Recent Updates

  • 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...

  • Baton Rouge judge suspended for abusing power

    Baton Rouge judge suspended for abusing power

    Legal Outlook 10/23/2022

    The Louisiana Supreme Court has suspended a Baton Rouge judge without pay for 180 days for abusing her power to hold people in contempt.East Baton Rouge Parish Family Court Judge Charlene Charet Day, who has held the seat since 2011, violated the law...

  • Judge won’t toss suit over Delaware court political balance

    Judge won’t toss suit over Delaware court political balance

    Legal Outlook 09/26/2022

    A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit against Democratic Gov. John Carney over Delaware’s requirement for political balance on its courts.Friday’s ruling is the latest in a long-running legal battle over a “major-party&rd...

  • Court rehears fight over vaccine mandate for federal workers

    Court rehears fight over vaccine mandate for federal workers

    Civil Rights 09/13/2022

    President Joe Biden has the same authority to impose a COVID-19 vaccine requirement on federal workers that private employers have for their employees, an administration lawyer told a federal appeals court Tuesday.A lawyer for opponents of the vaccin...

  • Court sets fall arguments on trans youth treatment ban

    Court sets fall arguments on trans youth treatment ban

    Civil Rights 08/06/2022

    A federal appeals court will hear arguments in November over Alabama’s efforts to outlaw the use of gender-affirming medications to treat transgender minors.Alabama is asking a federal appeals court to lift an injunction and let it enforce a la...