas seemed to be making a lighthearted joke about lawyers trained at his alma mater, Yale Law School, or its rival, Harvard; the Ivy League is a common Thomas target. But several justices were speaking and laughing at the time, and Thomas's exact comments apparently are lost to history. It was over so quickly that some observers hadn't...

It takes a calculator and perhaps the rigor of Sherlock Holmes to cut through the partisan rhetoric about President Obama's first-term record on judicial nominations. But the bottom line is clear enough. There are more vacancies on the federal courts now than when Obama took office nearly four years ago. And he is the first president in generations to fail to put a nominee on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, the second most influential court in the land and traditionally a training ground for Supreme...

BOSTON — The two candidates in the nation's most high-profile Senate race met Thursday for their first debate — one in which Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) portrayed himself as an antidote to Washington's crippling partisanship, and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren cast herself as a champion against moneyed interests. Both were on the attack in a clash that underscored their very different strategies. Warren, a Harvard Law School professor and first-time...

The oral arguments last week on same-sex marriage showed clearly the Supreme Court's familiar fault line between liberal justices nominated by Democratic presidents and conservatives named by Republicans. But a decision that got a little lost in the shuffle displayed a different kind of split on the court. And it may become more noticeable as the term continues and the justices dig deep on a part of the Constitution that has divided and vexed their predecessors as well. The question is how to balance law enforcement interests...

Immigrants who are convicted of minor marijuana offenses are not subject to mandatory deportation, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Those whose crime amounts to a "social sharing of a small amount of marijuana" should be able to at least ask the attorney general to spare them automatic deportation, the court ruled 7 to 2. The court sided with Adrian Moncrieffe , who came to the United States legally from Jamaica in 1984 when he was 3...

Before the Supreme Court ruled on President Obama's health-care law , the warnings that the public should be alert to a "political decision" all came from the left. Liberals said that a ruling by the five conservative, Republican-nominated justices to strike down the signature domestic achievement of a Democratic president and a Democratic-controlled Congress would come with an unmistakable partisan sheen. But with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. joining the four justices nominated by Democratic...

The Supreme Court's health-care ruling is welcome because it is a compromise. The justices overcame their differences , defusing political conflict and channeling it into the election where it belongs. But the ruling is historic because it is a Compromise — a crisis-averting pact across lines of ideology, party and region, the likes of which we have not seen since pre-Civil War days. Four of the court's five Republican-appointed conservatives wanted to strike down the Democratic Party's most cherished...