The Trump Administration can move forward with a rule to make it harder for immigrants who rely on public assistance to gain legal status while a court challenge plays out, the Supreme Court ruled today. The vote of 5-4 lifts a nationwide injunction on the proposal while the case plays out in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, the Hill reports. The rule would make it easier for immigration officials to deny entry or legal status to people deemed likely to rely on government assistance.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has declared she is cancer free, beating the disease for the fourth time after undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer this past summer, CNN reports. The 86-year-old justice, one of the oldest to serve on the court, offered the health update in an interview with the cable company this week. She previously fought lung cancer in 2018, pancreatic cancer in 2009 and colon cancer in 1999. Read the full interview.

In his annual year-end report, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts touted the independence of the judiciary and the role of judges in promoting civic education, the Associated Press reports. “In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public’s need to understand our government and the protections it provides is ever more vital,? Roberts wrote. Judges must continue promoting public confidence in the judiciary, through their rulings and civic outreach, he said. The report also highlights the availability of online opinions, mock trials sponsored by the federal courts, learning centers in several courthouses and the work of retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who founded the group iCivics to promote civic education in schools. 

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in another case regarding the Affordable Care Act, the fifth time the justices have reviewed the law, Nashville Public Radio reports. The suit, brought by insurance companies participating in the program, claims that the law’s requirement that the government reimburse insurers that lose money from covering preexisting conditions was violated when Congress barred use of federal funds for that purpose. The companies claim that the government has cheated them out of $12 billion.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday blocked the Trump administration from restarting federal executions after a 16-year break, WREG reports. The justices denied the administration’s plea to undo a lower court ruling in favor of inmates who had been given execution dates starting this week. U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced over the summer that federal executions would resume using a single drug, pentobarbital, to put inmates to death. That plan was challenged for violating the Federal Death Penalty Act by some of the inmates scheduled for execution.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments today in the first gun rights case to come before the justices in 10 years, National Public Radio reports. The case centered on New York state law and New York City regulations that prohibited handgun owners from carrying their weapons anywhere other than firing ranges within the city limits. That meant they could not carry their handguns to a second home or shooting ranges or competitions in other states. When the high court agreed to hear the case, the state and the city changed the law to allow the transportation of locked and unloaded guns to these locations. So, what is left for the court to decide? Arguments today centered on two points: whether the case should be dismissed for mootness and whether the amended regulations still give the city too much power to regulate gun ownership.

The U.S. Supreme Court will consider a case tomorrow that tests whether annotations in state codes can be copyrighted or whether they are considered “government edicts” — judicial writings and other official legal works published under state authority that are not “the proper subject of private copyright” per an 1888 court decision. In the current case, the state of Georgia argues that annotations — drafted and sold by legal publishers such as LexisNexis — are “derivative works” under the Copyright Act of 1790 and may be copyrighted. Also of interest, a group of “next generation” legal research platforms, including Fastcase, argue in an amicus brief that the government edicts doctrine should control, the ABA Journal reports.

A lawsuit filed by the parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School victims is moving forward at the state level after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block it, NPR reports. Originally filed in 2014, the suit says the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, the same kind used by a gunman to kill 20 first-graders and six adults at Sandy Hook, should never have been sold to the public because it is a military-style weapon. It also accuses Remington of violating Connecticut’s unfair trade practices law by marketing and promoting use of the rifle in “assaults against human beings.” Since the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear Remington’s appeal of the suit, it will return to lower court in Connecticut where it will hinge on how Remington marketed the gun.

As the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments over the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, one of the attorneys joining in defense of the program is himself a "Dreamer," benefitting from DACA protection. Co-counsel Luis Cortes joins former Solicitor General Theodore Olson and a team of lawyers arguing that the actions taken by the Trump administration to end the program are arbitrary and subject to review by the courts. DACA shields from deportation nearly 700,000 immigrants who came to the United States before age 16 and meet other strict criteria. CNN has more about Cortes and Tuesday's arguments.

Twelve Tennessee lawyers were sworn in yesterday to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in a ceremony in Washington, D.C. TBA Past President Jason Pannu was on hand to move the admission of the group, which also included TBA Executive Director Joycelyn Stevenson and TBA President Sarah Sheppeard. The group arrived in D.C. Sunday afternoon for a reception at the historic Hay-Adams Hotel, and following yesterday morning’s ceremony, heard oral arguments in Barton v. Barr and Kansas v. Glover. They later enjoyed a tour of the Capitol conducted by staff from Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s office. Those admitted include James (Anthony) Bradley, Mary (Beth) Bradley, William (Bill) Bradley, Jr., Judge Angelita Blackshear Dalton, Crystal Jessee, Melinda Jewell, Rachel Lambert, Jennifer Sisson, Richard Spore, Matthew Stephens, Rachel Stephens, and Lynn Thompson.