Legal History

June is busting out all over with big-time SCOTUS decisions

U.S. Supreme Court terms have ended with a bang in recent years.

In 2012, a last-day-of-the-term decision upheld most of the Affordable Care Act. In 2013, the justices struck down a key provision of the federal Defense of Marriage Act on their final day. And last June, the court held that at least some corporations have a right under a federal religious liberty statute to be free of the health care law's coverage requirements for contraceptives.

Jun 1, 2015 5:35 AM CDT

America’s Magna Carta

During the weeks last summer that the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston hosted one of only four known original copies of the Magna Carta, the single sheet of faded sheepskin parchment might have been the plainest-looking object on display anywhere in the museum's vast array of galleries.

Jun 1, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

After flooding sends a river through its historic law offices, Houston PI firm cleans up

For 65 years, a Texas personal injury firm that bills itself as the oldest such practice in the state has been housed in a historic building in downtown Houston. But the mahogany doors and impressive furnishings that distinguished Abraham Watkins Nichols Sorrels Agosto & Friend could soon be on the…

May 28, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

May 8, 1980: Smallpox eradicated

For nearly 3,000 years, variola major—a disease known as smallpox—plagued the planet. From Europe to Africa and Asia, the disease killed as many as 30 percent of those infected. There was no known cure. Even the powerful, once infected, were not immune to an agonizing death. Queen Mary II of England, Emperor Joseph I of Austria, Czar Peter II of Russia and King Louis XV of France—all died of the disease; and in nearly every country deep, distinctive facial scars identified its survivors.

May 1, 2015 6:01 AM CDT

South Dakota class action highlights violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act

When South Dakota's Pennington County petitioned to take custody of Madonna Pappan's children, the hearing lasted slightly more than 60 seconds.

May 1, 2015 5:50 AM CDT

Law Day and other activities honor Magna Carta, the document that set forth basic legal rights

As the world prepares to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the sealing of Magna Carta on June 15, it is important for us as citizens —and especially as lawyers—to reflect on the importance of this document to our legal system and our way of life.

May 1, 2015 5:40 AM CDT

Retired attorney indicted in claimed mortgage-fraud scheme

Suspended from practice in 2004 over his role in a kickback scheme that put a Congressman for whom he had worked behind bars, an Ohio lawyer again skirted the law. He operated a real estate business before he was reinstated in 2008, a federal indictment alleges. Over a period of…

Apr 30, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Landmark NYC courthouse opens doors for free exhibit after 40 years of being closed

Closed in 1977, the former Bronx Borough Courthouse will open its doors again on Thursday for a free art exhibit. Meanwhile, Gothamist toured the landmarked building and has posted dozens of photos online. A statue of Lady Justice remains outside, but much of the interior is now a shell, the…

Apr 22, 2015 12:15 PM CDT

Trial set to begin for former SS guard charged as accessory to 300,000 murders in World War II

In what could be the first case to test an innovative German government approach to prosecuting concentration camp guards for the deaths of Jewish prisoners during World War II, a 93-year-old man is scheduled to start trial on Tuesday in Lueneburg. Oskar Groening is charged with being an accessory to…

Apr 20, 2015 10:55 AM CDT

Polluted town championed by Erin Brockovich is largely gone despite $333M settlement

Fifteen years after a movie helped make legal assistant Erin Brockovich famous for her role in helping win a $333 million settlement over environmental pollution in Hinkley, California, the small farming community town is largely gone. Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which agreed to the settlement concerning elevated levels of…

Apr 14, 2015 11:10 AM CDT

Indian tribes are retaking jurisdiction over domestic violence on their own land

Diane Millich was only days into her marriage when her husband first hit her. So began her year of "horrific terror."

Millich, a member of the Southern Ute tribe of southwestern Colorado, called tribal police many times from her home on the reservation. But because her husband was not an American Indian, tribal police had no authority over him. Colorado's La Plata County overlaps the reservation, but county sheriffs had no jurisdiction over crimes committed against Indians on Indian land.

Apr 1, 2015 6:02 AM CDT

100 innovations in law

Law is change.

People tend to think of the law as slow-moving, immutable and disconnected from daily life. And lawyers have a reputation of being cautious and resistant to change. But in fact, when technology or sweeping changes are necessary to better serve their clients, improve access to justice or simply make their work easier, lawyers can be pretty progressive.

Apr 1, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

Pact with ABA aims to bolster rule of law in Sri Lanka

Measured by the standards of diplomatic ritual, the signing of a friendship agreement between the ABA and the Bar Association of Sri Lanka was a modest affair. But representatives of the two bar associations said the agreement will have an important impact on efforts to bolster the rule of law…

Apr 1, 2015 1:30 AM CDT

April 11, 1961: Adolf Eichmann on trial

In May 1960, a team of Israeli Mossad agents deployed to Argentina approached a man known as Ricardo Klement near his home on Garibaldi Street in a suburb of Buenos Aires. Having admitted to the agents that he was Adolf Eichmann, he was whisked to Israel to stand trial under…

Apr 1, 2015 12:30 AM CDT

Artist attended nearly 2,000 trials over 13 years, painting the ‘true essence’ of what he sees

Justice was in short supply when David Louis Wall was growing up. Abused by a man posing as his mentor, he says, he was kicked out of his home at age 11 after he blew the whistle. Four years later, his mother was shot to death by her boyfriend. The…

Mar 27, 2015 8:35 AM CDT