Constitutional Law

Federal Jury Awards $5M to Texas Man Convicted on Bad Crime Lab Evidence

After wrestling with the concept of deliberate indifference, a federal jury in Texas today awarded $5 million to a man wrongfully convicted in a kidnapping and rape case more than two decades ago. George Rodriguez, 59, was incarcerated for 17 years, based on false testimony by an employee of the…

Jun 26, 2009 12:39 AM CDT

Federal Judge Samuel Kent Resigns, as Senate Impeachment Trial Looms

After the Senate began gearing up yesterday for a historic impeachment trial of an imprisoned U.S. District Court judge, he had apparently already decided to throw in the towel. In a letter that he hand-delivered yesterday to two Senate officials who had come to serve him with a subpoena in…

Jun 25, 2009 10:05 PM CDT

Alleged Web Threats to Murder 3 Judges Spark 1st Amendment Debate

Yesterday’s arrest of a so-called hate blogger for allegedly posting material on the Internet that threatened the lives of three federal judges in Chicago is sparking debate about permissible political speech. Harold Charles “Hal” Turner allegedly put up an Internet blog post saying that three 7th U.S. Circuit Court of…

Jun 25, 2009 7:34 PM CDT

School’s Strip Search of Girl Illegal, High Court Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that an Arizona school’s strip search of a teenager accused of dispensing prescription-strength pills was illegal. On that, eight justices agreed (PDF). Safford Middle School officials crossed a line when they searched Savana Redding’s underwear. Justice Clarence Thomas was the only dissent. What was…

Jun 25, 2009 3:19 PM CDT

9th Circuit Allows Suit Against Prosecutor Who OK’d DNA Sample Without Warrant

In a decision that resurrects a convicted sex offender’s lawsuit against a Las Vegas detective and local prosecutor, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said the man can personally sue the individuals for forcibly extracting his DNA without a warrant. Kenneth Friedman had reportedly told the…

Jun 25, 2009 1:09 PM CDT

9th Circuit Pops Seattle’s Efforts to Regulate Balloon Artist

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Seattle’s efforts to regulate balloon artist “Magic Mike” Berger and other street performers violates the First Amendment. In a 7-4 split, the appeals court found that the city’s rules requiring performers to obtain permits to operate at the…

Jun 25, 2009 11:58 AM CDT

‘Hate Blogger’ Charged Over Alleged Web Threats to Murder 7th Circuit Judges

Blogger and occasional Internet talk show host Harold Charles “Hal” Turner was arrested by federal agents today at his New Jersey home on charges that he threatened on his website to murder three judges on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Prosecutors say the material–which allegedly provided photographs and…

Jun 24, 2009 11:57 PM CDT

S.C. Gov’s AWOL Argentine Affair Sparks Constitutional Discussions

Updated: In fact, Mark Sanford, the South Carolina governor whose whereabouts were unknown for a week, wasn’t hiking the Appalachian Trail, as his staff had earlier suggested. He was in Argentina with his mistress, as he now admits, according to numerous media reports. And, as news of the affair by…

Jun 24, 2009 10:23 PM CDT

US Attorney Conspired to Force Miss. Judge Off the Bench, Lawsuit Contends

A former U.S. attorney who was involved, while still in office, in an unsuccessful criminal prosecution of a Mississippi state court judge, also conspired behind the scenes with attorney disciplinary officials to bring false ethics charges against the jurist, a civil lawsuit contends. Filed by former state Supreme Court Justice…

Jun 24, 2009 9:37 PM CDT

US Senate Gears Up for Judge Kent’s Impeachment Trial

In a rarely seen legal ritual, the Senate received articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives today for the trial of U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent. The judge, who has been convicted of obstruction of justice concerning his initial testimony about nonconsensual sexual conduct with two female court employees…

Jun 24, 2009 7:13 PM CDT

Anonymous Commenters Are Anonymous to ACLU Lawyer, Too

Journalists are familiar with the world of anonymous sources. That’s how they can sometimes break a really good news story. But anonymous clients? That seems a little more unusual. It turns out that the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who is tenaciously defending the privacy of anonymous commenters whose identities…

Jun 24, 2009 4:39 PM CDT

Ex-Wife Can’t Talk About Divorce to Media—Ever, Conn. Court Rules

The ex-wife of a wealthy skin doctor can’t talk about her divorce with the media—ever, Connecticut’s Supreme Court has ruled. The ruling establishes that private waivers of First Amendment free speech rights are “presumptively enforceable,” the Connecticut Law Tribune reports. Still, the state’s high court said such decisions should be…

Jun 24, 2009 10:54 AM CDT

Mont. Town Rescinds Rule Requiring Job Seekers to Reveal Social Web Passwords

Rescinding a controversial hiring policy that one commissioner called “a gross invasion of privacy,” the governing body of Bozeman, Mont., voted yesterday that its human resources department would no longer require job applicants to reveal their personal passwords to social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace. The 2008 policy…

Jun 23, 2009 9:01 PM CDT

Free Gitmo Detainee, Judge Orders, Says US Position ‘Defies Common Sense’

Finding that a captured videotape of Abd Al Rahim Abdul Rassak shows him being tortured by al-Qaida as a suspected American spy, a federal judge has rejected as ridiculous a U.S. government position that he continues to be a legitimate detainee in a terrorism case. In a 13-page habeas corpus…

Jun 23, 2009 12:26 AM CDT

DOJ Seeks to Dismiss High-Profile Meth Case, Citing ‘Evidentiary Concerns’

Updated: Citing “evidentiary concerns,” the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss without prejudice a drug conspiracy case against a Chinese-born Mexican millionaire, saying that Zhenli Ye Gon should first be tried in Mexico where authorities allegedly seized some $205 million from his Mexico City mansion. The U.S. case…

Jun 22, 2009 7:24 PM CDT