Friday, July 28, 2006
For Gay-Marriage Backers, Rulings Portend Long Road
“In 2003, when the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court declared that same-sex couples have a state constitutional right to marry, conservatives braced for what some feared might become an avalanche of similar rulings across the country.” “But nearly three years later,” according to The Christian Science Monitor, “Massachusetts remains the only state where gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry.”
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Ohio Supreme Court Rejects Taking of Homes for Project
“The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that a Cincinnati suburb cannot take private property by eminent domain for a $125 million redevelopment project.” According to The New York Times, “The property rights case was the first of its kind to reach a state’s highest court since the United States Supreme Court ruled last year that municipalities could seize property for private development that public officials argue would benefit the community.”
Friday, July 21, 2006
Judge Declines to Dismiss Lawsuit Against AT&T
According to The Washington Post, “A federal judge yesterday rejected the government's effort to throw out a lawsuit about its warrantless surveillance program, arguing that a dismissal of the case would restrict civil liberties without strengthening national security.” “The class-action suit against AT&T Inc., filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in January, alleges that the nation's largest phone company collaborated with the federal government in an illegal domestic spying program to monitor Americans' phone calls and e-mails.”
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
3rd Circuit: Erotic Dancing in Bars Not Protected Speech
Law.com reports, “Lap dancing in bars is not protected by the First Amendment, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, rejecting an Atlantic City tavern's challenge of the constitutionality of a New Jersey regulation that prohibits ‘any lewdness or immoral activity’ on liquor-licensed premises.”
Monday, July 17, 2006
Missouri Says It Can’t Hire Doctor for Executions
According to The New York Times, “The State of Missouri, facing a deadline today for changing the way it executes condemned prisoners by lethal injection, told a federal judge last night that it was simply unable to meet his demand that the state hire a board-certified anesthesiologist to oversee executions.”
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Court Has No Place in Dispute Between Rabbis, Ruling Says
The New York Times has this report: “Five years after a family feud between two Hasidic rabbis erupted into a wave of litigation, a New York State appellate court ruled yesterday that the civil judicial system cannot interfere with religious organizations’ administrative matters, affirming a lower court decision.”
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Judge Rules FBI Raid on Hill Office Legal
In a much anticipated decision, reports The Washington Times, “A federal judge in Washington yesterday said the FBI's search of Rep. William J. Jefferson's Capitol Hill offices in a bribery investigation -- which ignited a firestorm of protest in Congress -- was legal and denied efforts by defense attorneys to have the seized documents returned.”
Friday, July 07, 2006
Wrongfully Convicted Man Freed
Forbes reports, “A man who spent more than two decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted of a brutal rape was freed Thursday because DNA evidence has cleared him.” According to the report the Innocence Project and prosecutors from the Bronx district attorney's office had asked for Newton's 1985 conviction to be vacated based on recent testing on a rape kit used for the woman.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
High Court Intervenes in Fight Over San Diego Cross
Law.com reports, “The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday put on hold an order to remove a monumental cross that sits on public land, giving hope to supporters just weeks before it was to be taken down.”
