Recent Updates

  • After Nashville, Congress confronts limits of new gun law

    After Nashville, Congress confronts limits of new gun law

    Civil Rights 04/03/2023

    Nine months ago, President Joe Biden signed a sweeping bipartisan gun law, the most significant legislative response to gun violence in decades.“Lives will be saved,” he said at the White House.The law has already prevented some potential...

  • Supreme Court skeptical of man who offered adult adoptions

    Supreme Court skeptical of man who offered adult adoptions

    Featured Articles 03/27/2023

    The Supreme Court seemed inclined Monday to rule against a man convicted of violating immigration law for offering adult adoptions he falsely claimed would lead to citizenship.Attorneys for Helaman Hansen told the justices during approximately 90 min...

  • Hobbs doesn’t plan to carry out execution scheduled by court

    Hobbs doesn’t plan to carry out execution scheduled by court

    Featured Articles 03/03/2023

    Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs says corrections officials will not carry out an execution even though the state Supreme Court scheduled it over the objections of the state’s new attorney general.The Democratic governor’s vow not to execute Aaro...

  • Alabama prison staff shortage worsens despite court order

    Alabama prison staff shortage worsens despite court order

    Civil Rights 02/11/2023

    A federal judge said Friday Alabama prisons remain critically understaffed, with court filings showing the number of officers in state lockups has continued to drop despite a court order to increase numbers.The prison system has lost more than 500 se...

  • Interior: $580M headed to 15 tribes to fulfill water rights

    Interior: $580M headed to 15 tribes to fulfill water rights

    Civil Rights 02/03/2023

    Fifteen Native American tribes will get a total of $580 million in federal money this year for water rights settlements, the Biden administration announced Thursday.The money will help carry out the agreements that define the tribes’ rights to ...

  • California Supreme Court dumps triple-slaying death sentence

    California Supreme Court dumps triple-slaying death sentence

    Civil Rights 01/25/2023

    The California Supreme Court on Monday overturned the murder convictions and death sentence for a man who killed three people and committed a series of other crimes in San Diego in 1985.The court ordered a new trial for Billy Ray Waldon, ruling unani...

  • Supreme Court has failed to find leaker of abortion opinion

    Supreme Court has failed to find leaker of abortion opinion

    Civil Rights 01/20/2023

    The Supreme Court said Thursday an eight-month investigation that included more than 120 interviews and revealed shortcomings in how sensitive documents are secured has failed to find who leaked a draft of the court’s opinion overturning aborti...

  • Republicans challenge New Mexico redistricting after loss

    Republicans challenge New Mexico redistricting after loss

    Civil Rights 01/09/2023

    The New Mexico Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments Monday in a legal challenge to a congressional map that divvies up a politically conservative region of the state.It’s one of several court battles in states from Kentucky to Utah...

  • New Jersey governor signs bill overhauling gun carry rules

    New Jersey governor signs bill overhauling gun carry rules

    Civil Rights 12/22/2022

    New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Thursday signed an overhaul to the rules to get a firearm carry permit, legislation that was spurred by this summer’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights. “While we are bound to follow the Supreme...

  • Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down school choice law

    Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down school choice law

    Civil Rights 12/15/2022

    School choice advocates suffered a bitter defeat Thursday, when Kentucky’s Supreme Court struck down a state law that allowed donors to receive tax credits for supporting private school tuition.In its unanimous decision, the high court said the...

  • Judge denies 19-year-old’s ask to attend father’s execution

    Judge denies 19-year-old’s ask to attend father’s execution

    Civil Rights 11/26/2022

    A federal judge has denied a request from a 19-year-old woman to allow her to watch her father’s death by injection, upholding a Missouri law that bars anyone under 21 from witnessing an execution.Kevin Johnson is set to be executed Tuesday for...

  • Suit seeks to have mail-in votes lacking dates counted

    Suit seeks to have mail-in votes lacking dates counted

    Legal Outlook 11/05/2022

    Several Pennsylvania groups represented by the American Civil Liberties Union have filed suit in federal court seeking to have votes from mail-in or absentee ballots counted even if they lack proper dates on their return envelopes.The suit filed Frid...