All Law & Courts
First LookJudges strike down North Carolina GOP-drawn voting mapFederal judges determined that North Carolina's congressional district map gave the Republican Party an advantage for most seats and ordered the map to be redrawn immediately.
First LookSupreme Court ends legal challenge to Mississippi's anti-LGBT lawMississippi's Republican-backed anti-LGBT law has been allowed to stand, proving to be a major setback for gay rights, activists say. The law enables business and government employees to refuse service to members of the LGBT community based on religious beliefs.
First LookUS Attorney General rescinds policy that let legal pot blossomAttorney General Jeff Sessions rescinds the 2013 policy that allowed states across the nation to legalize marijuana. He will let federal prosecutors decide how aggressively to enforce federal marijuana law in states where pot is legal.
Why New York crime has plunged to record lowsWith a murder rate of 3.4 per 100,000 in 2017, the city of 8.5 million had crime levels comparable to sparsely populated states such as Montana and Wyoming.
First LookThree years of quiet for once-busy Oklahoma death chamberOklahoma will enter its third year without an execution in 2018 while prison officials and state attorneys work to fine tune its procedure for putting condemned inmates to death.
First LookGovernment lawyers challenge partial lift on refugee banDepartment of Justice lawyers have asked Judge James Robart to change his recent injunction that partially lifted a ban on refugees from 11 mostly Muslim countries.
How Texas’ Harris County went from ‘capital of capital punishment’ to zero executionsIn 2017, for the first time in more than 40 years, no one from the county was executed. No one has been sentenced to death there since 2014.
First LookThree cities sue Pentagon for failure to share gun background infoNew York City, San Francisco, and Philadelphia said that many US service members, who are disqualified from gun ownership, weren't reported to the national background check system. The U.S. Army didn't submit records in about 41 percent of cases.
First LookJustice Gorsuch upholds Trump's campaign promise for the CourtSupreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has used his appointment to the bench to reestablish a conservative majority. With controversial cases lined up for 2018, Justice Gorsuch's confirmation is seen as a win for the Trump administration in 2017.
What foiled New York subway attack says about lone-wolf bombersAs many New Yorkers express relief at the relatively minor impact of the latest terror attack on their city, experts point out that, in the US, both suicide attacks and attempts to hide homemade bombs in public places are rarely successful.
After many days in court, travel ban nearing final resolutionFriday, a full panel of judges on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in Virginia about the third version of the White House travel ban, just days after the US Supreme Court allowed the ban to take effect while it was making its way through the lower courts.
Massachusetts justice system wrestles with how to define 'adult'Reform in the Bay State includes a proposal to raise the juvenile age to 18 – and adult to 19. With the delay of 'adult' milestones, such as full-time employment and getting married, youth are slower to mature, supporters say.
First LookTrump's travel ban allowed to stand, for nowCases against the executive order are still being heard in lower courts, but the Supreme Court's move may set the tone for those cases.
Religious liberty or right to discriminate? High court to hear arguments in wedding cake case.As evidenced by the people who began camping outside the high court for a seat at Tuesday’s oral arguments, the Masterpiece Cakeshop case seems destined to be a historic ruling – with both sides warning that defeat could bring potentially seismic consequences.
First LookTrump's latest travel ban is in federal appeals courtChallengers to President Trump's most recent travel ban say the ban discriminates against nationalities and targets mainly Muslim-majority countries.
First LookDespite immigration debate, US jury acquits Mexican national of murderThe shooting death of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier in 2015 by homeless illegal immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate, which became the center of a national immigration policy debate, has been ruled an accident.
First LookUber's use of encrypted messages tested in courtThe use of Wickr by Uber for internal communications is being questioned in court as the company faces allegations that it stole trade secrets from Waymo.
At stake at US Supreme Court: privacy in the digital ageA robbery prosecution raises the question of whether, in the era of smartphones and the internet, constitutional protections against warrantless searches need updating.
After 25 years in US, alleged war criminal may finally face justice at homeJuan Samayoa Cabrera, a former paramilitary commander who public prosecutors in Guatemala want to stand trial for murder and manslaughter, was living in Providence until immigration agents arrested him in October.
- Focus'Bad moms' or women in need of help? Oklahoma rethinks view of female inmates.
Oklahoma's rate of incarcerating women is the highest in the US and more than double the average. Pushback is coming from reformers who decry the destabilizing effect on families, as well as fiscal conservatives alarmed by the rocketing prison bill.
