Recent Updates
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Alabama prison staff shortage worsens despite court order
Civil Rights 02/11/2023A 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...
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Interior: $580M headed to 15 tribes to fulfill water rights
Civil Rights 02/03/2023Fifteen 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 ...
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California Supreme Court dumps triple-slaying death sentence
Civil Rights 01/25/2023The 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...
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Supreme Court has failed to find leaker of abortion opinion
Civil Rights 01/20/2023The 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...
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Republicans challenge New Mexico redistricting after loss
Civil Rights 01/09/2023The 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...
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New Jersey governor signs bill overhauling gun carry rules
Civil Rights 12/22/2022New 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...
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Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down school choice law
Civil Rights 12/15/2022School 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...
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Judge denies 19-year-old’s ask to attend father’s execution
Civil Rights 11/26/2022A 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...
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Court rehears fight over vaccine mandate for federal workers
Civil Rights 09/13/2022President 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...
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Court sets fall arguments on trans youth treatment ban
Civil Rights 08/06/2022A 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...
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Judge unblocks Indiana genetic abnormality abortion law
Civil Rights 07/20/2022An Indiana law aimed at prohibiting abortions based on gender, race or disability is going into effect after a federal judge lifted an order first issued six years ago blocking its enforcement.U.S. District Judge Tonya Walton Pratt granted an order M...
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Judge throws out Missouri AG’s COVID-19 suit against China
Civil Rights 07/11/2022A federal judge on Friday threw out a lawsuit by Missouri Republican Attorney General Eric Schmitt that blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic.U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh said in his 38-page ruling that in this case federal rules prohibit...