Constitutional Law

Google Maps Make Life Less Private

It isn’t illegal. But an ambitious Google Inc. project to map metropolitan areas throughout the country is reducing the limited amount of privacy that used to apply, as a practical matter, on public streets. “The law allows you to take a picture of anything you can see as long as…

Aug 7, 2007 6:50 PM CDT

States, Feds Ponder ‘Gender ID’ Bills

Gender identity isn’t a phrase that traditionally comes up in everyday conversation. But it’s a hot topic among lawmakers and lobbyists these days, as both Congress and a growing number of states consider legislation to make discrimination based on gender identity illegal. At this point, it isn’t completely clear what…

Aug 7, 2007 3:56 PM CDT

No Right of Access to Drugs, Court Rules

An en banc federal appeals court ruled today that patients don’t have a constitutional right of access to experimental drugs that have passed limited safety trials. The ruling (PDF) by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found no due process right of access, How Appealing reports.…

Aug 7, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

Footbaths Spur Constitutional Objections

Accommodations for Muslim students at public universities are raising legal questions about the separation of church and state. The University of Michigan at Dearborn is one of more than a dozen universities that have footbaths in restrooms for Muslims to wash their feet before prayers, the New York Times reports.…

Aug 7, 2007 3:18 PM CDT

Red Cross: U.S. Tortured Prisoners

American intelligence agents tortured terrorist suspects captured after Sept. 11 in secret foreign prisons for years, suspending the practice only after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it illegal in a ruling last summer, according to a magazine article that appears on newsstands today. In doing so, the Central Intelligence Agency…

Aug 6, 2007 7:58 PM CDT

Do Public Schools Promote Christianity?

Teaching but not preaching is the goal. But Christian religious instruction reportedly is the reality in many public schools that teach courses that purportedly seek to inform students about the Bible from a literary and historical perspective. The issue is of growing importance, as an increasing number of public schools…

Aug 6, 2007 3:23 PM CDT

En Banc Court Mulls Abortion Law

Anti-abortion groups are pursuing a strategy that focuses on the consequences for women who undergo abortion. An example is the law passed by South Dakota, Adam Liptak writes in his Sidebar column for the New York Times (sub. req.). The measure requires doctors to tell women considering abortion that the…

Aug 6, 2007 1:55 PM CDT

Mom’s Murder Leads to New Maine Laws

Over the years, William Bruce had reportedly attempted suicide, attacked both of his siblings, resulting in broken limbs, and threatened friends with an AK-47 automatic rifle, among other incidents. So no one who knew him well was amazed when the then 25-year-old paranoid schizophrenic, apparently in the throes of a…

Aug 3, 2007 11:31 PM CDT

Son to Get $250 K of $28 M Jail Award?

Lawyers for the son of a man who died in 1995 after 28 years in prison, serving a sentence for a murder he didn’t commit, told a federal judge in Boston yesterday that that her $28 million award to Louis Greco’s estate isn’t going to accomplish what she apparently intended.…

Aug 3, 2007 10:53 PM CDT

Judge OKs, Adds to Pedophile Injunction

Two Santa Clarita lawyers who sought an injunction to protect their daughters and other local children from associating with a self-admitted pedophile got everything they sought from a California judge today—and more. They had asked for a temporary restraining order to prevent Jack McClellan, a 45-year-old who admittedly is sexually…

Aug 3, 2007 7:15 PM CDT

No Address Means Life Sentence

A homeless man who is unable to register his address as a sex offender faces a life sentence under a Georgia law. The lawyer for Larry Moore Jr. of Augusta says an appeal will assert the sentence is cruel and unusual punishment, the New York Times reports. Moore was convicted…

Aug 3, 2007 6:02 PM CDT

Raid of Congressman’s Office Improper

A federal appeals court ruled today that the FBI must return privileged legislative documents seized in a raid of U.S. Rep. William Jefferson’s office last year. Jefferson was indicted after the raid on charges he solicited more than $500,000 in bribes. He has pleaded not guilty. The U.S. Court of…

Aug 3, 2007 4:31 PM CDT

VA Driver Fines Struck Down

A county judge struck down Virginia’s high fees for the state’s dangerous drivers yesterday. Judge Archer Yeatts III of Henrico County said the state law violates equal protection guarantees because it imposes higher fines on in-state drivers than out-of-state residents, the Washington Post reports. “A ‘dangerous’ driver is a ‘dangerous’…

Aug 3, 2007 2:54 PM CDT

Teen Smoking Suit Extinguished

Joe Camel has made it through the eye of a needle. The California Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit against four tobacco companies targeting ads that appeal to youths, the Recorder reports. The suit claimed the companies encouraged youths to start smoking through ads that featured icons such as Joe…

Aug 3, 2007 11:42 AM CDT

Canada to Review Polygamy Ban?

In a case that could have an effect on United States law enforcement, a prominent Canadian criminal attorney serving as a special prosecutor has recommended that his country reconsider its ban on polygamy. Appointed in a British Columbia case involving a U.S.-based splinter Mormon group that has reportedly openly practiced…

Aug 1, 2007 11:47 PM CDT