Constitutional Law

Case Against Harvard Prof Gates, Arrested at Home, Will Be Dropped

A disorderly conduct case against a prominent Harvard University professor arrested last week at his own home by Cambridge, Mass., police will be dropped by the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office, the Boston Globe reports. The case made international headlines after Henry Louis Gates Jr., who is one of the…

Jul 21, 2009 4:46 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge Says CIA Fraud Shielded Agent from Suit, Mulls Possible Lawyer Sanctions

A federal judge is mulling possible sanctions for multiple Central Intelligence Agency lawyers and two other CIA employees including a former director after finding that the agency committed fraud while seeking to protect an agent from a lawsuit. The former director, George Tenet, filed an affidavit in 2000 asking that…

Jul 20, 2009 7:03 PM CDT

Harvard Prof Gates Arrested Trying to Enter Own Home; Ogletree to Defend

Updated: Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr. is facing a disorderly conduct charge, after being arrested by Cambridge police on Thursday while trying to enter his own locked home near the campus, according to Bloomberg and the Associated Press. Gates, 58, is the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute…

Jul 20, 2009 6:06 PM CDT

First Amendment Lawyer Uses Free Speech Defense for S&P

Floyd Abrams doesn’t just represent media clients waging battles on behalf of truth and the American Way. He also represents a ratings agency—Standard & Poor’s—that has been targeted for its role in the financial crisis, the New York Times reports in a profile. The ratings agency is among several that…

Jul 20, 2009 1:36 PM CDT

Surviving Dad Seeks No-Contact Order for Defense Counsel in Family Murder

A father and physician who was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion in Connecticut is seeking a court order barring the suspects and their legal counsel from contacting him. The motion filed this week on behalf of Dr. William Petit of Cheshire seeks a court order barring such…

Jul 17, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Columnist Hits Justice Ginsburg for ‘Simplistic, Pro-Choice Rant’

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s recent comments about the right to abortion and concerns about population growth have provoked an op-ed columnist, who sees suggestions of eugenics in the “simplistic, pro-choice rant.” Writing in the Washington Post, columnist Michael Gerson focuses on this portion of an interview Ginsburg gave to the…

Jul 17, 2009 1:09 PM CDT

Court Sides With Preacher Jailed for Predicting God Would Smite Judge

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled on behalf of a minister jailed for violating his probation by writing that the judge who oversaw his trial would be subjected to God’s wrath. A probation condition that required the Rev. Edward Pinkney to refrain from “defamatory and demeaning” communications infringed on…

Jul 15, 2009 6:08 PM CDT

In Talk of Precedent, Sotomayor ‘Showed her Hand a Touch’ on Abortion

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s comments about the meaning of precedent and a U.S. Supreme Court case on so-called partial-birth abortions may indicate that she will vote with liberal justices on the hot-button issue. Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein wrote yesterday on SCOTUSblog that the Supreme Court nominee had “shown her hand…

Jul 15, 2009 1:00 PM CDT

Tax Court Rejects Gay Man’s Attempt to File Joint Married Return

The U.S. Tax Court has ruled that a gay activist is not entitled to file a married joint return with his partner. The court said in its opinion (PDF) that petitioner Charles Merrill, an artist and millionaire, is not entitled to married filing joint status because he never filed a…

Jul 14, 2009 6:01 PM CDT

Taking Pass on Wis. Bar Exam Could Be Unconstitutional, 7th Circuit Says

A federal court has revived a class action lawsuit over a unique Wisconsin attorney admission rule that admits newly minted graduates of state law schools to practice without requiring them to take the bar exam. Those who graduated from law schools in other states but wish to practice in Wisconsin…

Jul 13, 2009 8:56 PM CDT

Police: Abortion Protesters, Including ‘Jane Roe’, Arrested at Sotomayor Hearing

Updated: Police arrested four abortion opponents, among them Norma McCorvey, aka plaintiff “Jane Roe” of Roe v. Wade, saying they disrupted the Sonia Sotomayor confirmation hearings at the U.S. Senate today in Washington, D.C. Authorities say a preliminary charge of unlawfully disrupting Congress was filed against Andrew Beacham for shouting…

Jul 13, 2009 7:45 PM CDT

Prominent Fla. Lawyer Faces Bar Case in Settlement ‘Scheme to Defraud’

A proposed class action settlement characterized by a state appeals court as “a scheme to defraud” has put a prominent Miami lawyer in hot water with the Florida Bar, along with his opposing counsel in the case. In a disciplinary filing, the lawyer regulatory agency contends that founding partner Hank…

Jul 13, 2009 7:18 PM CDT

Would-Be Law Student Disappeared After 1938 Supreme Court Win

Lloyd Gaines achieved an important victory in 1938 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the black man had to be admitted to the University of Missouri School of Law if he couldn’t get a comparable education elsewhere in the state. But Gaines never became a law student, the New York…

Jul 13, 2009 4:39 PM CDT

Catholic Law School Claims Profs Are Ministerial Employees

The Ave Maria School of Law claims in court papers that three former professors suing the school were ministerial employees, making the Catholic institution exempt from their legal claims. The school contends it is protected from suit by the professors under the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses, the…

Jul 10, 2009 3:59 PM CDT

Ex-Cravath ‘Lolita’ Lawyer Weighs Another Suit, Targets Monitoring

The former mergers and acquisitions lawyer with Cravath, Swaine & Moore accused of paying a woman to have sex with her teenage daughters is weighing yet another lawsuit. James Colliton, who pleaded guilty to statutory rape and sentenced to time served, now lives in a motel on Route 9 in…

Jul 10, 2009 2:05 PM CDT