Recent Updates
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Wis. court tosses conviction in sex meeting case
Lawyer Blogs 02/04/2010A Wisconsin appeals court has overturned the conviction of a man who was accused of trying to meet an underage girl to have sex. The District 2 Court of Appeals says the prosecutor knew the woman that Clifford Bvocik wanted to meet was actually 28, b...
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Appeals Court: New York City Can Limit Billboards
Lawyer Blogs 02/03/2010A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the city did not violate the First Amendment by limiting the number of billboards along its roadways and parks.The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said the city's goals of reducing visual cl...
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Jamar Houser: A Profile of St. Dom's Murder Suspect
Lawyer Blogs 02/02/2010As Al Milano watched in court, prosecutors laid out a sampling of Jamar Houser's previous run-ins with the law even before the 18-year-old was accused of killing 80-year-old Angeline Fimognari last month. Houser, who was arrested Friday, was arraigne...
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Calif. Court Nixes $21M Claim Against Travel Sites
Lawyer Blogs 02/02/2010A judge ruled Monday that online travel sites such as Expedia do not owe the city of Anaheim $21 million in hotel taxes for rooms booked over the Internet, the first ruling of its kind in California on an issue that has bubbled up in cities across th...
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High court's ruling is a blow to campaign finance reform
Lawyer Blogs 01/28/2010A conservative legal foundation on Wednesday asked federal regulators to give a green light to corporations and unions to begin spending their treasuries to influence this year's congressional elections. The James Madison Center for Free Speech asked...
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Oklahoma high court allows some use of line-item veto
Lawyer Blogs 01/27/2010The state Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote Tuesday that the governor has line-item veto power on sections of legislation that place "conditions or restrictions on previously appropriated funds.” The decision handed down Tuesday ends a legal challeng...
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Court Stops NYC Suit Vs. Online Cigarette Vendor
Lawyer Blogs 01/26/2010The Supreme Court has ruled against New York City in its effort to use federal racketeering law to sue Internet cigarette sellers for lost tax revenue. By a 5-3 vote Monday, the court ended the city's lawsuit against Hemi Group, a New Mexico-based co...
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Prisoner release plan halted pending review
Lawyer Blogs 01/20/2010A federal court order to release 40,000 inmates to relieve prison crowding in California was delayed for up to a year on Tuesday, pending a final review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Justices turned down a challenge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's admin...
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Court dismisses California prisoner release case
Lawyer Blogs 01/19/2010The high court's decision to dismiss the appeals for lack of jurisdiction occurred as part of a long-running legal battle over California's 33 adult prisons and their often-criticized medical care for inmates.A panel of three federal judges in August...
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Court: Mass. Law on Wine Shipping Unconstitutional
Lawyer Blogs 01/15/2010A Massachusetts law that sharply restricts out-of-state winemakers from shipping their products directly to consumers in the state is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled.Thursday's decision by the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a ...
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Court Mulls California's Proposition 8
Lawyer Blogs 01/13/2010A federal court turned to historians Tuesday as it considers the constitutionality of Proposition 8, an amendment that banned same-sex marriage in California. Harvard professor Nancy Cott told a federal court in San Francisco that child rearing was o...
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Why NFL’s Supreme Court case is overhyped
Lawyer Blogs 01/12/2010The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case later this week that some are touting as pivotal in the business of sports. American Needle Inc. v. the NFL, a supposed David vs. Goliath-type case that could help define the NFL's antitrust status...