Recent Updates
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Bush steps up fight over congressional authority
Lawyer Blogs 08/27/2008The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court fight that could change the balance of power between the White House and Congress.Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that they will soon ask a federal appeals court not to force the pres...
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Ohio man sentenced for writing racial hate letters
Lawyer Blogs 08/26/2008A man who wrote hundreds of hateful letters to black and mixed race men — including Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter — was sentenced Tuesday to three years and 10 months in prison.David Tuason apologize...
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Reputed drug lord pleads not guilty in US court
Lawyer Blogs 08/26/2008A reputed drug lord who was extradited to the United States last week from Brazil has pleaded not guilty in a large cocaine smuggling scheme.Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia entered the plea Monday in federal court in Brooklyn and was ordered held without ...
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Indictments to stand against DeLay associates
Lawyer Blogs 08/25/2008An appeals court has declined to throw out money-laundering indictments against two of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political operatives, who had claimed that state elections law used to charge them was too confusing to proceed.Attorneys ...
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Gay marriage foes mobilize for ban in California
Lawyer Blogs 08/25/2008Michael Bumgarner says he's never campaigned for a political cause before, but his strong opposition to same-sex marriage has prompted him to join thousands of volunteers going door-to-door in support of a ballot initiative that would ban gay nuptual...
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Detroit mayor offered plea deal in assault case
Lawyer Blogs 08/22/2008A prosecutor made a surprising offer Friday to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: resign by Sept. 3 in exchange for the dismissal of one of two assault charges.Doug Baker of the Michigan attorney general's office made the disclosure during a routine arraignment...
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Judge libeled by Boston Herald agrees to step down
Lawyer Blogs 08/21/2008A judge who won a $2 million libel award from the Boston Herald, then sent threatening letters to its publisher, will step down from the bench, a court said Wednesday.Judge Ernest Murphy and the state Commission on Judicial Conduct have agreed Murphy...
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Court says EPA air pollution rule is illegal
Lawyer Blogs 08/21/2008A Bush administration rule barring states and local governments from requiring more air pollution monitoring is illegal, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.In a 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out...
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Jury finds ranch negligent in 10-death landslide
Lawyer Blogs 08/20/2008A jury has ruled that a ranch company's negligence helped lead to the huge 2005 landslide that crushed part of a seaside community and killed 10 people.After a trial of nearly two months, the jurors in Ventura County Superior Court found on Tuesday t...
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Court protests halt hearing in immigrant killing
Lawyer Blogs 08/19/2008Courthouse protests have caused a brief interruption in the preliminary hearing of three teenagers charged in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant in a small Pennsylvania town.About 40 protesters outside the courthouse in Pottsville have been tol...
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Calif top court: Docs can't withhold care to gays
Lawyer Blogs 08/19/2008California's highest court on Monday barred doctors from invoking their religious beliefs as a reason to deny treatment to gays and lesbians, ruling that state law prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination extends to the medical profession....
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Ohio jury visits apartment in microwave death case
Lawyer Blogs 08/18/2008A jury in Dayton, Ohio, has visited the apartment where prosecutors say a woman killed her month-old baby by burning her in a microwave oven.The visit came ahead of opening statements Monday in the retrial of 28-year-old China Arnold. She's charged w...