Supreme Court Clears Path Toward Post-Conviction DNA Testing
The United States Supreme Court Monday made it easier for convicted prisoners to seek and obtain post-trial DNA testing even over the objections of law enforcement officials. In a 6-3 ruling authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court ruled that death row inmate Henry Skinner could now proceed to seek crime-scene testing from Texas authorities under the federal civil rights law known as "Section 1983." Related Stories The Important Supreme Court Decision You Didn't Hear About Last Week Supreme Court's 8-1 Westboro Ruling -- and Alito's Passionate ...
The Important Supreme Court Decision You Didn't Hear About Last Week
If you think Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church made out well last week before the U.S. Supreme Court, consider the case of Jason Pepper. The confessed former methamphetamine dealer won his own case last week at the high court -- and may not have to go back to prison for his old crime (he was released pending the appeal). More significantly, the court's ruling struck yet another blow against sentencing guidelines. The reason you probably haven't heard much about Pepper is because the decision in his case, Pepper v. United States, came out last Wednesday just a few minutes before the ...
Jared Lee Loughner Case: Feds Add Murder Charges, Potential Death Penalty
The federal government's case against Jared Lee Loughner got bigger and more serious Friday after a grand jury returned a new, 49-count indictment charging the Tucson, Ariz., shooting suspect with multiple first-degree murder charges for his alleged role in the deadly Jan. 10 attack. A new arraignment in the case is set for March 9. Six people, including Arizona Chief District Judge John M. Roll, were killed, and 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Gifford (D-Ariz.), were wounded when Loughner, 22, allegedly began shooting a semi-automatic weapon inside a supermarket during one of Rep. ...
Supreme Court's 8-1 Westboro Ruling -- and Alito's Passionate Dissent
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito likely spoke for millions of Americans Wednesday when he decried the strategy, tactics and motives of Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church zealots, who picket military funerals to express their virulent anti-gay views. But on the Court, Justice Alito spoke alone. Related Stories Supreme Court Upholds Westboro Baptist Church's Right to Military Funeral Protests Westboro Church Protestors -- Ignore Them Westboro Baptist Church to Picket Funeral of 9-Year-Old Arizona Shooting Victim Bill Would Ban ...
Supreme Court Upholds Westboro Baptist Church's Right to Military Funeral Protests
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that vitriolic anti-gay protests at military funerals are a form of political speech protected by the First Amendment. Writing for the majority in an 8-1 ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts declared that the Westboro Baptist Church, led by its founder, Fred Phelps, could not be held liable for money damages sought by the family of a slain Marine, Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, whose funeral was picketed by church members in 2006. Only Justice Samuel Alito, who had forcefully objected to the protests during oral argument in the case in October, dissented from ...
Supreme Court: No 'Personal Privacy' Rights for Corporations Under FOIA
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Tuesday that corporations do not have the same privacy rights as individuals when it comes to blocking requests for records under the Freedom of Information Act, the federal statute that requires the government to make available certain documents and records. Writing for the court, Chief Justice John Roberts said that the language of the transparency law clearly precluded corporations like AT&T, the plaintiff in the case, from claiming it had "personal privacy" rights that could prevent the public release of certain requested information on file with ...
Obama Ends Court Defense of Anti-Gay Marriage Law
A key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutionally biased and will no longer be defended in court by Justice Department attorneys, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday. But he assured members of Congress that the Clinton-era federal statute, which defines marriage as between only a "man and a woman" as "husband and wife," will continue to be enforced by the executive branch until it is either repealed by legislators or definitely voided by the courts. Section 3 of the statute, which limits the definition of marriage to opposite-sex partners, precludes ...
Third Federal Judge OKs Affordable Care Act
A federal trial judge in Washington, D.C., Tuesday bluntly rejected the latest legal challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ruling that the "individual mandate" requirement in the new federal health care law was a legitimate exercise of congressional power to regulate the nation's health insurance initiatives. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler, a 1994 appointee of President Bill Clinton, declared that Congress had the authority under the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to enact the contentious 2010 law, which requires individuals to purchase health insurance ...
Don't Make Federal Case Out of It, Says Woman Who Tried to Poison Best Friend
The U.S. Supreme Court hears oral argument Tuesday morning in a rare case that combines a fact pattern fitting for tabloid fare with legal questions that go to the core of the heated political debate over federal authority and state power. The case is styled Bond v. United States and it has a little something for everyone from Nancy Grace to the Federalist Society. The story starts with Carol Anne Bond, who tried to poison her best friend, Myrlinda Haynes, after discovering that Haynes had become pregnant from an affair with Bond's husband. Over several months, Bond tried to poison Haynes at ...
Judge Rules Loughner Search Warrant Will Stay Private For Now
A federal trial judge Friday afternoon refused for now to order the release of search warrant information about Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect in the Jan. 8 Tucson shooting that left six dead, including Arizona Chief U.S. District Judge John M. Roll, and 14 injured, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.). However, U.S. District Judge Larry A. Burns refused a defense request to block the public release of Loughner's official mug shots. Instead, Burns ruled that the U.S. Marshal's Service, which took and now holds the photographs, must determine under its own procedures whether they can ...
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