Recent Updates
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Bosnian Serbs vote in referendum banned by top court
Criminal Law 09/24/2016Bosnian Serbs on Sunday voted in a referendum banned by the country's constitutional court, risking Western sanctions against their autonomous region and criminal charges against their leaders. The vote was whether to keep Jan. 9 as a holiday in Repu...
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Appeals court sympathetic to voting rules challenge
Criminal Law 09/12/2016A federal appeals court seems likely to side with voting rights groups trying to stop Kansas, Georgia and Alabama from making residents prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote using a national form. Judges heard arguments in the case Th...
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Biden, Supreme Court nominee on Hill to pressure GOP
Criminal Law 09/11/2016Judge Merrick Garland found himself back on Capitol Hill on Thursday in a familiar place ? meeting with a Democratic senator who used the visit to complain about Republicans' inaction on President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee. Vermont Sen. Pa...
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Mexico's Supreme Court overturns state anti-corruption laws
Criminal Law 09/09/2016Mexico's Supreme Court has ruled unconstitutional two state anti-corruption laws that outgoing governors passed in apparent attempts to shield themselves from investigation. Many Mexicans were outraged when the governors of the states of Veracruz and...
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Stepmom of scalded boy who died pleads guilty to murder
Criminal Law 09/08/2016A woman accused of holding her 4-year-old stepson in a scalding bath, covering his burns and not getting him medical care before he died was sentenced to at least 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder and other charges on Thursday. A War...
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Gays can seek parental rights for nonbiological kids
Criminal Law 09/07/2016New York's highest court expanded the definition of parenthood Tuesday by ruling that former same-sex couples may seek visitation and custody of children even when they aren't the biological or adoptive parent. The Court of Appeals decision resolves ...
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Arkansas court denies request for new execution law hearing
Criminal Law 07/27/2016Arkansas' highest court has denied a request to reconsider its June ruling upholding the state's execution secrecy law, but justices issued a stay that prevents the state from setting new execution dates as some inmates appeal to the U.S. Supreme Cou...
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Egypt military court sentences 8 to death
Criminal Law 05/31/2016A security official and the website of state newspaper Al-Ahram say an Egyptian military court has sentenced to death eight alleged Muslim Brotherhood members on terrorism charges. The Sunday verdict sentenced another 12 to life in prison and another...
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Man admits kidnapping teen girl, raping her during captivity
Criminal Law 05/30/2016A man who kidnapped a 14-year-old girl when she accepted his offer of a ride home from school because her feet were sore, held her in captivity for nine months and raped her repeatedly at his trailer acknowledged his crimes on Thursday. Nathan...
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US appeals court revisits Texas voter ID law
Criminal Law 05/27/2016A federal appeals court is set to take a second look at a strict Texas voter ID law that was found to be unconstitutional last year. Texas' law requires residents to show one of seven forms of approved identification. The state and other supporters s...
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Planned Parenthood shooting defendant returning to court
Criminal Law 05/11/2016A man who admitted killing three people at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic is returning to court for the continuation of a hearing on whether he's mentally competent to stand trial. A psychologist who examined 57-year-old Robert Dear is schedule...
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Court in Russia-annexed Crimea bans Tatar assembly
Criminal Law 05/04/2016The Supreme Court in the Russia-annexed peninsula Crimea on Tuesday banned a Crimean Tatar group in the latest step to marginalize the minority. Crimea's prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya who personally lodged the lawsuit welcomed the ruling against the...