Recent Updates
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Fines, jail, probation, debt: Court policies punish the poor
Bankruptcy Law 07/16/2019Johnny Gibbs has been trying to get a valid driver’s license for 20 years, but he just can’t afford it.To punish him for high school truancy in 1999, Tennessee officials told him he would not be able to legally drive until he turned 21. H...
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Validity of Obama health care law at issue in appeal hearing
Corporate Governance 07/14/2019An appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether Congress effectively invalidated former President Barack Obama’s entire signature health care law when it zeroed out the tax imposed on those who chose not to buy insurance.It’s uncl...
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Trump asks Supreme Court to unfreeze border wall money
Legal Business News 07/13/2019The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to lift a freeze on Pentagon money it wants to use to build sections of a border wall with Mexico.Two lower courts have ruled against the administration in a lawsuit over the funding. Last we...
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Court to Trump: Blocking Twitter critics is unconstitutional
Business Law 07/10/2019President Donald Trump lost a major Twitter fight Tuesday when a federal appeals court said that his daily musings and pronouncements were overwhelmingly official in nature and that he violated the First Amendment whenever he blocked a critic to sile...
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Italian court rules wrong Eritrean accused of trafficking
Family Law 07/10/2019A court in Palermo, Sicily, ruled on Friday that the wrong Eritrean man was arrested and tried as a migrant smuggling kingpin and ordered him released from jail, to the jubilation of international supporters who had championed for years the defendant...
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Court rules against Florida officials on medical marijuana
Criminal Law 07/03/2019A Florida appellate court ruled that the state's approach to regulating marijuana is unconstitutional, possibly allowing more providers to jump into a market positioned to become one of the country's most lucrative.If the ruling stands, it could forc...
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Court reviews judge who told woman to 'close your legs'
Family Law 07/03/2019A New Jersey judge who told a woman she could "close your legs" to prevent a sexual assault is "remorseful," his lawyer said.Judge John Russo Jr. did not speak Tuesday during a disciplinary hearing before the state Supreme Court. But his lawyer, Amel...
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The Latest: Supreme Court blocks census citizenship question
Legal Business News 06/29/2019The Supreme Court is forbidding President Donald Trump’s administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census for now. The court says the Trump administration’s explanation for wanting to add the question was “more o...
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NC redistricting fight turns to state courts after ruling
Bankruptcy Law 06/28/2019Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled federal courts aren’t the place to settle partisan gerrymandering disputes, opponents of North Carolina’s district maps are putting their hopes in state courts.An election reform group, the state ...
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Justices won’t revive Alabama ban on abortion procedure
Criminal Law 06/25/2019The Supreme Court won’t revive Alabama’s attempt to ban the most commonly used procedure in second-trimester abortions after the measure was blocked by lower courts.The justices on Friday rejected the state’s appeal and declined to ...
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Supreme Court to decide if Trump can end 'dreamers' program
Criminal Law 06/21/2019Adding a high-stakes immigration case to its election-year agenda, the Supreme Court said Friday it will decide whether President Donald Trump can terminate an Obama-era program shielding young migrants from deportation. The justice...
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Census, redistricting top remaining Supreme Court cases
Criminal Law 06/20/2019The Supreme Court enters its final week of decisions with two politically charged issues unresolved, whether to rein in political line-drawing for partisan gain and allow a citizenship question on the 2020 census.Both decisions could affect the distr...