All Law & Courts
Why momentous Prop. 8 ruling might not satisfy gay-rights groupsA federal court overturned Prop. 8, California's ban on gay marriage, but the ruling did not affirm聽a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage, as gay-rights groups had hoped.聽
Judges bar viewing of gay marriage trial videos: what they鈥檙e protectingA federal appeals court rejected the release of video recordings of a landmark gay marriage trial, saying the trial judge's order to keep them under wraps must be honored to preserve judicial integrity.
Drive-by jihadi pleads guilty to shooting at PentagonThe Virginia resident, who videotaped one of his drive-by attacks on the Pentagon, fired at other buildings and planned to desecrate graves of Iraq and Afghanistan war dead at Arlington National Cemetery.- Baltimore man tricked by FBI pleads guilty to trying to bomb recruiting siteAntonio Martinez, who attempted to detonate a car bomb at a Maryland recruiting station as an act of holy war against the United States, did not know the bomb was inert.
The bumbling jihadi? Alleged terror backer guessed FBI was listening.An Uzbekistan man living in Denver has been charged with supporting an overseas terror group. At one point, court documents show, he openly cursed the FBI agents he assumed were listening to his phone call with an apparent terrorist contact.
US charges 'Reluctant Spy' author with leaking secrets to journalistsFormer CIA officer John Kiriakou, author of 'The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA鈥檚 War on Terror,' faces up to 30 years in prison for allegedly disclosing classified information to reporters.
Unanimous Supreme Court: Get a warrant before installing GPS tracking deviceThe ruling upholds a broad right to be free from unreasonable searches. But it also highlights a struggle within the Supreme Court to balance law enforcement objectives with privacy concerns.- Supreme Court tells Texas judges to do a better job on election mapsSaying federal judges in Texas exceeded their authority in rejecting election districts drawn by the Republican-controlled Legislature, the Supreme Court instructed the judges to find remedies closer to the state's maps.
USS Cole bombing: Judge allows prosecution to use 'sanitized' evidenceA ruling Wednesday puts Abdal Rahim Al-Nashiri at a significant disadvantage because prosecutors will be able to rely on declassified summaries of classified evidence.聽
USS Cole bombing: Judge denies lawyers' bid to meet with unchained clientLawyers for the alleged USS Cole bombing mastermind say the security restrictions at the Guantanamo Bay terror detention camp are hindering their ability to prepare his defense.- Does First Amendment protect students' online speech off-campus?The Supreme Court declined to take up Tuesday three potentially important test cases of the First Amendment of students engaged in controversial speech on the Internet.
As debate roars over Haley Barbour pardons, five released convicts vanishMississippi's attorney general says he may call for a national manhunt to find five pardoned prisoners, including four convicted killers, who were released by outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour.
Bradley Manning: How alleged intelligence leaker will defend himselfThe defense strategy for Bradley Manning is that the classified information he allegedly gave to WikiLeaks wasn't harmful to US interests. Another defense focus: failings up the military chain of command.- Smugglers' air force? Drug war sees rise in use of ultralight planes.Ultralight planes have become an increasingly popular vehicle for smugglers in the US-Mexico border drug war. The aircraft are hard to spot and can haul hundreds of pounds of illicit cargo.聽
Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimonyThe lawyer for a convicted New Hampshire man had asked the Supreme Court to establish an expanded rule to help prevent unreliable eyewitness testimony at criminal trials.- Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groupsThe Supreme Court decides unanimously that the First Amendment bars government interference in a religious group's decision to fire a minister. Critics say the ruling protects religious groups that fire people for the most venal reasons.
- Lawyer makes startling argument in Supreme Court hearing on FCCA lawyer arguing that the FCC has gone overboard in its regulation of broadcast nudity and language directed the justices' attention to the bare buttocks of statues in the Supreme Court. The justices are considering whether FCC rules are inconsistent.聽
Are tough FCC indecency laws obsolete? Supreme Court hears free-speech case.Fox and ABC say tougher FCC regulations of broadcasters regarding expletives and partial nudity are discriminatory in an age when cable and Internet programs are not similarly regulated.
Supreme Court justices face tangled mess with Texas redistricting planSupreme Court justices heard oral arguments Monday over competing plans for redrawn legislative districts in Texas amid allegations the state Legislature was diluting Latino political power.
Progress WatchUS crime rate at lowest point in decades. Why America is safer now.The crime rate for serious crimes, including murder, rape, and assault, has dropped significantly since the early 1990s in part because of changes in technology and policing, experts say.聽