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Trump asks high court to allow DOGE access to Social Security records 

<img src="https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-loaded/v1/XjFH2Vuro2fdQIZcqMVcnnn9ye8UNv30" border=0 width="1" height="1" alt="Trump asks high court to allow DOGE access to Social Security records " title="Trump asks high court to allow DOGE access to Social Security records "> <p>The Trump administration came to the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, asking the justices to pause a preliminary injunction issued by a federal judge in Maryland that temporarily bars members of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the records of the Social Security Administration. The order by Senior U.S. District Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24A1063/358032/20250502151449738_SSA%20v.%20AFSCME%20stay%20final%20with%20appendix.pdf">U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote</a>, “does not merely halt the Executive Branch’s critically important efforts to improve its information-technology infrastructure and waste,” but “also constitutes inappropriate superintendence of a coequal branch.” </p> <span id="more-505620"></span> <p>President Donald Trump formed DOGE, which is not a cabinet-level department, through an executive order that he signed on the first day of his second term in office. In February, two labor unions and a grassroots advocacy group, the Alliance for Retired Americans, went to federal court in Baltimore, Md., to challenge SSA’s decision to provide DOGE with access to its records. They contended that SSA had “abandoned its commitment to maintaining the privacy of personal data” for millions of Americans. </p> <p>In March, Hollander temporarily barred SSA from giving DOGE team members access to SSA records, and in April it extended that prohibition while litigation continued in the lower courts. </p> <p>By a vote of 9-6, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit turned down the government’s request to put Hollander’s order on hold. That prompted the government to come to the Supreme Court on Friday afternoon, asking the justices to intervene. </p> <p>Sauer argued first that the challengers in this case do not have a legal right to sue, known as standing, because they cannot show that their members have actually been injured by the actions that they seek to stop. Although they contend that “the disclosure of their personal information to SSA DOGE team members constitutes an invasion of their privacy,” he wrote, they do not allege that their personal information has been revealed to anyone outside the government. Indeed, he noted, everyone who works at SSA – including DOGE team members – “are bound by the same legal and ethical restrictions on the disclosure” of personal information. Moreover, Sauer added, the challengers’ members voluntarily gave their information to the SSA, knowing that it “would routinely be used by agency employees and others within and outside the government to perform the types of activities that the SSA DOGE team members plan to undertake.” </p> <p>Sauer next contended that Hollander did not have the power to review the challengers’ claim because an agency’s decision about “which employees may access particular agency data” is not the kind of final agency action that courts can review under the federal law governing administrative agencies. If it were, he told the justices, such a definition “would have sweeping and untenable consequences,” opening the door for federal courts to review “virtually every aspect of an agency’s internal management of its employees.”</p> <p>Sauer urged the justices to intervene, telling them that Hollander’s order “imposes a significant obstacle to executing one of the President’s chief policy initiatives.” By contrast, he noted, there is no permanent harm to the challengers if the order is put on hold. In fact, he emphasized, the 4th Circuit granted the government’s request to put on hold another order by a district court in Maryland barring disclosure of some records to DOGE members by the Departments of the Treasury and Education, as well as the Office of Personnel Management. </p> <p>Sauer also asked the court to issue an administrative stay – that is, to temporarily pause Hollander’s order to give it time to consider the government’s request. “The district court’s flawed injunction,” he concluded, “forecloses the Executive Branch from carrying out the pressing priorities of modernizing government information systems and ferreting out fraud, waste, and abuse.” The district court, he continued, “has now blocked these time-sensitive efforts for over a month, without any legal basis for doing so.” </p> <p>The court on Friday afternoon directed the challengers to file their response by 4 p.m. on Monday, May 12. It did not act (at least immediately) on Sauer’s request for an administrative stay. </p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/05/trump-asks-high-court-to-allow-doge-access-to-social-security-records/">Trump asks high court to allow DOGE access to Social Security records </a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com">SCOTUSblog</a>.</p>

mingooland · · 4 min read
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Politics

The application of the "continuing violations” doctrine beyond "hostile workplace” claims

