Seeking to regain his law license, former Kansas AG files federal civil rights suit

Back when former Kansas attorney general Phill Kline was defending a legal ethics case over his handling of abortion-related matters, he sought and got the recusal of several justices on the state’s top court. But in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed Sunday, the former AG is now challenging the…

Oct 19, 2015 2:55 PM CDT

Judge temporarily preserves federal funds flowing to Planned Parenthood in Utah

A federal judge on Thursday extended a temporary restraining order that bars Utah’s governor from defunding Planned Parenthood in the state. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups said a decision would be issued later, but he refused to lift the order that keeps federal funds flowing through the state to Planned…

Oct 16, 2015 9:23 AM CDT

Chemerinsky: New term’s most important cases—so far

At 10 a.m. Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court began its October term for 2015, and many of the cases before it present issues that court has dealt with in recent years. The court granted certiorari in 34 cases for the term before it went on its summer recess and granted…

Oct 8, 2015 8:30 AM CDT

John Paul Stevens praises Chief Justice Roberts’ style

Oct 1, 2015 6:50 AM CDT

Anti-abortion group loses bid to stop discovery in lawsuit over secret video

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday turned down a bid to stop discovery in a lawsuit over a controversial abortion-related video, the Recorder reported. The high-profile case centers around undercover videos created by an anti-abortion group called the Center for Medical Progress. The videos have sparked…

Sep 24, 2015 4:56 PM CDT

8th Circuit finds that signing birth-control waiver is substantial burden; opinion splits circuits

The birth-control mandate under the Affordable Care Act amounts to a substantial burden for a residential-care facility that claims to have an integral Christian identity, a three-judge panel from 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday from St. Louis. The opinion conflicts with a separate finding from the Denver-based…

Sep 18, 2015 11:41 AM CDT

Judge rules for group with moral, rather than religious, objections to contraceptive mandate

A federal judge has ruled on behalf of an anti-abortion group that contended it should be entitled to the same exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive-coverage mandate as religious organizations. U.S. District Judge Richard Leon of Washington, D.C., ruled (PDF) Monday on behalf of the nonprofit, March for Life,…

Sep 2, 2015 10:51 AM CDT

Planned Parenthood chapter sues Louisiana officials to block planned cuts in Medicaid funds

A Planned Parenthood chapter in Louisiana has filed suit to prevent the state from cutting off Medicaid funding to the organization in the wake of the release of a series of videos on fetal tissue research. The suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, seeks an injunction…

Aug 25, 2015 5:26 PM CDT

Jailed woman charged with endangering fetus drops suit seeking an abortion

An Alabama woman denied an abortion after her arrest for allegedly exposing her fetus to methamphetamine and Adderall has dropped her July 20 lawsuit seeking the procedure. The 29-year-old, identified only as “Jane Doe,” said Friday that she had changed her mind and no longer wanted an abortion, the New…

Aug 3, 2015 11:49 AM CDT

Racketeering suit is filed against anti-abortion group that released undercover videos

Updated: The National Abortion Federation filed a federal racketeering suit on Friday against the anti-abortion group that released undercover videos in which Planned Parenthood officials discuss the sale of fetal tissue and abortion methods. The July 31 suit (PDF) says the anti-abortion group, the Center for Medical Progress, created a…

Aug 3, 2015 10:43 AM CDT

John Paul Stevens says he likes Chief Justice Roberts’ style

In 2014, retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens published Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution. And in a short but punchy speech to a luncheon held Friday during the 2015 ABA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Stevens praised the current justices for taking positive steps…

Aug 1, 2015 9:50 AM CDT

Sale of fetal tissue is legal, but prices for processing are a ‘gray and musty area’

Federal law allows the sale of fetal tissue from abortion clinics as long as the sellers do not profit and the women donating the tissue give consent. But there is no limit on charges for processing and shipping the tissue, the New York Times reports. One example: StemExpress, one of…

Jul 28, 2015 8:15 AM CDT

8th Circuit strikes down strict abortion law but questions fetal viability standard

A federal appeals court has questioned the Supreme Court’s abortion standards while striking down a strict North Dakota abortion law that generally banned abortions as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was bound by Supreme Court precedent in…

Jul 24, 2015 7:34 AM CDT

Wisconsin governor signs 20-week abortion ban

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican presidential hopeful, signed a bill Monday making it a felony to perform abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization unless a woman’s life is in immediate danger. Doctors who violate the law could be sentenced to 3½ years in prison and fined up to $10,000,…

Jul 20, 2015 3:20 PM CDT

Want to be a federal judge by 35? 9th Circuit’s Alex Kozinski shares some tips

What can you do to get through federal judicial appointment hearings? Try answering questions with baseball metaphors, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski tells Concurring Opinions. The post revisits a tips piece about becoming a federal judge that Kozinski wrote for National Journal in 1996 after being…

Jul 20, 2015 12:11 PM CDT