Recent Updates
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Circus operator agrees to plea deal in tent collapse
Criminal Law 01/05/2017Court records show a Florida-based circus operator has agreed to a plea deal following a tent collapse in New Hampshire in 2015 that killed two people and injured dozens. The Caledonian-Record in Vermont reports details of the plea deal involving Sar...
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Appeals court: Minnesota sex offender program constitutional
Criminal Law 01/01/2017Minnesota's program for keeping sex offenders confined after they complete their prison sentences is constitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday, reversing a lower-court judge who said it violates offenders' rights because hardly anyone is ...
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Kenya president: International Criminal Court not impartial
Criminal Law 12/21/2016Kenya's president on Monday criticized the International Criminal Court as "not impartial," saying his government "will give serious thought" to its membership of the court. In a speech during celebrations marking 53 years since Kenya became independ...
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Court: Asylum not automatic for former gang members
Criminal Law 12/02/2016Immigrants in the United States illegally are not automatically eligible for asylum on the basis that they are former gang members who risk persecution if they return home, a federal appeals court panel ruled Wednesday. Three judges from the 9th U.S....
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UK court brings Brexit plans screeching to halt
Criminal Law 11/04/2016Britain's High Court brought government plans for leaving the European Union screeching to a halt Thursday, ruling that the prime minister can't trigger the U.K.'s exit from the bloc without parliamentary approval. The government said it would go to ...
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Supreme Court won't hear challenge to FBI fitness test
Criminal Law 11/03/2016The Supreme Court won't hear a dispute over whether a physical fitness test for FBI special agents is biased against men. The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from an Illinois man who failed the test after completing 29 out of 30 untimed push...
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Court fight over Ohio executions likely to focus on sedative
Criminal Law 10/08/2016Ohio says it's resuming executions in January with a three-drug protocol similar to one it used for several years. The concept is one adopted for decades by many states: the first drug sedates inmates, the second paralyzes them, and the third stops t...
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Oklahoma Supreme Court invalidates law restricting abortion
Criminal Law 10/04/2016The Oklahoma Supreme Court has thrown out another state law that would put new restrictions on abortion providers. In a unanimous opinion handed down Tuesday, all nine justices agreed that the statute adopted by the Legislature last year "contains di...
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Court asks judges to respond to Louisiana sheriff's claims
Criminal Law 09/26/2016A federal appeals court on Monday asked two judges to respond to a petition by a Louisiana sheriff who claims another judge was improperly removed from his criminal case without explanation. A letter from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says Ch...
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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...