Government

Ex-judge is suspended after secret recording by possible rival candidate revealed threat

A former judge in Missouri has been suspended for at least two years after he was recorded threatening to reveal the affairs of a rival’s husband if she ran against him in the judicial election.

Feb 7, 2023 10:21 AM CST

ABA resolves to ‘take a leadership role in opposing antisemitism’

Citing events like the 2017 riots in Charlottesville, Virginia; the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and recent synagogue shootings in Pennsylvania and California, proponents of Resolution 514 asked the ABA to formally condemn antisemitism.

Feb 7, 2023 8:38 AM CST

ABA supports right to travel for abortion services and other medical care

All government entities should enact laws and regulations that protect the right of any individual to travel across state lines to access medical care, the House of Delegates said at the 2023 ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans on Monday.

Feb 6, 2023 5:31 PM CST

Change is good ‘and will carry us into the future,’ says ABA president-elect nominee Bill Bay

While urging the ABA House of Delegates to recognize that change in the profession is necessary and a challenge, William R. Bay, the president-elect nominee, shared a story about his family.

Feb 6, 2023 3:57 PM CST

Now with a GOP majority, top state court votes to rehear 2 recently decided voting-rights cases

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday agreed to rehear two cases that blocked voter ID requirements and struck down gerrymandered partisan maps of federal congressional and state Senate districts.

Feb 6, 2023 12:04 PM CST

In Zoom convention, legal scholars of varied ideologies backed these 5 constitutional amendments

Should Arnold Schwarzenegger be allowed to run for president? Should U.S. Supreme Court justices have 18-year terms?

Feb 6, 2023 9:40 AM CST

Florida judges can no longer get CLE credit for general ‘fairness and diversity’ courses, state supreme court says

Florida judges can no longer take “fairness and diversity” courses to satisfy continuing education requirements, unless the classes relate to judicial professionalism, ethics opinions or the judicial conduct code, the Florida Supreme Court has decided.

Feb 6, 2023 8:37 AM CST

Does legal recruiting career of chief justice’s wife create ethics issues? Critic sends details of her pay to Congress

A former legal recruiter who sued over his firing is alleging that the paychecks earned by his former colleague and lawsuit defendant, Jane Sullivan Roberts, raise ethics issues for her husband, Chief Justice John Roberts.

Feb 1, 2023 3:40 PM CST

Sanctions sought against Trump, lawyers for ‘boilerplate’ responses, ‘demonstrably false’ denials

Updated: The New York attorney general’s office is seeking sanctions against former President Trump and his lawyers for “deficient” verified answers to allegations in a lawsuit accusing the Trump Organization of fraud.

Feb 1, 2023 12:10 PM CST

Chemerinsky: When can state governments sue the United States?

A recurring issue before the Supreme Court this term, including in two cases to be argued in the next month, concerns when state governments have standing to sue the United States. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of such suits.

Feb 1, 2023 11:49 AM CST

Judge’s failure to conduct ‘lodestar cross-check’ dooms Quinn Emanuel’s $185M fee award

A trial judge should not have awarded $185 million in fees to Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan without conducting a “lodestar cross-check” that considers hours worked and billing rates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled Tuesday.

Feb 1, 2023 10:53 AM CST

Delaware’s major-party requirement for judges on top state courts won’t be enforced under consent decree

A Delaware constitutional provision that effectively requires judges on its top state courts to be Republicans or Democrats won’t be enforced as a result of a consent decree reached between the governor and a litigant.

Feb 1, 2023 9:23 AM CST

The Big Bilk

Lawyers and academics interviewed by the ABA Journal say the application process for the $800 billion loan program, part of the 2020 coronavirus stimulus package known as the CARES Act, was fraught with fibbers. Many doubt that most of the bad actors will be arrested because the volume of fraud seems so high.

Feb 1, 2023 3:30 AM CST

New recreational cannabis laws could make it harder for employers to fire impaired workers

New Jersey now has the equivalent of hall monitors in some workplaces. Except these hall monitors—known officially as workplace impairment recognition experts—are keeping an eye on the adults in the building. They are looking for signs the adults are high.

Feb 1, 2023 1:00 AM CST

Appeals judge should be removed for using client and campaign account as a ‘personal ATM,’ ethics panel says

A judicial ethics panel is recommending removal of a suspended Georgia appeals judge for exploiting an elderly client before joining the bench and using campaign cash when he was a state legislator to pay for personal expenses, including a family trip to Hawaii.

Jan 31, 2023 3:35 PM CST