Supreme Court

June 4, 2013

This week the Supreme Court considers the issue of gay marriage; on Tuesday the Court heard opening arguments concerning Proposition Eight in California, which prohibits same-sex couples from  marrying in that state, and today the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is on the docket. Midday on the Supreme Court and gay marriage today at noon.

Baltimore native Thurgood Marshall is an American legal legend for his role in the landmark Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education, and for later becoming the nation’s first black Supreme Court justice. In Young Thurgood: The Making of a Supreme Court Justice, University of Maryland law professor Larry S. Gibson delivers the definitive look at Marshall’s Maryland years. Original airdate 12/12/12

Jeffrey Toobin, staff writer for The New Yorker and senior legal analyst for CNN, visits Midday to discuss his latest book, “The Oath,” about the relationship between the Supreme Court of John Roberts and the White House of Barack Obama.

In our continuing series “Obamacare Demystified,” the short and long term political implications of states opting out of Medicaid expansion, an aspect of President Obama’s heath reform rejected by the Supreme Court. Eight governors have vowed to opt out. What will that mean for their constituents, their budgets and ultimately, if more states join the ranks, to Obamacare? With Sarah Kliff, who covers health policy for the Washington Post, and Michael Reisch, professor of social justice, University of Maryland School of Social Work.

Three law professors and constitutional experts discuss Thursday's Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act and Chief Justice John Roberts' shift to the more liberal side, a move that saved the health care overhaul, surprised the political left and angered the right. In finding the law legitimate on tax grounds, after rejecting the individual insurance mandate as a regulation of commerce, was the Chief Justice concerned less with law than with the court's credibility with the American public?

Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Stephen Breyer, author of Making Our Democracy Work. He talks about the responsibility of interpreting Constitutional questions.

Tom Hall talks with sports journalist Mark Hyman about the legacy the former Baltimore Colt will leave, both in terms of football, and in terms of caring for injuries.

Gus Sentementes walks Nathan Sterner through the latest in tech news.

The writer Dudley Clendinen speaks with Tom Hall, and with Lora Clawson, a nurse-practitioner at Johns Hopkins ALS clinic, about the different options available to him as ALS weakens his body.

On the docket for this edition of Midday on the law, with Jim Astrachan and Julie Rubin: The Supreme Court rules in the Wal-Mart job discrimination case and experts believe the ruling sounds the death knell for other class action suits like it. And while Maryland still debates same-sex Marriage, some county courts have already been considering same-sex divorce.