<img src="https://api.follow.it/track-rss-story-loaded/v1/IfVLmgUA43nDD4jzaWTdGXn9ye8UNv30" border=0 width="1" height="1" alt="The application of the "continuing violations” doctrine beyond "hostile workplace” claims" title="The application of the "continuing violations” doctrine beyond "hostile workplace” claims"> <p><em>The Relist Watch column examines cert petitions that the Supreme Court has “relisted” for its upcoming conference. A short explanation of relists is available </em><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/faqs-announcements-of-orders-and-opinions/#relists_explained"><em>here</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p>The Supreme Court continues its recent streak of “promoting” relists to granted cases, as the court granted review in <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/the-hain-celestial-group-inc-v-palmquist/"><em>The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. v. Palmquist</em></a>, a lawsuit by parents seeking to hold a baby-food producer responsible for their child’s autism. The justices agreed to decide whether a federal district court’s final judgment in favor of the producer must be completely thrown out when the case is sent back to the state court because the district court should not have dismissed another defendant, the grocery chain Whole Foods, from the case. </p> <span id="more-505605"></span> <p>The court declined to take up a second question presented in that case: whether a plaintiff may defeat diversity jurisdiction after the case is transferred to federal court by amending the complaint to add new factual allegations when the complaint at the time of removal did not state such a claim.</p> <p>Turning to new business: There are 95 petitions and applications scheduled for this week’s conference. The justices will be discussing just one of them for a second time: <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/nicholson-v-w-l-york-inc-dba-cover-girls/"><em>Nicholson v. W.L. York, Inc. dba Cover Girls</em></a>, in which the justices have been asked to decide when the statute of limitations begins to run on a claim of a “pattern or practice” of racial discrimination.</p> <p>Chanel Nicholson, an African-American dancer, sued several Houston-area clubs under <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/1981">42 U.S.C. § 1981</a>, which prohibits racial discrimination in making and enforcing contracts. Nicholson alleged that the clubs maintained an explicit and continuing policy of limiting how many Black dancers could perform during any given shift. She says she was repeatedly denied work because of this quota, including in 2014, 2017, and most recently in 2021. </p> <p>In August 2021, Nicholson filed suit against the clubs, but the district court dismissed her case, concluding that <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1658">the applicable four-year statute of limitations</a> began to run in 2014 and the claims were thus barred. The <a href="https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/23-20440/23-20440-2024-03-04.pdf?ts=1709598617">U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit affirmed</a> in a brief per curiam opinion. </p> <p>The 5th Circuit noted that in <em>National Railroad Passenger Corp. v. Morgan</em>, the Supreme Court recognized a “continuing violations doctrine” under which acts of discrimination were considered part of “one continuing violation,” such that an action would be timely if the last act were timely. But the 5th Circuit said that theory applied only to “hostile workplace” claims, which Nicholson had not pleaded. It concluded that “the act of discrimination that she alleges took place in 2021 … was merely a continuation of [the clubs’] original act of discrimination that she alleges took place in 2014, upon which the limitations period has already elapsed.”</p> <p>Nicholson filed <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-7490/309933/20240516160644252_20240516-155948-00003433-00004809.pdf">her petition</a> pro se – by herself, as a layperson – but retained Supreme Court counsel in time to file her <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-7490/355368/20250411133020649_23-7490--Nicholson%20-%20Cert%20Reply%2004-11%20rtf.pdf">reply brief</a>. She argues that the circuits are divided five to four on whether the continuing violations doctrine applies exclusively to hostile workplace claims, or whether it also applies to claims involving a pattern or practice of unlawful conduct. </p> <p>Opposing review, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/23/23-7490/337373/20250115144034230_2025.01.15%20-%20Respondent%20Brief%20in%20Opposition%20-%20Nicholson%20I.pdf">the clubs argue</a> that the 2021 incidents in which Nicholson alleges that she was denied entry or not hired were merely effects of the original alleged discriminatory acts, not new violations that reset the statute of limitations. And they argue that there is no genuine split among the courts of appeals justifying Supreme Court review. Rather, they say, the federal appeals courts uniformly apply the continuing violations doctrine only in hostile work environment cases, and not to revive time-barred discrete acts of discrimination.