Recent Updates
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Court could give Obama early test on detentions
Lawyer Blogs 11/22/2008The Supreme Court could hand President-elect Barack Obama a delicate problem in the coming days: What to do with a suspected al-Qaida sleeper agent who is the only person detained in this country as an enemy combatant?Ali al-Marri has been held in vi...
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Former Congress aide pleads guilty to hiding gifts
Lawyer Blogs 11/21/2008A former legislative aide to two Missouri Republicans, Sen. Kit Bond and Rep. Roy Blunt, pleaded guilty Thursday to hiding thousands of dollars of gifts from lobbyists, the latest political figure to go down in the Jack Abramoff corruption scan...
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Calif. Supreme Court to take up gay marriage ban
Lawyer Blogs 11/20/2008California's highest court has agreed to hear legal challenges to a new ban on gay marriage, but is refusing to allow gay couples to resume marrying until it rules.The California Supreme Court on Wednesday accepted three lawsuits seeking to overturn ...
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Ohio executes man for killing store owner in 1992
Lawyer Blogs 11/19/2008Ohio on Wednesday executed a man for the 1992 stabbing death of a collectibles store owner in Toledo, the state's second execution in as many months.Gregory Bryant-Bey, 53, died by lethal injection at 10:41 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Faci...
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Calif. high court asked to hear gay marriage cases
Lawyer Blogs 11/18/2008The state attorney general and sponsors of the ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California urged its Supreme Court to hear a series of lawsuits seeking to overturn the ban, saying the matter is too urgent to be unsettled."The petiti...
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Wisconsin court says 1985 killer should be freed
Lawyer Blogs 11/14/2008A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that a man who killed a Catholic priest and two others in a church 23 years ago should be released from a mental hospital.Bryan Stanley had claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse St. Patrick's Catholic Church...
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US appeals court hears arguments in ND hemp case
Lawyer Blogs 11/13/2008An attorney for two North Dakota farmers argued they should be able to grow industrial hemp under state regulations without fear of federal criminal prosecution.Attorney Joe Sandler told a panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday t...
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Ex-Wash. priest agrees to pay abuse victims $5M
Lawyer Blogs 11/11/2008A former priest accused in many of the child sex-abuse claims that bankrupted the eastern Washington Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $5 million to victims, who'll likely never be paid.Even though Patrick O'Donnell doesn't have the money he agreed ...
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Court turns down appeal in sealed case
Lawyer Blogs 11/10/2008The Supreme Court has turned aside a legal newspaper publisher's challenge to court decisions sealing an entire case from public view.The justices did not comment Monday on their order denying the appeal of The New York Law Publishing Company. It had...
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Mass. scrambling to adapt to marijuana initiative
Lawyer Blogs 11/07/2008After Massachusetts voted to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, top law enforcement officials are scrambling to figure out what they need to do to put the law into effect — despite their efforts to defeat it at the polls.Attorney...
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US judge 'agonizing' over Clemens lawsuit
Lawyer Blogs 11/05/2008A federal judge said Monday he is "agonizing" over the status of a defamation lawsuit Roger Clemens filed against his former personal trainer, who accused the pitcher of using performance-enhancing drugs.U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison made the ...
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Court wrestles with TV profanity case
Lawyer Blogs 11/04/2008The Supreme Court spent an hour on Tuesday talking about dirty words on television without once using any or making plain how it would decide whether the government could ban them.The dispute between the broadcast networks and the Federal Communicati...