Recent Updates
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US transfers 12 Gitmo detainees to home countries
Lawyer Blogs 12/21/2009The U.S. has transferred a dozen Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan, Yemen and the Somaliland region as the Obama administration continues to move captives out of the facility in Cuba in preparation for its closure.The Justice Department said Sunday...
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NC lawyers try to block release of 2 killers
Lawyer Blogs 12/18/2009The attorney general's office in North Carolina is petitioning the state Supreme Court to block the release of two convicted killers who had been serving life sentences.Lawyers filed their petition Friday, a day after the state appeals court rejected...
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Ohio justices: Cell phone searches require warrant
Lawyer Blogs 12/16/2009The Ohio Supreme Court said Tuesday police officers must obtain a search warrant before scouring the contents of a suspect's cell phone, unless their safety is in danger.The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio described the ruling as a landmark ca...
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NC appeals court temporarily halts inmate release
Lawyer Blogs 12/15/2009North Carolina's appeals court has temporarily blocked the release of two convicted murderers sentenced under a 1970s law that limited life terms.The court clerk issued an order Monday afternoon approving a request to halt the case, but he gave no ex...
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Senators revise climate bill to court GOP support
Lawyer Blogs 12/11/2009Senators trying to craft bipartisan climate legislation offered a revised proposal Thursday that would add incentives for building nuclear power plants and open the way for expanded oil and gas drilling off the nation's coastlines in hopes of attract...
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Appeals court puts Mattel's Bratz takeover on hold
Lawyer Blogs 12/10/2009The pouty-lipped Bratz dolls can strut their stuff a little longer.A federal appeals court panel in Pasadena on Wednesday suspended an order that MGA Entertainment stop selling Bratz products this year, recall remaining toys and give ownership of the...
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Unions pressure Democrats on health insurance tax
Lawyer Blogs 12/10/2009Unions leaders, among the most passionate backers of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, pressed Democratic senators Thursday to drop a tax on high-value insurance plans to pay for remaking the nation's system.As the Senate entered its 11t...
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Court skeptical of federal anti-fraud law
Lawyer Blogs 12/09/2009The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to limit federal prosecutors' use of a fraud law that has helped win convictions of high-profile corporate executives and public officials, or throw out the law altogether.The justices, hearing two challeng...
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Smart case competency hearing begins second week
Lawyer Blogs 12/08/2009A New York psychiatrist is expected in federal court to discuss the religious writings of the man accused of abducting Elizabeth Smart.According to Dr. Michael Welner, some of Brian David Mitchell's writings claim that Smart went with him willingly a...
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Ohio inmate to get 1-drug, slower execution
Lawyer Blogs 12/08/2009Condemned killer Kenneth Biros could become the first person in the country put to death with a single dose of an intravenous anesthetic instead of the usual — and faster-acting — three-drug process if his execution proceeds Tuesday.The execution cou...
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Ohio dismemberment killer files new delay request
Lawyer Blogs 12/07/2009A condemned Ohio man asked a federal judge Thursday for an emergency order to stop next week's planned execution, arguing the state is rushing too fast to use its new, one-drug lethal injection process.Kenneth Biros said the untested method announced...
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Ohio inmate to get 1-drug, slower execution
Lawyer Blogs 12/07/2009Condemned killer Kenneth Biros could become the first person in the country put to death with a single dose of an intravenous anesthetic instead of the usual — and faster-acting — three-drug process if his execution proceeds Tuesday.The execution cou...