Recent Updates
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US court dismisses suit by youths over climate change
U.S. Court Watch 01/17/2020A federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by 21 young people who claimed the U.S. government’s climate policies and reliance on fossil fuels harms them, jeopardizes their future and violates their constitutional rights, potentially ...
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Lawyers: Immigration court system is ‘red tape gone crazy’
U.S. Court Watch 01/15/2020Tucked in a windowless room of Chicago’s immigration court, one of the nation’s largest legal advocacy groups for immigrants runs a free help desk. Their pace is dizzying. Most days, there’s a line outside the door, with some cases ...
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Court: Washington drivers must use turn signals to turn
U.S. Court Watch 12/29/2019The state Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that drivers must use their signal every time they turn or change lanes on a roadway.Thursday’s ruling reverses a Court of Appeals ruling that said a signal is required only when public safety is af...
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Protests of Indian law grow despite efforts to contain them
U.S. Court Watch 12/18/2019From campuses along India’s Himalayan northern border to its southern Malabar Coast, a student-led protest movement against a new law that grants citizenship on the basis of religion spread nationwide on Wednesday despite efforts by the governm...
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Court to hear resentencing bid in Arizona death penalty case
U.S. Court Watch 12/10/2019The U.S. Supreme Court will hear an appeal Wednesday by an Arizona death row inmate who is seeking a new sentencing trial, arguing the horrific physical abuse that he suffered as a child wasn't fully considered when he was first sentenced. The appeal...
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California court invalidates law requiring Trump tax returns
U.S. Court Watch 11/18/2019President Donald Trump does not have to disclose his tax returns to appear as a candidate on California’s primary ballot next spring, the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday.The law, the first of its kind in the nation and aimed squa...
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Court’s Conservatives Seem to Back Trump on Immigration
U.S. Court Watch 11/13/2019The Supreme Court’s conservative majority seems prepared to allow the Trump administration to end a program that allows some immigrants to work legally in the United States and protects them from deportation.There did not appear to be any suppo...
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Gunmaker asks US Supreme Court to hear Sandy Hook appeal
U.S. Court Watch 08/05/2019The maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its appeal Thursday of a state ruling against the company.Remington Arms, based in Madison, North Carolina, cited a much-debated 2005 federa...
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Brazil's supreme court votes to make homophobia a crime
U.S. Court Watch 06/14/2019Brazil's supreme court officially made homophobia and transphobia crimes similar to racism on Thursday, with the final justices casting their votes in a ruling that comes amid fears the country's far-right administration is seeking to roll back LGBT ...
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Kenya's Judges Uphold Laws That Criminalize Gay Sex
U.S. Court Watch 05/26/2019Kenya's High Court has chosen to uphold colonial-era laws that criminalize gay sex, dashing the hopes of activists who believed the judges would overturn sections of the penal code as unconstitutional and inspire a sea change across the continent.Thr...
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Supreme Court set for case on racial bias in jury selection
U.S. Court Watch 03/29/2019Curtis Flowers has been jailed in Mississippi for 22 years, even as prosecutors couldn't get a murder conviction against him to stick through five trials.Three convictions were tossed out, and two other juries couldn't reach unanimous verdicts.This w...
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Japan court OK's Nissan ex-Chairman Ghosn's release on bail
U.S. Court Watch 03/08/2019A Tokyo court approved the release of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn on 1 billion yen ($8.9 million) bail on Tuesday, rejecting an appeal by prosecutors to keep him jailed, a lawyer for the auto executive said.He could be freed as soon as Wednes...