Civil Rights

Judge Orders Breastfeeding Breaks

A Massachusetts appellate judge has ruled a Harvard med student should get more break time during a clinical licensing exam so she can pump breast milk. Student Sophie Currier had claimed she needed an extra hour of breaks during the two-day exam. Judge Gary Katzmann agreed that the allotted 45…

Sep 27, 2007 3:28 PM CDT

State Backs Down in Jena 6 Case

The prosecution in a controversial case against one of the so-called Jena Six defendants has accepted a Louisiana appellate court ruling that he should be tried as a juvenile. Mychal Bell, who was 16 at the time that he and five other black high school students allegedly attacked a white…

Sep 27, 2007 12:50 AM CDT

Court: Lawyer Lied in Firm Fight ... But Which One?

A recent ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal offers a startling view of the hard-hitting office politics at a venerable Toronto law firm. When attorney Benjamin Moss trudged back to Pinkofskys from a criminal trial on May 14, 2004 and reported to his colleagues that the firm’s client had…

Sep 26, 2007 9:35 PM CDT

Chicago Cop Charged in Alleged Gang Plot to Kill Former Cop

A Chicago police officer has been arrested by federal authorities in an alleged plot to murder a former officer expected to testify against him in a police corruption case. Officer Jerome Finnigan was arrested at home this morning and charged with planning to hire a street gang member to murder…

Sep 26, 2007 5:41 PM CDT

More Murder Charges After Cops Raid Cops Over Cold Cases

Authorities announced new charges yesterday in several cold-case murders in a suburban Chicago municipality. But the charges were overshadowed by the fact that they were brought only after police from other jurisdictions raided the city earlier this year and seized evidence concerning unsolved violent crimes. A task force from the…

Sep 26, 2007 5:32 PM CDT

Feds Sue IL Over New Immigration Law

In an action that puts the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution at issue, the federal government is suing the state of Illinois over a new law that bans employer participation in a new voluntary federal program that verifies the identity of legal immigrants. Filed in federal court in Springfield,…

Sep 25, 2007 6:11 PM CDT

FBI Investigates White Backlash re Jena

A white backlash reportedly is under way against six African-American high school students in Jena, La., who are being prosecuted in what many perceive as a racially discriminatory manner. The FBI is investigating apparent Internet threats made against some of the six defendants in a racially charged high school attack…

Sep 25, 2007 4:04 PM CDT

Discipline Study: Schools Unfair to Blacks

Nationwide statistics show that African-American students are disciplined far more than they should be, based on their percentage in the overall public school population. Yet the federal office charged with investigating such discipline disparities doesn’t seem to be focusing on the issue. “In every state but Idaho … black students…

Sep 25, 2007 3:27 PM CDT

New Laws Seek to Ban Iraq T-Shirt Sales

“Bush Lied. They Died.” Those words, on a T-shirt, along with the names of U.S. soldiers who have been killed in the Iraq war, have sparked outrage—and legislation in five states. They now ban the use of names of soldiers killed in Iraq for commercial purposes unless surviving family members…

Sep 24, 2007 8:50 PM CDT

Suit: Feds’ Raids Violate Constitution

Warrantless searches allegedly are being conducted by armed U.S. immigration authorities on Latino-occupied homes in the New York City area where they have no good reason to believe immigrant fugitives are living. A federal class action lawsuit filed in Manhattan yesterday by 15 plaintiffs contends the feds are conducting such…

Sep 21, 2007 11:26 PM CDT

Judge: Gov’t Lied, Must Pay Attorney Fees

In more than 30 years of practice, New Hampshire lawyer Steve Gordon says he’s never before tried to get a judge to award attorney fees against the federal government due to bad faith. But that’s the approach that he’s taken—successfully—in a tort case over a murdered government informant whose identity…

Sep 21, 2007 6:26 PM CDT

1000s Protest in Jena (and Elsewhere)

In a protest largely launched by bloggers that some are calling the dawn of a new 21st century civil rights movement, more than 15,000 people from around the country reportedly marched on a tiny town in Louisiana today. Their goal: to protest what many see as an unfair justice system…

Sep 21, 2007 3:58 AM CDT

Cabbies Sue, Say GPS Risks Trade Secrets

Fearful of an invasion of privacy that could allow others to take advantage of a valuable trade secret—the best driving routes to find fares—New York cabdrivers have filed suit to block new rules requiring the installation of GPS and other new technology. While not all taxi drivers and cab owners…

Sep 20, 2007 1:25 AM CDT

Court to Parents: No Tough Love, No Cars

A lack of tough love has cost two Washington state parents their cars. Because they didn’t act quickly enough to snatch back their car keys from a son who apparently was using their vehicles to deal drugs, according to authorities, they were properly seized by the government under drug-forfeiture laws…

Sep 19, 2007 11:48 PM CDT

Judge: No Test Breaks for Breastfeeding

A Harvard University medical student about to begin her residency has lost a court case seeking extra time to pump breast milk while she takes a national clinical knowledge exam. While it will be inconvenient for Sophie Currier to pump breast milk in the total 45 minutes of scheduled breaks…

Sep 19, 2007 6:54 PM CDT