Government

Appeals Court Rules Against Obama Administration on Oil Drilling Moratorium

A federal appeals court has ruled against the Obama administration in its attempt to immediately reinstate a six-month moratorium on deepwater oil drilling. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate the moratorium while the government appeals a trial judge’s ruling that the administration had failed…

Jul 9, 2010 12:19 PM CDT

Woman, 91, Can Keep Exhumed Bodies at Home If She Builds a Crypt, DA Says

Faced with an unusual situation, a Pennsylvania prosecutor is offering an unusual solution. Jean Stevens, 91, who apparently persuaded an unidentified individual to exhume the bodies of two close relatives so she could talk with them as they lay on sofas at her home in rural Wyalusing Township, can get…

Jul 6, 2010 10:52 PM CDT

Law Firms Launch New Practice Groups in Effort to Roll with Roiling Economy

Arent Fox has launched a new insurance and reinsurance practice in New York, making it one among a number of law firms that are looking to refocus its practice areas to deal with the difficult economy. Others doing so include Howrey, which established a 25-lawyer energy technology group earlier in…

Jul 6, 2010 5:59 PM CDT

Fired Staffer Sues State Ethics Comm’n, Claims Retaliation Over Lawyer Moonlighting Complaint

Corrected: Two Georgia attorneys reportedly were operating a private law practice at the same time that they held full-time positions as staff lawyers at the State Ethics Commission. And after another employee blew the whistle on the alleged moonlighting on state time and using state resources, she was the one…

Jul 2, 2010 9:32 PM CDT

Blago Trial Watchers Abuzz Over $400K Clothing Bill

Clark Gable, Gary Grant and Joe DiMaggio were all customers of Oxxford Clothes, a Chicago-based custom suitery. And so was the impeached former governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich. Observers are agog over testimony by an Internal Revenue Service agent yesterday at his federal political corruption trial contending that the ex-gov…

Jul 2, 2010 5:56 PM CDT

Lawyer for Ex-Ala. Gov Says New Honest-Services Review Is ‘Massive Victory’

The lawyer for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman is buoyed by a U.S. Supreme Court order Tuesday sending the political corruption case against his client back to a federal appeals court for a new review. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court asked the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to…

Jul 1, 2010 1:40 PM CDT

Judge Who Twice Banned State Task Force From Casino ‘Has Got to Go,’ Says Gov’s Office

For the second time in two weeks, an Alabama judge has banned a state gambling task force from an electronic bingo casino, eliciting a bells-and-whistles response from the governor’s office. After issuing a second injunction a little after midnight today, Greene County Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway Jr. “has got to…

Jun 30, 2010 5:29 PM CDT

Blogger Who Put Juror Info Online Can Be Prosecuted; Intent Will Be Key Issue

Reversing a lower court, a federal appeals panel has given the government a green light to prosecute a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi for posting a juror’s name and publicly available address information on the overthrow.com website after the unidentified man helped convict a fellow white supremacist. Whether William White intended to encourage…

Jun 29, 2010 11:04 PM CDT

Judge Tosses Suit by Detroit City Lawyer Ousted over ‘Ghetto Court’ Remark

The former top lawyer for the city of Detroit plans to appeal a judge’s ruling throwing out her suit that claims she was forced to resign because of a “ghetto court” remark. U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow said the remark by former interim corporation counsel Kathleen Leavey was not protected…

Jun 29, 2010 10:29 AM CDT

Fannie Mae to Punish Borrowers Who Strategically Opt to Walk Away from Mortgages

Amidst news that an apparently unprecedented number of mortgage borrowers are opting to walk away from expensive loans on homes whose fair-market value in the devastated real estate market is considerably less than the amount the borrowers owe, Fannie Mae is planning to punish those who opt not to pay…

Jun 24, 2010 8:39 PM CDT

New Woes May Prove Taxing to Ex-Lawyer & Ex-Mayor of Detroit Kwame Kilpatrick

Already in prison for probation violation, after he was found to have spent money on a too-lavish lifestyle instead of required restitution in his obstruction case, the former mayor of Detroit is now the target of tax charges. Kwame Kilpatrick, who agreed to give up his license to practice law…

Jun 23, 2010 11:24 PM CDT

Up to 30 State AGs Plan Joint Probe of Google Street View Data Intercepts

The top law enforcement officers for more than 30 states are considering a cooperative investigation of possible privacy and wiretap law violations by Google as its workers were driving around collecting photos and data for its Street View search engine feature. Led by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, the group…

Jun 22, 2010 1:32 AM CDT

Shot Through Gap in Bulletproof Vest, Cop Sues City for Failing to Upgrade Vest Earlier

A New York City police officer shot in the line of duty while subduing a suspect last year has sued his employer, contending that officials knew about a design defect in his bulletproof vest that allowed a bullet to enter under his arm but did not supply him with an…

Jun 21, 2010 11:33 PM CDT

Kagan E-Mails Reveal a ‘Sharp-Elbowed and Sometimes Salty-Tongued Lawyer’

In 11,000 e-mails released by the Clinton Presidential Library on Friday afternoon, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan emerges as politically savvy, sometimes sarcastic and given to an occasional swear word. The New York Times and the Washington Post both had stories on the e-mails, the third and last group of…

Jun 21, 2010 1:41 PM CDT

Legal Interns’ Complaints Put Veteran Child-Abuse Prosecutor on Hot Seat

A veteran child-abuse prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y., is the subject of an internal investigation after legal interns complained that she repeatedly raised her voice and even threatened to fire them for little or no reason, reports the New York Daily News in an article that relies in part on unidentified…

Jun 18, 2010 10:11 PM CDT