Recent Updates
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High court questions courts’ role in partisan redistricting
Legal Events 03/23/2019The Supreme Court’s conservative majority sounded wary Tuesday of allowing federal judges to determine when electoral maps are too partisan, despite strong evidence that the political parties drew districts to guarantee congressional election o...
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DC-area sniper shootings case to have Supreme Court hearing
Law Firm Marketing 03/17/2019The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider Virginia’s plea to reinstate the life-without-parole sentence of a man who as a teenager participated in sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., region in 2002.The justices said they...
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Supreme Court to consider Louisiana's non-unanimous juries
Notable Attorneys 03/12/2019The Supreme Court will consider banning non-unanimous juries in criminal cases in Louisiana, the only state that still allows them.The justices said Monday they will hear an appeal from a man who was convicted of second-degree murder by a jury's 10-2...
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N Carolina governor signs law keeping Court of Appeals at 15
Headline Legal News 03/04/2019North Carolina's intermediate-level appeals court will stay at 15 judges as Gov. Roy Cooper signed legislation that repeals a 2017 law that would have reduced the seats to 12 over time.Cooper announced Thursday that he had signed the law , which Repu...
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Court: Constitutional ban on high fines applies to states
Legal Exams 02/22/2019The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure of property from criminal suspects.Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the ...
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High court rules for retired US marshal in W.Va. tax dispute
Legal Exams 02/20/2019The Supreme Court said Wednesday that the state of West Virginia unlawfully discriminated against a retired U.S. marshal when it excluded him from a more generous tax break given to onetime state law enforcement officers.The court ruled unanimously f...
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Republicans pitch keeping Court of Appeals at 15 judges
Ethics 02/18/2019North Carolina Republican legislators now want to give up on the law they approved two years ago that reduces the number of Court of Appeals judges from 15 to 12 as retirements and other vacancies arise.A state Senate judiciary committee Tuesday reco...
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Court case to tackle jails' medication-assisted treatment
Legal Events 02/11/2019The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine started making its case in federal court on Monday against the ban on medication-assisted treatment in county jail amid the opioid crisis.Democratic Gov. Janet Mills recently lifted the Maine Department of ...
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Court upholds order to unseal records in brazen lynching
Legal Events 02/10/2019A historian who has spent years looking into the unsolved lynching of two black couples in rural Georgia more than 70 years ago hopes some answers may finally be within his grasp.A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling to unseal...
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Russian court sends Jehovah’s Witness to prison for 6 years
Law Firm Marketing 02/06/2019A regional court in western Russia on Wednesday sentenced a Danish Jehovah’s Witness to six years in prison, in arguably the most severe crackdown on religious freedom in Russia in recent years.The court in Oryol found Dennis Christensen guilty...
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Ginsburg makes 1st public appearance since cancer surgery
Recent Cases 01/28/2019Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is making her first public appearance since undergoing lung cancer surgery in December.The 85-year-old Ginsburg is attending a concert at a museum a few blocks from the White House that is being given by her ...
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High court lets military implement transgender restrictions
Recent Cases 01/19/2019The Trump administration can go ahead with its plan to restrict military service by transgender men and women while court challenges continue, the Supreme Court said Tuesday. The high court split 5-4 in allowing the plan to take effect, with the...