All Law & Courts
N.C. prosecutor kidnap plot: Home attacks on justice officials on the upswingThe alleged perpetrators nabbed the wrong person and traveled nearly halfway across the US to the wrong town, an indictment states. But the episode reveals soft spots in protection for judges and prosecutors, especially at their homes.
US Supreme Court limits restitution payments to child pornography victimsThe Supreme Court said federal law does not require a defendant to pay the entire amount of a multimillion-dollar restitution award owed to a child pornography victim whose abuse is depicted in images widely distributed on the Internet.
Groups react to Supreme Court decision upholding ban on race-based admissionsThe US Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a Michigan ban on affirmative action. Opponents and supporters of the ban weighed in after the ruling.
The ExplainerCourt halts Oklahoma executions: why lethal injection is now so controversialThe Oklahoma Supreme Court halted two executions over concerns that the state is keeping secrets about its lethal injection drugs. The issue is increasingly urgent for many states.
US Supreme Court: Michigan ban on affirmative action OKThe Supreme Court said Tuesday that Proposal 2 in Michigan did not violate the US Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause as charged by groups favoring the use of affirmative action in college admissions.
US Supreme Court to hear dispute over 'Jerusalem, Israel' as birthplaceAn American couple wants their son's passport to read, 'Jerusalem, Israel,' not simply 'Jerusalem.' The Supreme Court will consider whether a 2002 US law giving them that option trumps a State Department policy that doesn't, so as to avoid taking sides in the Middle East conflict.
Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal of longtime Guantánamo detaineeAbdul Al Qader Ahmed Hussain has spent a third of his life in US custody. His lawyers say there's no evidence he was an enemy combatant, but the US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up his appeal.
Aereo Internet service vs. TV broadcasters: US Supreme Court to decideAereo provides TV viewing and recording to subscribers via the Internet for $8 a month. But Aereo pays major broadcast companies nothing, and broadcasters say that violates copyright protections.
Suspected Kansas City highway sniper charged; no motive givenMohammed Pedro Whitaker, a medical supply company employee, was charged in 9 highway shootings so far out of 12 in the Kansas City area in which three people were wounded.
In N.C., how do spouses of gay soldiers fit in? Legal brief presses the issue.The friend-of-the-court brief, filed Friday, sets up a new battle space for gay rights activists in one of America’s most conservative, Christian corners.
- When is a tool a weapon? Chicago court throws out teacher discipline case.
A veteran Chicago elementary school teacher was suspended for four days after bringing in tools, among them a pocket knife and box cutter, to show his second-graders how they're used.
Bid to end Detroit bankruptcy by October gains momentumA new Detroit bankruptcy deal would call for much lighter cuts to the city's two major public pension funds. It appears to be gaining traction and is going before a federal judge today.
Should 'new GM' be liable for pre-bankruptcy ignition accidents?GM will ask a bankruptcy judge to protect it from many of the lawsuits related to the faulty ignition switch behind a massive recall. And it wants all lawsuits delayed until the ruling is made.
With disbanding of NYPD spy unit, mayor makes good on big promiseNew York Mayor Bill de Blasio sprang to the top of the polls as a candidate last year in large part because of his outspoken criticism of NYPD tactics. Now, he's taken a first, big step toward reform.
Murder charges in Kansas City shooting: what's needed to call it a hate crimeDespite a lengthy history of publicly espousing anti-Semitic views, F. Glenn Miller has not yet been charged with a federal hate crime, although prosecutors say those charges are pending.
Why federal judge ruled Ohio must recognize gay marriagesA federal judge did not overturn Ohio's constitutional ban on gay marriage, but he said the state has to treat same-sex couples married legally in other states the same way it treats heterosexual couples.
Boston Marathon bombings: What Russia told FBI, or didn't, still at issueThose familiar with the Marathon bombing investigation say the FBI might have benefited from details it requested but never received from Russia, yet missed the significance of at least one key detail it had in hand.
Do same-sex couples have right to wed? Appeals court hears first post-DOMA case.A potential landmark case from Utah testing whether same-sex couples enjoy a constitutional right to marry arrives Thursday before a federal appeals court panel in Denver.
Do states have to disclose lethal injection drugs? Supreme Court refuses case.The rejected appeal to the Supreme Court involved a Louisiana inmate. Some states have developed alternative lethal injection protocols amid difficulties in obtaining the drug pentobarbital.
Supreme Court declines case of photographer snubbing gay ceremonyThe Supreme Court refusal lets stand a series of court rulings in New Mexico finding that the photographer violated a state law that bars discrimination based on sexual orientation.
