Recent Updates

  • Joseph Wapner, star of 'The People's Court,' dead at 97

    Joseph Wapner, star of 'The People's Court,' dead at 97

    Criminal Law News 03/01/2017

    Joseph Wapner, the retired Los Angeles judge who presided over "The People's Court" with steady force during the heyday of the reality courtroom show, died Sunday at age 97. Son David Wapner told The Associated Press that his father died at home in h...

  • High court ruling could reshape Virginia political map

    High court ruling could reshape Virginia political map

    Bar Associations 03/01/2017

    A U.S. Supreme Court decision reviving a challenge to several Virginia legislative districts could send lawmakers back to the drawing board, but Republicans say they are confident the state's current electoral map will withstand further scrutiny. The...

  • Florida Legislature at "Open War" with State Supreme Court

    Florida Legislature at "Open War" with State Supreme Court

    Justice Review 03/01/2017

    The Republican-dominated Legislature's tense relationship with the state Supreme Court is hanging over this year's legislative session as lawmakers take up two bills to deal with the aftermath of court rulings that Republicans don't like. One of them...

  • US Supreme Court refuses appeals from 3 on Texas death row

    US Supreme Court refuses appeals from 3 on Texas death row

    Litigation Reports 02/28/2017

    The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to review appeals in three Texas death row cases, including one where a man pleaded guilty to a triple slaying in South Texas. The high court's rulings moved two inmates closer to execution: LeJames Norman, 31, c...

  • Lawmakers want Supreme Court review of voting law continued

    Lawmakers want Supreme Court review of voting law continued

    US Legal News 02/26/2017

    North Carolina Republican legislative leaders want the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the new Democratic state attorney general's bid to dismiss their appeal of a lower court ruling that struck down a voting law based on racial bias. Lawyers the Genera...

  • US appeals court upholds Maryland assault weapons ban

    US appeals court upholds Maryland assault weapons ban

    US Legal News 02/24/2017

    Maryland's ban on 45 kinds of assault weapons and its 10-round limit on gun magazines were upheld Tuesday by a federal appeals court in a decision that met with a strongly worded dissent. In a 10-4 ruling, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Ric...

  • High court ruling limits international reach of patent laws

    High court ruling limits international reach of patent laws

    Legal Events 02/24/2017

    The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with California-based Life Technologies Corp. in a patent infringement case that limits the international reach of U.S. patent laws. The justices ruled unanimously that the company's shipment of a single part of a...

  • Court: Florida Docs Allowed to Ask Patients About Guns

    Court: Florida Docs Allowed to Ask Patients About Guns

    Recent Cases 02/22/2017

    A federal appeals court has cleared the way for Florida doctors to talk with patients about whether they own guns. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that key provisions of a 2011 law that restricted such speech violate the First A...

  • Court: Missouri not required to name execution drug's source

    Court: Missouri not required to name execution drug's source

    Headline Legal News 02/21/2017

    A Missouri appellate court has ruled that the state's prison officials aren't obligated to publicly reveal the source of the drug used to execute prisoners. The appellate court's Western District decided Tuesday to overturn a 2016 trial court ruling ...

  • Trial court election changes considered by North Carolina House

    Trial court election changes considered by North Carolina House

    Justice Review 02/21/2017

    Some Republicans are set on returning all North Carolina state judicial elections to being officially partisan races again. A law quickly approved in December during a special election directed statewide races for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals t...

  • UK court says income threshold for foreign spouses is lawful

    UK court says income threshold for foreign spouses is lawful

    Headline Legal News 02/20/2017

    Britain's Supreme Court says the government is entitled to set a minimum-income threshold for people wanting to bring foreign spouses to the country, a measure introduced to ensure immigrants won't draw on public welfare funds. But the court says the...

  • Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear open meetings case

    Wisconsin Supreme Court to hear open meetings case

    Law Firm News 02/15/2017

    The Wisconsin Supreme Court is to hear arguments in a case that could give school boards and other governmental bodies a way around the open meetings law. The case up for argument Wednesday focuses on whether meetings of a committee created by employ...