Recent Updates
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Appeals court rules against Utah memorial crosses
Court Alerts 08/19/2010The 14 crosses erected along Utah roads to commemorate fallen state Highway Patrol troopers convey a state preference for Christianity and are a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a federal appeals court said Wednesday.The ruling reverses a 2007 dec...
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Rapper Juvenile pleads guilty in La. drug case
Court Alerts 08/16/2010New Orleans rapper Juvenile has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge in Louisiana.The St. Bernard Parish sheriff's office says the 34-year-old, whose real name is Terius Gray, entered the plea Thursday. The rapper and an aquain...
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Titanic salvage company wins award from Va. court
Court Alerts 08/13/2010A federal judge in Virginia has ruled that a company is entitled to the value of about 5,900 artifacts it salvaged during six expeditions to the Titanic.U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith in Norfolk granted a salvage award to RMS Titanic Inc. la...
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Former Colorado postal worker pleads guilty to mail theft
Court Alerts 08/11/2010A former Denver-area postal worker has pleaded guilty to stealing DVDs, CDs, and iPods that he sold for over $85,000 over two years.Former Highlands Ranch U.S. postal worker David Schmauder pleaded guilty Monday to two federal counts of theft by mail...
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Families of Philly duck boat victims file lawsuit
Court Alerts 08/10/2010The families of two Hungarian tourists killed in a duck boat accident on the Delaware River last month have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia.Sixteen-year-old Dora Schwendtner and 20-year-old Szabolcs Prem were killed July 7 when a barge...
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Judge dismisses lawsuit over Geronimo's remains
Court Alerts 08/10/2010A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by descendants of the Apache warrior Geronimo, who claimed some of his remains were stolen in 1918 by a student society at Yale University.The lawsuit was filed last year in Washington by 20 descendants who wan...
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Nazi-naming parents shouldn't get kids
Court Alerts 08/06/2010A New Jersey couple who gave their children Nazi-inspired names should not regain custody of them, a state appeals court ruled Thursday, citing the parents' own disabilities and the risk of serious injury to their children.The state removed Heath and...
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Fed court bars candidate's lawsuit over expletive
Court Alerts 08/05/2010A federal court has tossed a lawsuit filed by a candidate for the Wisconsin state Assembly who wants to use a racially charged phrase to describe herself on the ballot.U.S. District Judge Rudolph Randa says in the Wednesday order that Ieshuh (eye-EE'...
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Ginsburg anticipates being 1 of 3 female justices
Court Alerts 08/04/2010Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says the prospect of three women on the Supreme Court is exhilarating, and she intends to stay around and enjoy it.After the death of her husband and her own treatment for cancer, there was speculation that the 77-year-old...
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Calif. high court upholds affirmative action ban
Court Alerts 08/03/2010California's high court on Monday upheld the state's 14-year-old law barring preferential treatment of women and minorities in public school admissions, government hiring and contracting.In a 6-1 ruling, the state Supreme Court rejected arguments fro...
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US appeals court: Pa. prison can ban Muslim scarf
Court Alerts 08/03/2010Prison officials can ban employees from wearing religious headscarves out of concerns they pose a safety risk, a U.S. appeals court in Philadelphia ruled Monday in a split 2-1 decision.Prison officials have legitimate concerns the headscarves can hid...
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Jury questioning begins in Anna Nicole Smith case
Court Alerts 08/02/2010Jury questioning is slated to begin Monday in Los Angeles in the drug conspiracy trial of Anna Nicole Smith's doctors and her lawyer-boyfriend.Superior Court Judge Robert Perry says questionnaires filled out by prospective jurors show most of them kn...