All Law & Courts
- Courts block voter ID laws in Wisconsin and Texas, ahead of 2014 midtermsIn a tough evening for voter ID laws, the Supreme Court blocked Wisconsin's from taking effect Thursday, while a federal judge in Texas ruled that state's law violated the Constitution.
- Tensions flare in St. Louis after off-duty cop shoots teenagerHundreds of protesters gathered in St. Louis overnight after an off-duty police officer chased and shot a black high school student named Vonderrit Myers, Jr., whom police allege fired at the officer first.
- Supreme Court reinstates controversial North Carolina voting measuresThe US Supreme Court鈥檚 order comes less than a month before the midterm elections, with North Carolina in the midst of a tight Senate race. Last week, an appeals court panel had blocked two of the voting measures.
- FBI asks Americans to help ID masked Islamic State jihadi. Good idea?The FBI crowdsourced a terrorist manhunt once before 鈥 the Boston bombing 鈥 with mixed results. But the public can be a powerful tool in helping to identify the North American-accented jihadi in an Islamic State video.
- Supreme Court Justice Kennedy halts gay marriage licenses in IdahoKennedy issued an emergency stay Wednesday blocking enforcement of a judicial mandate that required same-sex marriages to begin this morning in Idaho and Nevada. He later issued a clarification that the stay applied only to Idaho 鈥 allowing marriages to go ahead in Nevada.
- Ninth Circuit ruling adds five more states where gay marriage will be legalThe day after the Supreme Court declined to take up same-sex marriage cases, effectively legalizing it in 11 states, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down bans in Idaho and Nevada. Gay marriage is now, or soon will be, legal in 35 states.
- Can a prison inmate hide a gun in a beard? Supreme Court justices wonder.On Tuesday, the justices heard a case testing whether an Arkansas inmate is entitled to a religious accommodation from prison officials to allow him to grow a beard in accord with his Muslim beliefs.
- Despite Supreme Court gay marriage decision, three states vow to keep banThe Supreme Court effectively made gay marriage legal in five states Monday. But six other states with bans will also be affected, and they're reacting in different ways.
- Supreme mystery: Why didn't the Supreme Court accept a gay marriage case?Some analysts sorting through the tea leaves say the high court鈥檚 decision Monday not to take up a same-sex marriage case suggests that the four conservative justices could not be sure Justice Kennedy 鈥 the potential deciding vote 鈥 would join them.
- Supreme Court declines gay marriage cases, allowing weddings in 5 statesIn a surprise twist, the US Supreme Court chose not to review lower court rulings on gay marriage. Same-sex marriage is now legal in five states where appeals courts have struck down bans, with six more states soon to follow.
- New Supreme Court term doesn't include same-sex marriage 鈥 for nowWith same-sex marriage looming on the horizon, the US Supreme Court opens its new term confronting cases involving dead fish, a beard, a headscarf, and angry Facebook entries.
- Most Texas abortion clinics shut down as abortion rights recede in SouthThursday鈥檚 ruling by a federal appeals court means that 13 abortion clinics in Texas that do not meet stringent standards have to close. Seven clinics remain in the state.
- Supreme Court takes up case of Muslim woman denied job at Abercrombie & FitchOn Thursday, the high court agreed to hear the case to examine whether a job applicant must give explicit notice to a would-be employer of any potential request for a religious accommodation 鈥 such as wearing a Muslim headscarf at work.聽
- Supreme Court: Texas housing case could prove pivotal for civil rightsThe court will take up the matter of 'disparate bias' in a case that alleges that the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs excluded minorities from Dallas suburbs by concentrating its affordable housing in low-income neighborhoods.
- Supreme Court: Can Florida bar judicial candidates from soliciting funds?Supreme Court agrees to take up Florida ban on judicial candidates asking for contributions 鈥 a rule that aims to protect the integrity of the courts. Lower courts are split on whether such a ban violates free speech rights.
- Appeals court blocks part of N.C. voting law. Will Supreme Court step in?The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down two provisions of North Carolina's 2013 voting law. The governor has said the state will appeal to the US Supreme Court.
- Federal judge rules Obamacare subsidies illegal. Will Supreme Court weigh in?US District Judge Ronald White said the IRS lacked the authority to enact a regulation that allows the federal government to provide tax credits to qualified health care policyholders through health care exchanges.
- Colorado case shows marijuana users may still be punished for legal behaviorColorado Supreme Court will rule on whether someone legally 鈥 based on state law 鈥 using marijuana in off-duty hours can still be fired by an employer with a zero-tolerance drug policy.
- Unarmed black granddad killed by cop, in shades of FergusonFollowing high-profile officer-related shootings in South Carolina and Missouri, critics are pushing for more transparency into how, when, and why police officers use deadly force against unarmed Americans.
- Oklahoma beheading: Was it an act of terrorism?The case of Alton Nolen, the suspect in the Oklahoma beheading, emerges as terrorists become more adept at disseminating barbaric imagery, stoking American fears.