All Law & Courts
- Drunk driving: Can blood-alcohol test be forced? Case reaches Supreme Court.The justices will hear arguments Wednesday in the case of a drunk driver forced to submit to a blood test. State supreme courts are divided on whether that violates the Fourth Amendment.
James Holmes hearing: At last, a chance for victims to testifyA weeklong hearing into the shooting attack in Aurora, Colo., began Monday, offering a potential window into the mindset of the suspect, James Holmes, and a chance for victims to unburden themselves of testimony.- Child sex abuse: Operation Sunflower highlights new efforts to get predatorsSome 245 people accused of exploiting and abusing children have been arrested, US officials announced this week. Operation Sunflower also removed 44 victims from homes where their abusers also lived.
Transocean agrees to pay $1.4 billion fine for Gulf oil spillTransocean was a contractor to BP and owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that was at the center of the Gulf oil spill. BP has already agreed to $4.5 billion in fines.
Judge dismisses case involving targeted killing of Americans overseasThe ACLU and New York Times had sought access to government documents explaining the legal justification for a US drone strike that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and suspected Al Qaeda operative in Yemen.
Pennsylvania suing NCAA over Penn State sanctions. Does it have a case?Gov. Corbett says the NCAA sanctions against Penn State in the Sandusky case irreparably harm Pennsylvania. One hurdle for the lawsuit: The university did not challenge the punishment.
New Orleans tries reform of pretrial detention and bailAfter instituting new services last spring to help judges know more about the risk with each defendant, the number of inmates awaiting trial dropped by an average of 165 a day 鈥� an annual rate of savings to the city of $1.4 million. But, the program is now in danger of budget cuts.
Cover StoryJailed without conviction: Behind bars for lack of moneyAbout 10 million people are jailed each year for crimes large and small. Most 鈥� two-thirds of the 750,000 in jail on any given day 鈥� stay long periods without conviction at great cost to the public and to themselves because they can't afford bail.
CIA rendition case: European court holds Macedonia partly responsibleThe decision is important because it suggests that US allies that helped the CIA undertake its secret detention and interrogation program may face liability for their role supporting such operations.
9/11 trial: Any mention of torture is classified, military judge rulesThe military judge in the 9/11 trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others granted a government request to make all mention of alleged torture in the court classified. The defense called the ruling 'shameful.'
Why more people didn't die in Clackamas mall shootingImproved police practices and greater public awareness about what to do in an 'active shooter scenario' may have limited casualties during the Clackamas mall shooting Tuesday in Portland, Ore.
Concealed weapons: Illinois's last-in-the-nation ban must go, US court rulesAt least some Illinois legislators say the ruling will help calm the violence in Chicago, where the nation's strictest gun controls have failed to quell growing numbers of gang shootings this year.
Alleging US torture, terror convict Padilla appeals to Americas鈥� rights groupJose Padilla's mother is alleging to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that her son, currently in solitary confinement in a Colorado prison, was tortured during his 4 years in a naval brig.
Supreme Court: Both sides in gay marriage debate voice optimismThe Supreme Court's decision to take up appeals over DOMA and California's Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage elicited positive reactions from advocates on both sides of the contentious issue.- Supreme Court takes up gay marriage: what the justices have to decideThe main question before the Supreme Court is not whether the Constitution protects gay marriage, but whether Prop. 8 and DOMA discriminate in violation of the 14th Amendment.
Gay marriage reaches Supreme Court: Justices to review Prop 8., DOMAThe two cases being taken up by the Supreme Court involve a challenge to California鈥檚 Prop. 8 ban on gay marriage and a suit from New York City testing the federal Defense of Marriage Act.- Former sailor arrested after allegedly attempting to pass secrets to RussiaIf convicted, Robert Patrick Hoffman II, who retired from the US Navy last year, faces up to life in prison. According to the indictment, the FBI was conducting an undercover operation.
George Zimmerman's bloody nose in high-def: What does it reveal?The defense team for George Zimmerman is ratcheting up an aggressive pretrial PR campaign, and the new picture of him with a bloody nose is an attempt to sow doubt in prosecutors' claims.- US court upholds $1 million for Latino student harassed in high schoolA jury awarded $1 million to a Latino man for the years of racial threats and harassment he endured at a rural high school in New York. The appeals court called the amount appropriate.
- Illegal immigration, illegal question: how firm ran afoul of E-VerifyWhen the federal E-Verify system, designed to stem illegal immigration, flagged a prospective employee, an Oregon company asked her for more documentation. That was a bad idea.聽
