Supreme Court temporarily blocks same-sex marriage in Kansas

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has temporarily blocked same-sex marriages in Kansas in response to a stay application that cites a newly developed circuit split. Sotomayor, who handles emergency appeals from the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, granted the stay Monday evening, the New York Times, the…

Nov 11, 2014 7:12 AM CST

Imperfect statement of legal theory doesn’t justify dismissal of cops’ suit, SCOTUS rules

Failure to cite Section 1983 in a suit for alleged due-process violations doesn’t doom a suit by fired police officers, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in a summary reversal. The per curiam opinion (PDF) said federal pleading rules call for a short and plain statement of the claim, but…

Nov 10, 2014 11:18 AM CST

Admissions requests in federal judge’s divorce case are like rhetorical questions, his lawyer says

An Alabama federal judge accused in a domestic battery case was asked to confirm or deny extramarital affairs, domestic violence and prescription drug abuse in now-unsealed files in his 2012 divorce. The Montgomery Advertiser examined the divorce file of U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller, which was unsealed last week. Fuller…

Oct 20, 2014 9:29 AM CDT

Facebook post informing dad of planned adoption wasn’t adequate notice, top state court says

Pregnant and planning to have her baby adopted, an Oklahoma woman sent a Facebook post to the father to let him know. But that was not sufficient notice to prevent him from later asserting his parental rights, the state’s top court has ruled. “This court is unwilling to declare notice…

Oct 16, 2014 3:25 PM CDT

Same-sex marriage allowed in Idaho after SCOTUS and 9th Circuit lift stays

Gay marriages could begin on Wednesday in Idaho after stays were lifted by the U.S. Supreme Court and then the by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 9th Circuit lifted its stay on Monday before lawyers representing gay couples submitted briefs in opposition to the state’s…

Oct 14, 2014 7:22 AM CDT

7th Circuit won’t rehear voter ID case; Posner dissent cites ‘goofy, if not paranoid’ fraud evidence

The fight over Wisconsin’s voter ID law has ricocheted back to the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which refused on Friday to grant en banc review of an Oct. 6 panel decision upholding the law. Judge Richard Posner called the refusal to rehear the case on the merits…

Oct 10, 2014 2:31 PM CDT

Eric Holder won’t be held in contempt over ‘Fast and Furious’ documents, rules judge

Eric Holder got some good news and some bad news as he wraps up his six-year tenure as U.S. Attorney General. On Monday, a federal judge refused to hold him in contempt of court for failing to turn over documents to House Republicans investigating Operation Fast and Furious, reports the…

Oct 7, 2014 12:22 PM CDT

Need to Know: Americans don’t see their issues as legal matters, study says

Oct 1, 2014 2:10 AM CDT

They’re No Hacks: Technology takes center stage as a tool to improve access to justice

Oct 1, 2014 1:40 AM CDT

Top state court tells official to take lawyer’s name off US Senate ballot

Granting a writ of mandamus filed by an attorney who withdrew as a candidate for the U.S. Senate after winning the Democratic primary, the Kansas Supreme Court on Thursday told the secretary of state to remove Chad Taylor’s name from the November ballot. Although Taylor did not expressly state in…

Sep 22, 2014 10:20 AM CDT

Law firm mistakenly identifies dead smokers as alive in 588 suits; 11th Circuit upholds dismissal

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of 750 tobacco suits, citing this major problem: The Florida law firm that brought the cases had mistakenly identified 588 dead smokers as still being alive. The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to toss 588 personal injury suits filed…

Sep 11, 2014 8:13 AM CDT

Former top NYC lawyer sues police department, says she was arrested for standing on a sidewalk

A former top lawyer for New York City is suing the municipality’s police department. She says she was arrested for simply standing on a public sidewalk in Times Square this summer as she waited for her husband and children to return from using the restroom at a nearby restaurant. Chaumtoli…

Sep 4, 2014 11:45 AM CDT

‘Hackcess to Justice’ winners look to increase the reach of their apps

Award winners from the recent Hackcess to Justice legal hackathon are working hard to fulfill the main goal of the event: Improving access for all Americans to effective legal assistance. In the two weeks since the inaugural hackathon—in conjunction with the ABA Annual Meeting—took place at Suffolk University Law School…

Aug 25, 2014 1:30 PM CDT

Gay-marriage opponents cite SCOTUS summary dismissal in 1972; is it still good law?

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed an appeal seeking to overturn Minnesota’s gay-marriage law in Baker v. Nelson with a one-line summary dismissal. “The appeal is dismissed for want of a substantial federal question,” the court said. A Tennessee judge cited the precedent in upholding Tennessee’s refusal to recognize…

Aug 18, 2014 3:46 PM CDT

Winning apps in ‘Hackcess to Justice’ help write wills, navigate disasters and calculate jail time

A disaster-relief mobile app that provides individuals with legal information, resources, and forms for assistance. An interactive tool that calculates whether a user is eligible for indigent legal services, as well as how much prison time criminal defendants face. A game that determines whether a user is in need of…

Aug 9, 2014 2:16 AM CDT