The U.S. Supreme Court today announced it will hear a Colorado case challenging whether jurors' claims of racially charged comments by another juror can overcome the need for secrecy in jury deliberations, The Associated Press reports. The appeal is from a Hispanic man who claimed he did not have a fair trial because a juror made offensive comments about Mexicans. Attorneys were told about the comment after the jury convicted the man of sexually harassing two women in a bathroom. 

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld that state and local governments can continue their longstanding method of drawing state and municipal election districts, USA Today reports. The unanimous decision denied an effort by conservatives in a Texas case that argued only eligible voters should be counted rather than drawing districts with roughly equal numbers of residents. "Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries," Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote.

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday ruled the government cannot, before trial, freeze assets needed to pay criminal defense lawyers if the assets are not linked to a crime. NPR reports the 5-3 ruling came in a Miami case where prosecutors received a court order to freeze assets of a woman who had fraudulently obtained $45 million. The woman challenged the asset-seizure order on grounds that she needed the untainted assets to hire a lawyer for trial.

Sixteen Republican U.S. senators say they will meet with President Obama’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. NBC News reports the number is over 25 percent of the GOP Caucus. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, will be the first to meet with Garland in a meeting planned for today.

The U.S. Supreme Court today asked for additional information on both sides in Zubik v. Burwell, in which religious nonprofits are seeking an exemption from the Obama administration’s contraceptive coverage rule. The order instructs parties in the suit “to examine the minimum the groups must do in order to register their objection to paying for contraception,” the Associated Press reports. The court set an April 20 deadline. A 4-4 split has previously been predicted in the case, which would leave different rules in place in different parts of the country.

The U.S. Supreme Court appears deeply divided over the arrangement devised by the Obama administration to spare faith-based groups from having to pay for birth control for women covered under their health plans. The court's conservative justices sounded supportive Wednesday of the groups' complaint that the administration's effort violates their religious rights. The four liberal justices seem likely to vote to uphold the accommodation, News Channel 9 reports.

The first tie vote in the U.S. Supreme Court since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia came yesterday during a complicated loan dispute case. Spouses of two Missouri developers say they were improperly required to guarantee their husbands’ business loans. The 4-4 split leaves intact a lower court decision against the spouses, The Kansas City Star reports.

The Supreme Court today upheld a judgment against Tyson Foods Inc. in a pay dispute with more than 3,000 Iowa employees who claimed they were stiffed overtime pay. The Huffington Post reports the employees were seeking pay for time spent putting on protective equipment before slaughtering animals. In a 6-2 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected Tyson’s arguments that the plaintiffs improperly relied on statistical average of time spent putting on equipment and that the company should not have been forced to defend a class-action lawsuit. 

President Barack Obama today nominated Judge Merrick Garland, 63, to the U.S. Supreme Court to fill the vacancy left by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Garland, chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, was considered for previous vacant Supreme Court seats. As President Bill Clinton's pick, he was confirmed to the D.C. court in 1997 with a 76-23 Senate vote. His experience prior to the bench includes leading the investigation into and prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. CNN reports Senate Republicans do not plan to have hearings on Garland, but the president encouraged the Senate to not treat Garland like a “political piñata.” Tennessee's Republican U.S. Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker today again suggested that the next president should fill the Supreme Court vacancy, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will release a collection of speeches and writings in January 2017, the Associated Press reports. The book, “My Own Words,” will also include introductions and interview excerpts from Ginsburg’s authorized biographers.