Recent Updates
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10 states ask Calif. court to delay gay marriage
Legal News Center 06/02/2008The attorneys general of 10 states are urging the California Supreme Court to delay finalizing its ruling to legalize same-sex marriage.The attorneys general say in court documents filed Thursday that they have an interest in the case because they wo...
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NJ, Texas courts scrap awards from Vioxx cases
Legal News Center 05/29/2008Appeals courts in New Jersey and Texas have scrapped verdicts against drugmaker Merck stemming from some of the earliest trials involving its once popular painkiller Vioxx.A Texas court scrapped a $26 million verdict against the drugmaker stemming fr...
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Report says courts can handle terrorism cases
Legal News Center 05/28/2008Two former federal prosecutors say that when it comes to handling accused terrorists, the best way is the old way: Put them on trial in civilian courts, not military tribunals.A report examines 123 terrorist cases from the past 15 years, and the stud...
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Court strikes down Va. late-term abortion ban
Legal News Center 05/21/2008A Virginia law banning a type of late-term abortion is still unconstitutional, even though a similar federal ban was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.The 2-1 decision by a panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of ...
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High court is blocked from case over investments
Legal News Center 05/13/2008The Supreme Court tossed itself off a big case Monday.The court couldn't take up an apartheid dispute involving some of the nation's largest companies because too many of the justices had investments or other ties with those corporate giants.It appea...
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Court weighs whether to restrict 'business method' patents
Legal News Center 05/09/2008Is a baseball pitcher's method for throwing a curveball patentable? How about a chiropractor's techniques?A federal appeals court wrestled with those kinds of questions Thursday when it considered placing restrictions on patent protections for busine...
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Court upholds sentence for Ala. police officer
Legal News Center 05/06/2008[##_1L|1372947792.jpg|width="130" height="130" alt=""|_##]A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and 10-month sentence of an Alabama police officer for lying about a prisoner injured during arrest. A federal judge sentenced Jason Hardy Hun...
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Ga. parole board holds hearing for convicted killer
Legal News Center 05/05/2008A clemency hearing is under way for a convicted Georgia killer whose execution would be the first since the U.S. Supreme Court found lethal injection constitutional.The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles convened Monday to hear the case of William ...
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Another record number of warrants for secret spy court
Legal News Center 05/01/2008The nation's spy court approved a record number of requests to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies last year, the Justice Department said Wednesday.The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approved 2,370 warrants last year target...
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Supreme Court affirms drug-arrest case
Legal News Center 04/24/2008The Supreme Court affirmed Wednesday that police have the power to conduct searches and seize evidence, even when done during an arrest that turns out to have violated state law.The unanimous decision came in a case from Portsmouth, Va., where city d...
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High court rejects Wahkiakum drug testing policy
Legal News Center 03/13/2008[##_1L|1150015902.jpg|width="131" height="91" alt=""|_##]The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that random drug testing of student athletes is unconstitutional, finding that each has "a genuine and fundamental privacy interest in controlling his or ...
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Santeria priest's case will go to U.S. court today
Legal News Center 03/10/2008A federal judge will hear arguments today about whether Euless' ban on cruelty to animals infringes upon religious freedom. Jose Merced, a priest in the Santeria religion, has sued Euless, saying the city is infringing on his religious liberties by f...