Constitutional Law

Investments Stop Calif. High Court From Hearing Lockheed Case

Because four of seven justices on the California Supreme Court own stock in Lockheed Martin or companies that provided related materials, they can’t hear an appeal involving several dozen workers who say they were injured by chemical exposure. The case is the talk of the state appellate bar, but Chief…

Jan 15, 2008 12:51 AM CST

Pakistan Lawyers to End Courts Boycott

In a sign that the difficult situation in Pakistan may be resolving, lawyers throughout the country plan to end their boycott of the country’s appellate courts. Bar leaders reportedly criticized the continued detention of senior judges and lawyers, including Aitzaz Ahsan, president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, and Iftikhar…

Jan 14, 2008 11:58 PM CST

Court Won’t Hear Sentencing Confrontation Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to decide whether the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause applies during sentencing. Defendant Sherman Lamont Fields had contended the right to confrontation should apply in sentencing hearings when capital punishment is an option, SCOTUSblog reports. The U.S. solicitor general had urged the court to decline…

Jan 14, 2008 4:08 PM CST

Court Turns Down Drug Access Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a case that asserts terminally ill patients have a constitutional right to experimental drugs, SCOTUSblog reports. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit had found there was no right of access in an en banc August opinion. The plaintiffs had…

Jan 14, 2008 3:41 PM CST

Court Finds No 1st Amendment Right to Witness Full Execution

A federal judge in Arkansas has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a group of journalists seeking access to report all stages of the execution process. Noting that state law provides that executions are private rather than public events and that only one federal appeals court has recognized a public right…

Jan 12, 2008 12:46 AM CST

Court to Hear ‘Millionaire Amendment’ Campaign Finance Case

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review the so-called millionaire’s amendment, which permits candidates to accept larger campaign contributions when self-financed opponents spend heavily. Candidate Jack Davis, who lost a congressional race in New York last year despite spending $2.2 million of his own money, claims the amendment violates…

Jan 11, 2008 8:24 PM CST

Judge Orders Divorcing Blogger to Take Down Posts on Marriage

A Vermont judge has ordered a divorcing spouse to take down all his Internet postings about his wife and their marriage, surprising some First Amendment experts. The lawyer for blogger William Krasnansky contends the order by Judge Thomas Devine violates her client’s right to free speech, the New York Times…

Jan 10, 2008 5:03 PM CST

Calif. Court Strikes Down San Francisco Handgun Ban

A California appeals court has ruled that local governments have no authority to ban handguns. Yesterday the court struck down a handgun ban adopted in San Francisco in a 2005 ballot measure, holding that state laws regulating gun sales pre-empt local attempts to ban the possession and sale of handguns.…

Jan 10, 2008 4:20 PM CST

Voter ID Loss Could Have ‘Sweeping’ Impact on Election Challenges

Opponents of Indiana’s voter ID law may not only lose their case in the U.S. Supreme Court, they may also make it more difficult to challenge any new state election regulations before they take effect. U.S. Solicitor General Paul D. Clement urged the justices in oral arguments yesterday to reject…

Jan 10, 2008 2:10 PM CST

Lawyer Sues Fla. Bar Over Bad Ad

Five years ago, the Florida Bar reportedly OK’d attorney Bill Harrell’s use of the phrase “Don’t settle for less than you deserve” in his law firm advertising. But now it has determined that the slogan Harrell has been using since 2002 to “brand” his well-known Jacksonville law firm conflicts with…

Jan 9, 2008 9:32 PM CST

Court Appears Reluctant to Strike Down Voter ID Law

In a post entitled “The Partisan Elephant Unnoticed in the Room,” SCOTUSblog describes how liberal and conservative justices differed today over their approach to Indiana’s voter ID law, the subject of a bitter dispute between Republicans and Democrats. The justices heard oral arguments today over the facial challenge to the…

Jan 9, 2008 7:48 PM CST

Voter ID Law, Retirement Plan Bias Before High Court

The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in two cases, one dealing with the constitutionality of Indiana’s voter ID law and the other with the legality of the use of age in retirement plans. Indiana’s law requiring voters to show a photo ID barred Valerie Williams from voting in the…

Jan 9, 2008 1:28 PM CST

Georgia Supremes Consider Practical Problems of Banishment

A Georgia Supreme Court justice asked lawyers how a defendant banished from all but one county could travel to that location upon his release from prison. If you’re banished to one central county, how do you get there?” asked Justice Harris Hines. “If you’re banished, you’re banished.” Another justice helpfully…

Jan 8, 2008 3:10 PM CST

Anti-Lethal Injection Lawyers Struggle on Way to and in High Court

A public defender who helped prepare the case against lethal injections argued yesterday took “a humble road” to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to the headline in the Kentucky Herald-Leader. Public defender David Barron, who contends the state’s three-drug death cocktail is cruel and unusual punishment, “drove to Washington in…

Jan 8, 2008 11:39 AM CST

N.H. City Says Attorney Malpractice Nixed Insurance

A New Hampshire municipality has sued its former legal counsel for malpractice, contending that he not only failed to appropriately advise the city of Claremont of the legal risks associated with firing the city tax assessor in 2000 but also failed to advise the city that the tax assessor, Steve…

Jan 7, 2008 9:17 PM CST