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Public Interest

4232 ABA Journal Public Interest articles.

Supreme Court appears likely to uphold regulation of ghost guns

The Supreme Court seemed poised on Tuesday to uphold a major gun regulation imposed by the Biden administration that requires background checks, serial numbers and sales records for the nearly untraceable firearms known as ghost guns.

Oct 8, 2024 12:42 PM CDT

Judge’s ‘exceptional’ defiance following discipline decision is unmatched, suspension decision says

A state court judge in Philadelphia has been suspended without pay for posting political content on Facebook, even after a disciplinary decision finding that the conduct violated ethics rules.

Oct 8, 2024 12:39 PM CDT

Supreme Court is ‘dour and diligent’ as it debates ‘potential sleeper case;’ are arguments ‘abusive’?

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday appeared “dour and diligent” as it considered exhaustion requirements in lawsuits for constitutional violations, according to an article in the New York Times.

Oct 8, 2024 10:34 AM CDT

9 years of solitary confinement violates Eighth Amendment, jurors find; case later settles

New York has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a punitive damages claim in a case in which jurors found that nine years of solitary confinement violated the Eighth Amendment rights of an inmate.

Oct 8, 2024 9:00 AM CDT

Supreme Court’s sleepy-looking docket leaves room for potentially bigger cases to come

The U.S. Supreme Court begins its new term next week poised on the edge of uncertainty. The biggest case of the term may be one that isn’t even on the court’s docket yet.

Oct 3, 2024 12:04 PM CDT

After Hurricane Helene, court deadlines extended, misconduct hotline activated

Hurricane Helene is having a continuing impact on the courts.

Oct 2, 2024 12:25 PM CDT

Judge who oversaw handcuffing of sleepy teen on field trip now hearing these cases

A Detroit judge sued for allegedly making an example of a sleepy teenager on a courtroom field trip is back on the bench, but he no longer presides in preliminary stages of serious criminal cases.

Oct 2, 2024 8:57 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: Will the Supreme Court have a role in the presidential election as it enters a new term?

As the justices return to the bench on Oct. 7 for the new term, the unknowable question is whether the U.S. Supreme Court will play a role in the outcome of the November 2024 presidential election. Will this year be like 2000, when a close election was effectively decided by the court’s ruling in Bush v. Gore? Or will it be like 2020, when a close election did not raise any issues for the justices to decide?

Oct 2, 2024 8:53 AM CDT

Arkansas justices refer each other for discipline in FOIA tiff

Updated: A Freedom of Information Act request for an Arkansas justice’s emails has led to a tossed lawsuit and a spate of ethics referrals.

Oct 1, 2024 3:16 PM CDT

Judge tosses lawyer’s dueling lawsuit against Willkie partner in spat over New York Post story

A solo practitioner accused of facilitating a negative story about a BigLaw partner in the New York Post can’t sue for a declaratory judgment that his actions were protected by the First Amendment, a Connecticut judge has ruled.

Oct 1, 2024 10:54 AM CDT

Unprofessional Conduct: Free speech doesn’t cover elected official’s coarse comments, court says

A former Iowa county attorney who was elected to the prosecutorial position made crude comments at work. Reuben Neff, who was first elected as the Wapello County Attorney in 2018 and resigned in March, did not convince the Iowa Supreme Court that he had a First Amendment right to say those things.

Oct 1, 2024 2:00 AM CDT

Melanie Kalmanson dedicates pro bono work to death penalty education

When the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in the death penalty case Hurst v. Florida in January 2016, it effectively changed the course of Melanie Kalmanson’s career. “That’s when my passion for these issues started, when I was seeing it in real life, living these cases, working on these cases, seeing how it affected Florida,” Kalmanson says. “The thing that really hit me was how little society knows about the reality of the death penalty.”

Oct 1, 2024 1:00 AM CDT

Firms should consider billable hour credit for DEI and bar association work

Many firms already credit pro bono hours toward their attorneys’ billable hour requirements. But what about the time attorneys devote to bar association activities and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives?

Oct 1, 2024 12:30 AM CDT

No Small Matter

An unfortunate case of mistaken identity has had years of repercussions for one man and inspired a group of law students to try to correct what they see as a miscarriage of justice. It was a long shot. Innocence clinics usually don’t work with clients convicted of minor offenses.

Oct 1, 2024 12:00 AM CDT

‘Robot lawyer’ website DoNotPay settles FTC claims it couldn’t deliver on promises

A website that billed itself as the “world’s first robot lawyer” has agreed to pay $193,000 to settle Federal Trade Commission allegations that it did not live up to its claims.

Sep 30, 2024 10:28 AM CDT

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