My occasional take on important, cutting-edge or interesting legal news:
Legal News
Legal News
April 30th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled, 5-4, Wednesday that states can bar judicial candidates from personally asking for campaign contributions, The Associated Press' Mark Sherman and Sam Hananel report. Chief Justice John Roberts, along with the four liberal members of the court, opined that '"judges are not politicians, even when they come to the bench by way of the ballot. A state may assure its people that judges will... Continue Reading
April 29th, 2015
It is unclear who will pay the fees for the attorneys who have been negotiating settlements of Superstorm Sandy insurance cases, The New York Law Journal's Andrew Keshner reports. The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency say that they are not statutorily authorized to pay legal fees to plaintiffs' lawyers. But insurance carriers don't want to pay the fees out of concern that they could... Continue Reading
April 29th, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today on whether a drug used in Oklahoma's lethal-injection executions violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment, Christian Science Monitor's Warren Richey reports. At issue is whether midazolam, the first drug used in a three-drug cocktail, is "reliably effective in preventing condemned prisoners from suffering an intolerable level of pain during the... Continue Reading
April 28th, 2015
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has reinstated the conviction of the first Catholic Church official to be convicted criminally for the sexual abuse of children for whose welfare he was responsible for but who he did not directly abuse, The Legal Intelligencer's Gina Passarella and Lizzy McLellan report.
The intermediate appellate court found that Monsignor William Lynn could not have been convicted for endangering the welfare of children... Continue Reading
April 28th, 2015
The National Law Journal's Tony Mauro reports that the Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments this morning about the constitutionality of several states' bans on same-sex marriage, appeared to be cautious about making sweeping change to the definition of matrimony in the United States.
According to Mauro, Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has authored several of the court's landmark decisions on LGBT rights and is... Continue Reading
April 26th, 2015
President Obama's revelation last week that a counterterrorism operation let to the accidental killing of an American and an Italian hostage, as well as two Americans associated with Al Qaeda, has once again raised the circumstances under which the U.S. can use lethal force to target American citizens abroad, The Christian Science Monitor's Anna Mulrine reports: "A 2011 Department of Justice memo says that to legally... Continue Reading
April 26th, 2015
A Navajo inmate incarcerated in Wisconsin can wear a tribal headband and celebrate a tribal feast with wild venison following a ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit last week, the Associated Press reports. Judge Frank Easterbrook ruled that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act requires prisons to accomodate religious practices. Continue Reading
April 22nd, 2015
According to the United Nations, the court system in Afghanistan is failing women who are victims of violence, leading them to turn to mediation instead, the Los Angeles Times' Ali M. Latifi reports. Women interviewed by UN investigators reported they have to pay bribes to move the judicial process along, that they don't know how the law applies to their cases, and they fear imprisoning the men who are often the sole breadwinners for... Continue Reading
April 22nd, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court, 6-3, has ruled that police can't prolong traffic stops in order to await the arrival of drug-sniffing dogs to inspect motor vehicles, The New York Times' Adam Liptak reports: "'“A police stop exceeding the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made violates the Constitution’s shield against unreasonable seizures,'" Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote for the... Continue Reading
April 22nd, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has refused to reconsider a class action by 33,000 Arizona prison inmates over a strong dissent, Courthouse News' Tim Hull reports. The dissent said that inmates failed to demonstrate that their class has commonality and typicality: "'First, before certifying a class, a court must ensure that all members of the potential class have the same sort of claim, and that the claim is... Continue Reading
April 19th, 2015
As many as 45,000 more Montanans will be get health coverage after legislators have passed a bill to expand Medicaid, The Huffington Post's Jeffrey Young reports. Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat, supports expanding Medicaid. The expansion also must be approved by the federal government because it includes new requirements for enrollees, including monthly premiums.
Two years ago, the expansion failed because a supporter cast the... Continue Reading
April 19th, 2015
The Recorder's Marisa Kendall reports on the ebb and flow between arbitration and class actions and the U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in AT& T Mobility v. Concepcion led to class actions drying up; the justices found that the Federal Arbitration Act pre-empted California's ban on class arbitration. As a result, companies shielded themselves with... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2015
Kentucky's ban on same-sex marriage has been struck down by a state judge on the grounds that there is no rational basis for the prohibition, the Lexington Herald-Leader's John Cheves reports: "Judge Thomas Wingate ruled for two Lexington couples who were denied marriage licenses by the Fayette County Clerk in 2013 because Kentucky's constitution was amended by voters to define marriage as exclusively between one man and one... Continue Reading
April 16th, 2015
A group of Wisconsin voters who favor a constitutional change that would let a majority vote, not seniority, determine the Wisconsin chief justice have moved to dismiss the lawsuit brought by the current sitting chief justice to attack the amendment, Wisconsin Watchdog's M.D. Kittle reports.
Chief Justice Shirley Abrahmson is a liberal, and many conservatives in Wisconsin supported the constitutional amendment in order to... Continue Reading
April 15th, 2015
Alabama blogger Roger Shuler has been ordered to pay $3.5 million in damages in a defamation lawsuit, Alabama Media Group's Kent Faulk reports. The lawsuit was brought by a former campaign manager for Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange over Shuler's posts about an alleged affair between Strange and the campaign manager. He also alleged that Strange was the father of the campaign manager's son.
Shuler already... Continue Reading
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