Recent Updates
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US war crimes court to resume at Guantanamo
Lawyer Blogs 07/09/2008U.S. military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay resume this week even as new legal challenges could throw the system into further turmoil.Five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, are to appear Wednesday...
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R.I. lead paint loss gives industry huge win
Lawyer Blogs 07/07/2008Communities and child health advocates around the country had pinned their hopes on Rhode Island prevailing in its landmark lawsuit against the lead paint industry.Now, after the state Supreme Court threw out the first-ever jury verdict finding forme...
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Sperm Donor Fights For Rights In Court
Lawyer Blogs 07/07/2008Both the Alliance Defense Fund & Keys for Networking, Inc. filed Amicus Briefs in the United States Supreme Court in support of attorney Jeffery M. Leving’s Petition for Writ of Certiorari. Leving filed the Petition for Writ of Certiorari on beha...
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Court orders YouTube to give Viacom video logs
Lawyer Blogs 07/05/2008Dismissing privacy concerns, a federal judge overseeing a $1 billion copyright-infringement lawsuit against YouTube has ordered the popular online video-sharing service to disclose who watches which video clips and when.U.S. District Judge Louis L. S...
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Florida Supreme Court nixes Indian casino pact
Lawyer Blogs 07/03/2008The Florida Supreme Court is overturning the agreement Gov. Charlie Crist signed with the Seminole Tribe to expand gambling at its casinos.The court ruled Thursday that Crist doesn't have the constitutional authority to enter into the agreement that ...
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Judges rip Texas courts in death penalty case
Lawyer Blogs 07/02/2008A federal appeals court blasted Texas courts for refusing to hold a hearing to consider evidence that a convicted killer may be mentally disabled, therefore ineligible for the death penalty.A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals...
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N.D. Supreme Court revives workers' comp charges
Lawyer Blogs 07/01/2008North Dakota's Supreme Court revived two felony charges Monday against a former state workers' compensation director, saying prosecutors may put him on trial for allegedly misspending more than $18,000 in agency funds.Sandy Blunt was forced out as Wo...
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Ga. court upholds partial banishment for offenders
Lawyer Blogs 07/01/2008Faced with the question of whether banishment for criminals in Georgia should be banned, the state's top court answered Monday with its own caveat: It depends on how far the ban extends.The Georgia Supreme Court acknowledged with its 6-1 decision tha...
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Florida prepares for 1st execution since foul up
Lawyer Blogs 06/30/2008Florida's new procedure for lethal injections could be tested Tuesday when executioners strap down a condemned inmate for the first time since a botched execution.Mark Dean Schwab, 39, is scheduled to die exactly 16 years after he was sentenced in th...
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Summaries of leading Supreme Court rulings
Lawyer Blogs 06/29/2008Brief summaries of the rulings from the leading cases before the Supreme Court in its just-ended term:GUN BANRuled that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting. It was the justices' first major pronouncement on gun rights in h...
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Supreme Court asserts broad gun rights
Lawyer Blogs 06/26/2008Americans have an individual right to possess and use firearms, even when the guns are not related to service in a government militia. In a historic ruling, the US Supreme Court on Thursday declared 5 to 4 that the Second Amendment's guarantee of a r...
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Court rejects death penalty for raping children
Lawyer Blogs 06/25/2008The Supreme Court on Wednesday outlawed executions of people convicted of raping a child.In a 5-4 vote, the court said the Louisiana law allowing the death penalty to be imposed in such cases violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punis...