Recent Updates
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Court: Transgender asylum seekers can't be equated with gays
Legal Events 09/05/2015Transgender people can be especially vulnerable to harassment and attacks and shouldn't be equated with gays and lesbians by U.S. immigration officials determining whether to grant asylum, a federal appeals court said Thursday. The San Francisco-base...
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Bangladesh court bans Rana Plaza movie because of terrifying scenes
Legal Events 08/27/2015Bangladesh’s high court has imposed a six-month ban on a film about a garment worker who was rescued from the rubble 17 days after a five-storey factory complex collapsed, killing more than 1,000 people. The director, Nazrul Islam Khan, had argued th...
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Texas man charged in killing of 8 set for court appearance
Legal Events 08/12/2015A man charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of a family of six children and two parents at their Houston home is set to make his first court appearance. David Conley, who authorities say was previously in a contentious relationship with t...
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Republicans reject governor's pick for Va. Supreme Court
Legal Events 08/03/2015Leaders of the Republican-controlled General Assembly say they are rejecting Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe's pick for the Virginia Supreme Court in favor of a their own selection. House Speaker William J. Howell and Senate Majority Leader Th...
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Crimean Filmmaker Pleads Not Guilty in Terrorism Trial
Legal Events 07/22/2015A Ukrainian filmmaker who has been in a Russian jail for more than a year on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit terrorism. Critics have dismissed Oleh Sentsov's prosecution as revenge for his pro-Ukrainian position in Russi...
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Wife says Chinese rights lawyer being denied legal counsel
Legal Events 07/20/2015A prominent Chinese rights lawyer whose trial is drawing near on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and provoking trouble has been denied access to lawyers for nearly a month, his wife and one of his attorneys said Monday. Meng Qun, wife of Pu Zhiqian...
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In Supreme Court loss, death penalty foes see an opening
Legal Events 07/01/2015A strongly worded dissent in the U.S. Supreme Court's narrow decision this week upholding the use of an execution drug offered a glimmer of hope to death penalty opponents in what they considered otherwise a gloomy ruling. One advocate went so far Tu...
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High court won't hear Nevada patient dumping case
Legal Events 07/01/2015The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from Nevada over a lawsuit that claims the state wrongfully bused indigent psychiatric patients to San Francisco without paying the costs of their medical care. The justices on Tuesday let stand a lower c...
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Decisions in last 3 Supreme Court cases expected Monday
Legal Events 06/29/2015The Supreme Court is meeting for the final time until the fall to decide three remaining cases and add some new ones for the term that starts in October. The court decided its two blockbuster cases last week by declaring the right of same-sex couples...
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Same-sex marriage opponents urge Supreme Court to go slow
Legal Events 06/23/2015Same-sex marriage opponents acknowledge they face a tough task in trying to persuade the Supreme Court to allow states to limit marriage to a man and a woman. But they are urging the court to resist embracing what they see as a radical change in soci...
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Poll: Most Americans expect Supreme Court to OK gay marriage
Legal Events 06/12/2015Nearly two-thirds of Americans expect the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide when it rules on the issue within the next few weeks, according to a new poll. Only 25 percent expect the high court to leave existing state bans on gay ...
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Duke Energy will be in federal court for coal ash crimes
Legal Events 05/14/2015As the nation's largest electricity company prepares to plead guilty to violating the federal Clean Water Act, Duke Energy has started delivering bottled water to people with tainted wells close to its North Carolina coal ash pits. Duke has long deni...