Constitutional Law

Teen ‘Sext’ Messages Can Lead to Child Porn Charges

A craze among teenagers for sending sexually explicit text messages, including photos, is creating serious legal consequences for some. “Recently, teenagers have been arrested on child pornography charges, and there have been reports of high-schoolers losing jobs or college scholarships as a result of being identified in sexually suggestive pictures…

Jan 15, 2009 1:03 AM CST

Cop Charged With On-Duty Murder in Transit Shooting Captured on Cell Video

A former transit police officer in Oakland, Calif., has been charged with an on-duty murder in an unusual incident that was captured on a cell phone video and has sparked public protests and death threats. Johannes Mehserle, 27, surrendered in Nevada yesterday after his lawyer was informed by authorities that…

Jan 14, 2009 9:09 PM CST

Federal Judge Might Ax $2M Legal Fee in Seattle ‘Pro Bono’ Case

There’s no question that Davis Wright Tremaine won a civil rights victory for a Seattle parents group by fighting all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court the local school district’s partially race-based high school admissions policy. In 2007, the nation’s top court held that the policy was an unconstitutional…

Jan 14, 2009 8:21 PM CST

Supreme Court Limits Exclusionary Rule, Allows Evidence Despite Police Error

The U.S. Supreme Court has found an exception to the exclusionary rule for negligent police errors. Tom Goldstein, a Supreme Court litigator who was involved in the case, calls today’s ruling in Herring v. United States “a significant shift in the court’s jurisprudence.” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote…

Jan 14, 2009 6:23 PM CST

Supreme Court Limits Apprendi; Scalia Hits ‘Strange Exception’

In a 5-4 opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to extend a 2000 decision to bar judges from determining facts when deciding whether sentences should run consecutively. The court ruled today that the Sixth Amendment does not require juries, rather than judges, to find the facts for consecutive sentencing…

Jan 14, 2009 5:45 PM CST

Police Shooting in Calif. Creates ‘Potential Rodney-King Debacle’ for DA

A cell phone video of the fatal shooting of apparently unresisting black man by a white transit police office in Oakland, Calif., has put the local district attorney on the hot seat. After reviewing the video frame-by-frame along with other evidence, Alameda County District Attorney Thomas Orloff must decide whether…

Jan 13, 2009 11:55 PM CST

30-Year Texas Death Row Inmate Gets 3rd Trial; Blacks Excluded from Jury

Twice convicted and sentenced to death in a 1978 rape-murder, based on eyewitness testimony and a claimed confession to a cellmate, Jonathan Bruce Reed has just won a third trial after serving nearly 30 years on death row in Texas. Because prosecutors improperly excluded blacks from the jury, fearing that…

Jan 13, 2009 9:31 PM CST

Obstruction Charge Against Judge Kent Raises Constitutional Issue

Much has been said about the unprecedented sexual abuse case against U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent concerning his alleged treatment of two female court workers. But the obstruction charge included in the most recent federal indictment of the sitting federal judge is also unprecedented—and raises troubling constitutional issues because it…

Jan 13, 2009 1:31 AM CST

Juveniles Have Right to Counsel in Truancy Cases, Wash. Appeals Court Says

Reversing a trial judge, a Washington appeals court struck down today as unconstitutional a state law permitting a juvenile accused of chronic truancy to have his or her case initially adjudicated even if the child is not represented by a lawyer. Due process requires that the school district be required…

Jan 13, 2009 12:50 AM CST

Senate Will Seat Burris

Apparently ending a contentious fight over whether a new U.S. senator named by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich should be seated, Democratic leaders say they expect Roland Burris to be sworn into office by the end of the week. In a joint statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Assistant…

Jan 12, 2009 9:39 PM CST

That Facebook ‘Friend’ May Be a Cop

Yet another reason to be wary about interacting with unknown individuals on the Internet: A growing number of police departments and prosecutors are finding social networking sites a treasure trove for evidentiary purposes. Some are seeking messages between individuals; in rape cases where consent is asserted as a defense, for…

Jan 12, 2009 6:14 PM CST

Chief Justice Previously Considered Iraq Immunity Issue Raised in New Case

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether an order by President Bush restored Iraq’s immunity from lawsuits that could result in $1 billion or more in liability for the country’s new government. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has already weighed in on the issue as a federal appeals judge,…

Jan 12, 2009 12:38 PM CST

Supreme Court to Hear Reverse Bias Case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to decide a reverse discrimination case challenging a city’s decision to throw out a firefighter promotion test because of poor results for minorities. Nineteen whites and one Hispanic claim in the consolidated suits that they would have been promoted to firefighter positions of…

Jan 12, 2009 12:07 PM CST

Skakel Lawyers: Prosecutors Withheld Evidence in Murder Case

After being convicted in 2002 of a murder committed in 1975 in upscale Greenwich, Conn., when he was a teenager, Michael Skakel has already served six years in state prison. But lawyers for the Kennedy family cousin say in a federal court motion filed late yesterday that he might have…

Jan 10, 2009 12:52 AM CST

Supreme Court Will Hear ‘Powder Keg’ Voting Rights Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has accepted a “powder keg” voting rights case that challenges the law requiring Justice Department clearance for changed election procedures in certain jurisdictions. The case affects nine states, mostly in the South, and several other local voting bodies that are required to get clearance under the…

Jan 9, 2009 7:52 PM CST