Constitutional Law

Editor in F-Word Controversy Hires Lawyer

The editor of a college newspaper that used the f-word in an editorial headline has retained a lawyer for advice on his First Amendment rights. The editorial protested a police officer’s use of a Taser against a student who wouldn’t stop asking questions at a forum featuring Sen. John Kerry.…

Oct 1, 2007 6:08 PM CDT

Will Court—and Kennedy—Swing Left?

It’s the first Monday in October, which means the U.S. Supreme Court is beginning its new term, and publications are publishing their previews of the cases. Many stories attempt to read the tea leaves, analyzing the type of cases selected and their backgrounds for insights into whether the court’s conservatives…

Oct 1, 2007 4:31 PM CDT

Editorial Writers Advise Supreme Court

The conservative U.S. Supreme Court appears to be driven by policy judgments rather than a principled approach to judging, the New York Times asserts in an editorial. The newspaper says Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. offered “fine sound bites” about having no agenda during his confirmation hearings, but he…

Oct 1, 2007 2:32 PM CDT

Constitution Is Christian, Public and McCain Agree

GOP presidential candidate John McCain says he agrees with most Americans that the Constitution created a Christian nation. “I would probably have to say yes, that the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation,” McCain told Beliefnet. “But I say that in the broadest sense. The…

Oct 1, 2007 1:03 PM CDT

Stranger Posted Bell’s Bond in Jena 6 Case

Although he had never met Mychal Bell, a doctor living elsewhere in the state posted the bond the 17-year-old needed to get out of jail and return home to the tiny town of Jena, La. Meanwhile, others also offered to do so, too, according to Bell’s lawyer. As a result,…

Sep 28, 2007 11:17 PM CDT

Business Cases Back Before Friendly Court

High-profile business cases are back before the U.S. Supreme Court after a term in which the justices handed big wins to corporate defendants in antitrust, patent and securities law cases. The court’s decisions made it more difficult for plaintiffs to get into the courthouse door, targeted discovery costs and tightened…

Sep 28, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

‘Legal Wonk’: What Larry Craig Wants, Court Can’t Give

If Sen. Larry Craig is lucky, a Minnesota judge, as expected, will refuse to let him revoke his guilty plea to a disorderly conduct charge. That’s because a trial over the charge will only serve to further embarrass the embattled Republican from Idaho, without giving him what he wants—public proof…

Sep 28, 2007 5:11 PM CDT

Cuban Dad Gets Girl Over FL’s Objection

A hard-fought child custody case pitting a 5-year-old girl’s Cuban father against Florida officials and wealthy foster parents has ended with a ruling upholding the dad’s parental rights. Although the Florida Department of Children & Families said Rafael Izquierdo abandoned his daughter after her mother brought her to South Florida…

Sep 27, 2007 5:50 PM CDT

Patriot Act Surveillance Provisions Struck

An Oregon lawyer mistakenly identified as a suspect in a terrorist bombing has won a ruling that parts of the USA Patriot Act are unconstitutional because they allow surveillance and searches of Americans without probable cause. U.S. District Judge Anne Aiken of Portland ruled that the government avoided probable cause…

Sep 27, 2007 11:12 AM CDT

State Backs Down in Jena 6 Case

The prosecution in a controversial case against one of the so-called Jena Six defendants has accepted a Louisiana appellate court ruling that he should be tried as a juvenile. Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time that he and five other black high school students allegedly attacked a white…

Sep 27, 2007 12:50 AM CDT

Towns Reconsider Anti-Immigrant Laws

Faced with lawsuits and failing businesses, some municipalities are rethinking laws designed to crack down on illegal immigrants. The town of Riverside, N.J., is among those that have reconsidered, the New York Times reports. Its law had punished landlords who rent to illegal immigrants or employers who hire them. But…

Sep 26, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Suit Over R-Word Ban

Updated: A Nebraska federal judge says he doesn’t like a state judge’s ban on the word “rape” in an upcoming trial, but he’s not going to do anything about it. U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln, Neb., dismissed a suit challenging the ban yesterday, the Associated Press reports. Plaintiff…

Sep 26, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

Will Double Jeopardy Help QB?

The lawyer for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick says he will fight new state dogfighting charges filed against his client, who has already pleaded guilty to a federal charge of conspiracy for a dogfighting operation. Vick’s Washington, D.C., lawyer, William “Billy” Martin, said in a statement that he will examine…

Sep 26, 2007 12:07 PM CDT

Pending Case May Halt Executions

When lethal injection was adopted in the 1980s, supporters said it was a better alternative to the electric chair. Now judges in the 37 states that use the procedure may block its use until the U.S. Supreme Court decides a Kentucky inmate’s challenge to its constitutionality, the New York Times…

Sep 26, 2007 11:07 AM CDT

Guilty Verdict in Church Leader Trial

Updated: A Utah jury has reached a guilty verdict in the case of a controversial church leader accused of accomplice rape for using his religious influence to pressure a 14-year-old into a marriage she didn’t want. Despite the removal of one juror and the addition of an alternate earlier today,…

Sep 25, 2007 9:47 PM CDT