Recent Updates

  • Court nixes South Carolina’s lifelong sex offender registry

    Court nixes South Carolina’s lifelong sex offender registry

    Courts and the Judiciary 06/09/2021

    South Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a state law requiring sex offenders to register for life, without prior judicial review, is unconstitutional. In a unanimous ruling, justices wrote that “requirement that sex offender...

  •  Ruling: Missed court date in Washington does not imply guilt

    Ruling: Missed court date in Washington does not imply guilt

    Courts and the Judiciary 05/29/2021

    The Washington state Supreme Court this month unanimously rejected the notion that a man who skipped his court date could be presented as evidence that he felt guilty about the original crime. State Supreme Court justices agreed that criminalizing a ...

  • Judge: Boston exam schools admissions policy ‘race-neutral’

    Judge: Boston exam schools admissions policy ‘race-neutral’

    Courts and the Judiciary 04/17/2021

    A federal judge has upheld a temporary admissions policy at Boston’s elite exam high schools, ruling against a parents group that said in a lawsuit it discriminated against white students and those of Asian descent.“This court finds and r...

  • Mississippi marijuana program hinges on initiative arguments

    Mississippi marijuana program hinges on initiative arguments

    Courts and the Judiciary 04/13/2021

    The Mississippi Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a lawsuit that’s trying to block a voter-approved medical marijuana program by arguing that the the issue should not have been on the ballot.Arguments were not about marijuana. Instead,...

  • Capitol stormer who wore ‘I Was There’ shirt to stay in jail

    Capitol stormer who wore ‘I Was There’ shirt to stay in jail

    Courts and the Judiciary 04/01/2021

    A federal judge refused Thursday to set bail for a Texas man who was wearing a T-shirt that said, “I Was There, Washington D.C., January 6, 2021,” when he was arrested on charges he stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.U.S. Judge Carl Nicho...

  • Nepal Parliament, reinstated by high court, begins session

    Nepal Parliament, reinstated by high court, begins session

    Courts and the Judiciary 03/09/2021

    After being reinstated by the nation’s Supreme Court, Nepal’s Parliament began a session on Sunday that will likely determine the future of the prime minister and the government.The split in the ruling Nepal Communist Party has left Prime...

  • Anchorage companies, man fined for clean air violations

    Anchorage companies, man fined for clean air violations

    Courts and the Judiciary 03/01/2021

    A man and two companies in Alaska have been sentenced to three years probation and a $35,000 fine for violating the Clean Air Act involving asbestos work at a shopping center more than five years ago, a judge said.The work was performed at the Northe...

  • Court upholds woman’s $1.8M award in NJ Transit bus attack

    Court upholds woman’s $1.8M award in NJ Transit bus attack

    Courts and the Judiciary 02/17/2021

    In a closely divided ruling, New Jersey’s Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a $1.8 million jury award for a woman who was struck on the head with a bottle while riding a New Jersey Transit bus. The 4-3 decision affirmed that NJ Transit, a publi...

  • Justices: California can’t enforce indoor church service ban

    Justices: California can’t enforce indoor church service ban

    Courts and the Judiciary 02/08/2021

    The Supreme Court is telling California that it can’t bar indoor church services because of the coronavirus pandemic, but it can keep for now a ban on singing and chanting indoors.The high court issued orders late Friday in two cases where chur...

  • Supreme Court sides with Germany in Nazi-era art dispute

    Supreme Court sides with Germany in Nazi-era art dispute

    Courts and the Judiciary 02/03/2021

    The Supreme Court is making it harder for a multimillion-dollar lawsuit involving centuries-old religious artworks obtained by the Nazis from Jewish art dealers to continue in U.S. courts.The court ruled unanimously Wednesday in a case involving the ...

  • Biden could change course in high court health care case

    Biden could change course in high court health care case

    Courts and the Judiciary 02/01/2021

    The pending Supreme Court case on the fate of the Affordable Care Act could give the Biden administration its first opportunity to chart a new course in front of the justices.The health care case, argued a week after the election in November, is one ...

  • Judge bars Biden from enforcing 100-day deportation ban

    Judge bars Biden from enforcing 100-day deportation ban

    Courts and the Judiciary 01/27/2021

    A federal judge on Tuesday barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of President Joe Biden. U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton issued a temporary restraining order sought by Texas, whi...