Recent Updates
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Texas advances new abortion limits despite court defeats
Recent Cases 05/20/2017Texas' Republican-controlled Legislature late Friday advanced tough new limits on abortion— hitting back at a U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer striking down most of the sweeping restrictions on the procedure that America's second-largest state...
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Judge rejects effort to block Confederate statue's removal
Recent Cases 05/13/2017A last-ditch effort to block the removal of a monument to a Confederate general in New Orleans was rejected Wednesday by a Louisiana judge who turned away arguments that the city doesn't own the statue or the land on which it sits. "This has gone on ...
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Ohio high court will review full autopsies from 8 slayings
Recent Cases 04/17/2017The Ohio Supreme Court wants to see unredacted autopsy reports from eight slayings in one family as justices consider media lawsuits seeking access to those full reports from the year-old, unsolved case. The court on Wednesday ordered the Pike County...
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Arkansas asks court to block order on execution drugs
Recent Cases 04/02/2017Arkansas prison officials asked the state's highest court Friday to stay a judge's order that they must disclose more information about one of the drugs they plan to use in the executions of eight men over a 10-day period in April. The attorney gener...
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Democrats tighten opposition of high court pick
Recent Cases 04/01/2017Senate Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee swelled Friday as Democrats neared the numbers needed for a filibuster, setting up a showdown with Republicans who have the votes to confirm Neil Gorsuch. Sens. Claire McC...
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Court won’t hear appeal in senator’s corruption case
Recent Cases 03/21/2017The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s appeal of his corruption indictment, setting the stage for a federal trial in the fall. The justices let stand a lower court ruling that refused to dismiss charges inclu...
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Court: Student prayers OK at school board meetings
Recent Cases 03/21/2017A Texas school board can open its meetings with student-led public prayers without running afoul of the Constitution's prohibition against government-established religion, a federal appeals court ruled Monday. The ruling by a three-judge panel of the...
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NC governor, legislature head to court in power showdown
Recent Cases 03/05/2017North Carolina's new Democratic governor and majority Republican legislature are charging at each other in a constitutional game of chicken over their powers, a confrontation that could shape the recent conservative direction of state policies and sp...
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Court officer investigated for photographing lawyer's notes
Recent Cases 03/03/2017A court security officer in Maine has been placed on leave while under investigation for sending a cellphone photo of a defense attorney's notes to a prosecutor. The Kennebec Journal reports that court officials are calling the incident a serious eth...
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Court: Florida Docs Allowed to Ask Patients About Guns
Recent Cases 02/22/2017A 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...
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Partisan struggle over NC governor's authority back in court
Recent Cases 02/11/2017Judges are hearing more arguments about North Carolina Republican lawmakers' efforts to reduce Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's authority in choosing his Cabinet. A three-judge panel scheduled arguments Friday on whether to extend their recent temporary ...
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Aaron Hernandez expected in court as murder trial nears
Recent Cases 01/17/2017Former NFL star Aaron Hernandez is expected in a Boston courtroom for a pretrial hearing in his upcoming double murder trial. Hernandez is accused of killing two men he encountered at a Boston nightclub in 2012. Prosecutors say the former New England...