</p> <p>[Disclosure: I am among Nicholson’s counsel.] </p> <p>We should have a better idea soon whether the justices agree to hear Nicholson’s case in the fall. Until next time!</p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-new-relists"><strong>New Relists</strong></h3> <p><a></a><a></a><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/cases/case-files/nicholson-v-w-l-york-inc-dba-cover-girls/"><em>Nicholson v. W.L. York, Inc. dba Cover Girls</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/23-7490.html">23-7490</a></p> <p><strong>Issue: </strong>Whether the continuing violations doctrine applies to claims premised on a pattern or practice of discrimination, or instead applies only in the context of hostile work environment claims.</p> <p>(Relisted after the April 25 conference.)</p> <h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Returning Relists</strong></h3> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/apache-stronghold-v-united-states/"><em>Apache Stronghold v. United States</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-291.html">24-291</a></p> <p><strong>Issue</strong>: Whether the government “substantially burdens” religious exercise under the <a href="https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/jmd/legacy/2014/07/24/act-pl103-141.pdf">Religious Freedom Restoration Act</a>, or must satisfy heightened scrutiny under the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, when it singles out a sacred site for complete physical destruction, ending specific religious rituals forever.</p> <p>(Relisted after the Dec. 6, Dec. 13, Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, Feb. 21, Feb. 28, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 4, April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/ocean-state-tactical-llc-v-rhode-island/"><em>Ocean State Tactical, LLC v. Rhode Island</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-131.html">24-131</a></p> <p><strong>Issues: </strong>(1) Whether a retrospective and confiscatory ban on the possession of ammunition-feeding devices that are in common use violates the Second Amendment; and (2) whether a law dispossessing citizens without compensation of property that they lawfully acquired and long possessed without incident violates the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment.</p> <p>(Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, Feb. 21, Feb. 28, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 4, April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/snope-v-brown/"><em>Snope v. Brown</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-203.html">24-203</a></p> <p><strong>Issue:</strong> Whether the Constitution permits Maryland to ban semiautomatic rifles that are in common use for lawful purposes, including the most popular rifle in America.</p> <p>(Relisted after the Jan. 10, Jan. 17, Jan. 24, Feb. 21, Feb. 28, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 4, April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/l-m-v-town-of-middleborough-massachusetts/"><em>L.M. v. Town of Middleborough, Massachusetts</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-410.html">24-410</a></p> <p><strong>Issue</strong>: Whether school officials may presume substantial disruption or a violation of the rights of others from a student’s silent, passive, and untargeted ideological speech simply because that speech relates to matters of personal identity, even when the speech responds to the school’s opposing views, actions, or policies.</p> <p>(Relisted after the Feb. 21, Feb. 28, March 7, March 21, March 28, April 4, April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/first-choice-womens-resource-centers-inc-v-platkin/"><em>First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-781.html">24-781</a></p> <p>Issue: Where the subject of a state investigatory demand has established a reasonably objective chill of its First Amendment rights, is a federal court in a first-filed action deprived of jurisdiction because those rights must be adjudicated in state court?</p> <p>(Relisted after the April 4, April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p><a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/ghp-management-corporation-v-city-of-los-angeles-california/"><em>GHP Management Corp v. City of Los Angeles, California</em></a>, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/24-435.html">24-435</a></p> <p><strong>Issue</strong>: Whether an eviction moratorium depriving property owners of the fundamental right to exclude nonpaying tenants effects a physical taking.</p> <p>(Relisted after the April 17 and April 25 conferences.)</p> <p>The post <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/05/the-application-of-the-continuing-violations-doctrine-beyond-hostile-workplace-claims/">The application of the “continuing violations” doctrine beyond “hostile workplace” claims</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com">SCOTUSblog</a>.</p>

mingooland · · 6 min read
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