It's not the first time ethical questions have been raised about Justice Clarence Thomas, who is Catholic. He should know better, says columnist Michael Sean Winters.
Michael Sean Winters: Martin Luther King Jr. rekindles the promise of American democracy and taps into the moral force of our egalitarian ideals and articulates them in idioms that are necessarily religious but not sectarian.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: Video from the insurrection conveys reality; law prof looks at legal issues in assessing the constitutional reach and limits of exemptions from vaccine mandates; Where's George Orwell?
Justice Samuel Alito called it a "wisp" of a decision — a Supreme Court ruling June 17 that favored Catholic Social Services in Philadelphia but was far from the constitutional gale wind that would have reshaped how courts interpret religious liberty under the First Amendment.
Distinctly Catholic: With 23 pending decisions in June for the U.S. Supreme Court, we will be watching how far the conservative majority will go in overturning precedents it does not like, and reaching sweeping decisions that fundamentally change the legal landscape.
Michael Sean Winters rounds up political news and commentary: More faults of the Pennsylvania grand jury report; hopeful climate news from Denmark; saving the Democrats from themselves; a hit job on Cardinal Cupich.
Commentary: Attorney General William Barr has launched a spree of federal executions, and when most of the Catholic Supreme Court justices ruled to vacate stays of execution, they effected these killings.
Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court late Oct. 26 by a deeply divided Senate, with Republicans overpowering Democrats to install President Donald Trump's nominee days before the election and secure a likely conservative court majority for years to come.
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear cases stemming from President Donald Trump's immigration policies related to financing border wall construction and the requirement that asylum-seekers remain in Mexico until their claims are processed.