Recent Updates
-
Foreign donations are a risk in super PAC setting
Legal News Feed 02/10/2012Money pouring into the presidential election from super political action committees and nonprofit campaign groups appears so far to be strictly American in origin, donated by U.S. companies, unions and millionaires. But it's easier than ever to conce...
-
Long-awaited ruling on CA gay marriage ban due
Legal News Feed 02/07/2012Supporters and opponents of California's ban on same-sex marriage were anxiously awaiting a federal appeals court decision Tuesday on whether the voter-approved measure violates the civil rights of gay men and lesbians. A three-judge panel of the 9th...
-
In Vt., an attorney general's losses raise doubts
Legal News Feed 01/25/2012The first was Vermont's campaign finance law setting the lowest contribution limits in the country — shot down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The same fate befell the state's attempt to restrict drug company efforts to collect data on doctors' prescribin...
-
Perry appeals judge's ruling on Va. primary ballot
Legal News Feed 01/16/2012Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday appealed a federal judge's refusal to add him and three other candidates to Virginia's Republican presidential primary ballot. In a filing with the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Perry's attorneys requested that th...
-
Gov't defends core of health care overhaul
Legal News Feed 01/06/2012The Obama administration defended the health care overhaul in a filing Friday with the Supreme Court that calls the law an appropriate response to a "crisis in the national health care market." The administration filed a written submission in the hig...
-
Chief justice defends court's impartiality
Legal News Feed 01/02/2012Chief Justice John Roberts said Saturday that he has "complete confidence" in his colleagues' ability to step away from cases where their personal interests are at stake, and noted that judges should not be swayed by "partisan demands." The comment, ...
-
Budget woes squeeze federal courts in NYC
Legal News Feed 12/27/2011An annual holiday show at the federal courthouse in Manhattan drew laughs, but no one is laughing now over the possibility of unfilled jobs and draconian budget cuts that court administrators say threatens the public's safety. "Their secret plan is t...
-
Gingrich assails judges as he courts conservatives
Legal News Feed 12/20/2011As he works to rev up his conservative base in Iowa with just two weeks to go until the state's caucuses, Newt Gingrich is launching a full-throated assault on a reliable GOP target: judges. There is little love for the judicial branch among the Repu...
-
High court halts new Texas electoral maps
Legal News Feed 12/11/2011Texas' March primary will likely be delayed after the Supreme Court on Friday blocked the use of state legislative and congressional district maps that were drawn by federal judges. The court issued a brief order late Friday that applies to electoral...
-
CA same-sex marriage ban gets another day in court
Legal News Feed 12/09/2011The sponsors of California's gay marriage ban renewed their effort Thursday to disqualify a federal judge because of his same-sex relationship, but they met a skeptical audience in an appeals court panel. It's the first time an American jurist's sexu...
-
Political aide to former Md. governor found guilty
Legal News Feed 12/07/2011A political aide to former Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich was convicted Tuesday of conspiring to use election-day robocalls in an effort to suppress black voter turnout during the 2010 gubernatorial election. Paul Schurick was found guilty of all four ...
-
Senators pushing for televised court arguments
Legal News Feed 12/06/2011Senators are once again pushing the Supreme Court to televise its courtroom proceedings, especially since justices will have an election-year argument over the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's signature health care overhaul. A Senate Jud...