Supreme Court won’t take Maryland bump stock ban case
The Supreme Court of the United States is declining to take up a challenge to Maryland’s ban on bump stocks and other devices that make guns fire faster.
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An unusual coalition as Supreme Court rules for immigrant
An unusual coalition of Supreme Court justices joined Thursday to rule in favor of an immigrant fighting deportation in a case that the court said turned on the meaning of the shortest word, “a.”
Biden’s declaration: America’s democracy ‘is rising anew’
President Joe Biden declared that “America is rising anew” as he called for an expansion of federal programs to drive the economy past the coronavirus pandemic and broadly extend the social safety net on a scale not seen in decades.
What to watch during Biden’s 1st big speech to Congress
President Joe Biden is putting the finishing touches on his first address to a joint session of Congress, a prime-time speech on Wednesday night on the eve of his 100th day in office.
Web Exclusive: Supreme Court commission goes beyond ‘court packing’
President Joe Biden has created the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, a group tasked with studying court reforms ranging from the number of justices to their tenure to their jurisdiction. But will the work of the commission lead to sweeping reforms?
Census shows Indiana grows, retains all 9 US House seats
Indiana’s population grew about 5% during the past decade to nearly 6.8 million residents and the state held onto its nine U.S. House seats, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday in the first release of data from the 2020 national headcount.
House seat numbers can’t be released before next week
The numbers used for deciding how many congressional seats each state gets can’t be released before Monday, according to an agreement that settles litigation between the U.S. Census Bureau and a coalition of local governments and civil rights groups.
DC statehood approved by House as Senate fight looms
A decades-long movement to reshape the American political map took a further step Thursday as the House of Representatives approved a bill to make the nation’s capital the 51st state.
Pelosi floats new proposal for bipartisan Jan. 6 commission
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is renewing her push for a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, floating a new proposal to Republicans that would evenly split the panel’s membership between the two parties.
Holcomb signs bill expanding aid to small businesses hurt by pandemic
Additional relief from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will soon be on the way to Hoosier small businesses, as Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill Monday creating a grant program that extends and expands existing aid.
After outcry, Biden plans to lift refugee cap in May
President Joe Biden plans to lift his predecessor’s historically low cap on refugees by next month, after initially moving only to expand the eligibility criteria for resettlements and getting swift blowback from allies in return.
Guitarist from Indiana first suspect to plead guilty in Capitol riot
A 53-year-old heavy metal guitarist from Columbus on Friday became the first defendant to plead guilty to federal charges in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Democrats begin long-shot push to expand the Supreme Court
A group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to add four seats to the Supreme Court, a long-shot bid designed to counter the court’s rightward tilt during the Trump administration and criticized by Republicans as a potential power grab that would reduce the public’s trust in the judiciary.
Congressional panel votes to advance bill on slavery reparations
A United States House panel advanced a decades-long effort to pay reparations to the descendants of slaves by approving legislation Wednesday that would create a commission to study the issue.
Biden begins to undo Trump’s ban on abortion referrals
The Biden administration on Wednesday began to undo a Trump-era ban on clinics referring women for abortions, a policy directive that drove Planned Parenthood from the federal family planning program and created new complications for women trying to get birth control.
Watchdog lays bare Capitol Police’s riot security failures
A blistering internal report by the U.S. Capitol Police describes a multitude of missteps that left the force unprepared for the Jan. 6 insurrection — riot shields that shattered upon impact, expired weapons that couldn’t be used, inadequate training and an intelligence division that had few set standards.
Innovation needed to bridge patent diversity gap, attorneys say
A bill introduced in the U.S. Senate in March seeks to quantify the lack of diversity among patent holders. The Inventor Diversity for Economic Advancement Act of 2021 — or IDEA Act — would require the USPTO to collect inventors’ demographic information, including race and gender.
Hartz: New procedures on the way from recent (and future?) IP legislation
Amid all the news around the new year, you might have missed that the variety of changes to federal intellectual property laws, the Trademark Modernization Act (TMA) and the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act (CASE Act).
Perry and Cahr: Important new laws will have ripple effect for IP owners, practitioners
A final surprise for 2020 emerged from December’s marathon omnibus spending and COVID-19 relief negotiations. Congress included a trio of notable and hotly debated intellectual property measures in its multi-trillion-dollar spending and relief package which could fundamentally alter the manner in which intellectual property owners protect and enforce their rights.
Schell: American Axle and issues with Section 101 patent eligibility
Should SCOTUS fail to take up the matter now or fail to address broader issues and provide a more cogent framework for Section 101 patent eligibility in its determination, I expect the next round of significant news on the subject to be Congress stepping in and acting.