The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled that the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial does not protect the right to a speedy sentence, the ABA Journal reports. The unanimous opinion was against a Montana man who argued for a reduction in his sentence after waiting in jail more than 14 months following his guilty plea.

The U.S. Supreme Court today avoided ruling on the dispute between faith-based groups and the Obama administration over birth control when it asked lower courts to reach a compromise on the issue. The unanimous opinion said it would not rule on the merits of the challenge and effectively threw out lower court rulings that had favored the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive mandate. Religious nonprofits claimed they could reject the requirement under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. “The decision to send the case back to the appellate level appears to be a direct impact of Justice Antonin Scalia's death in February,” CNN reports.

Presidential hopeful Donald Trump said that if elected, he would appoint Supreme Court justices who would likely overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that legalized abortion. The Huffington Post reports Trump made the comments regarding his now pro-life stance yesterday while on Fox News with host Bill O’Reilly. 

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once again reiterated that, if elected, he would only consider nominating someone to the U.S. Supreme Court if they publicly committed to overturning Citizens United. Sanders added that he would ask President Obama to withdraw his nomination of Merrick Garland, Today's General Counsel reports. 

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the stripes, chevrons and color blocks on cheerleader uniforms can be copyrighted under federal law, Reuters reports. The court announced yesterday it will review an August 2015 ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that revived a lawsuit by Memphis-based Varsity Brands Inc. The company accuses Star Athletica LLC of infringing on its designs. The ABA Journal said the case could affect a broad array of costumes, including those worn at comic conventions. The court is likely to hear arguments and decide the case in its next term.

“It is all but certain the seat will remain vacant until after U.S. elections in November,” Bloomberg predicts as the outlet reports television ad spending to support Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland has plummeted in the last two weeks. Fourteen Republican Senators have met with Garland, but just two support a public hearing on his nomination. 

The Washington Redskins filed a petition yesterday asking the U.S. supreme Court to to hear its case over its controversial trademark. The NFL team is asking for its case to be heard alongside The Slants, an Asian-American band, who wants to trademark their name. A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the band’s trademark attempt, but the government has asked the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. The case challenges the same piece of U.S. law that the Redskins’ case does, CNN Money reports.  

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland praised lawyers for their work with low-income Washingtonians yesterday in his first public remarks since his nomination last month, The Associated Press reports. The appearance at the federal courthouse in Washington – where he is the chief judge of the appeals court – was part of the White House’s effort to familiarize the public with him. Garland has met with roughly 40 senators so far, but there are no signs that Republicans will allow hearings on his nomination. 

Democratic Presidential contender Bernie Sanders last week said he would demand a public commitment that any U.S. Supreme Court nominee would vote to overturn a precedent Sanders did not like. An opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times criticizes Sanders’ approach: "(It) is not just politically stupid; it undermines the independence of the judiciary.” The author adds, “No lawyer in his or her right mind would make such a commitment to a president or to the Senate.”

Fifteen former presidents of the American Bar Association said in a letter to U.S. Senate leaders that “there is no election-year exception” and call for hearings on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. The Associated Press reports the legal advocates said the GOP blockade is "injecting politics into the courts that lmaterially hampers the effective operation' of the judiciary."