Government

Federal Judge Grants Craigslist Injunction Against South Carolina AG

A federal judge in South Carolina has granted an injunction sought by Craigslist Inc. in a declaratory judgment action against the state’s attorney general. U.S. District Judge Weston Houck today ordered AG Henry McMaster “to refrain from initiating or pursuing any prosecution against Craigslist or its officers,” reports the Associated…

May 22, 2009 9:45 PM CDT

Fed’l Judge to Hear Request to Ban Media Photos of Handcuffed N.Y. Lawmaker

Saying that First Amendment protections are not absolute, a federal judge in New York has scheduled a hearing to consider whether the media’s repeated publication of photographs of an apparently handcuffed New York lawmaker violate his right to a fair trial. Rejecting arguments by a lawyer for Newsday and News12…

May 21, 2009 6:25 PM CDT

Craigslist Sues South Carolina AG in Showdown Over Erotic Services Ads

Threatened with potential criminal prosecution over its role in allegedly promoting prostitution through Internet ads posted by third parties on its website, Craiglist Inc. has responded with a pre-emptive strike. In a lawsuit filed in federal court in South Carolina today, the national classified advertising website seeks a declaratory judgment…

May 20, 2009 10:44 PM CDT

Former Judge Cleared in Fla. Probe of Woman’s $400K Gifts to His Family

A former Florida judge who made headlines when he presided over custody hearings concerning Anna Nicole Smith’s infant daughter has been cleared once again in a second state agency investigation of over $400,000 in gifts reportedly made to his family by an elderly woman. There were no indications of exploitation…

May 20, 2009 8:32 PM CDT

Did 5 Detroit Lawyers Craft $8.4M Pact to Conceal Ex-Mayor’s Perjury?

Five lawyers who helped craft a controversial $8.4 million settlement by the city of Detroit that papered over then-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s perjury in police whistle-blower litigation are now facing ethics charges. They include not only top in-house attorneys and outside counsel for the city but plaintiffs lawyer Mike Stefani, who…

May 20, 2009 5:40 PM CDT

Facing Budget Crisis, Calif. Gov Asks, What About Legalizing—and Taxing—Marijuana?

Advocates for the legalization of marijuana apparently may be gaining traction with a perhaps-unlikely ally to their cause—the Republican governor of California. In news that has been making national headlines for weeks, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he is not necessarily in favor of decriminalizing marijuana, according to the Christian Science…

May 19, 2009 11:57 PM CDT

Supreme Court Rejects Medical Marijuana Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear a challenge to California’s medical marijuana law. San Diego County had sought to overturn the state’s medical marijuana laws in “a last, long-shot chance” before the Supreme Court, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. San Diego County, joined by San Bernardino County, claimed…

May 18, 2009 5:34 PM CDT

Shocking Story Update: 43 Fla. Kids Stunned, 21 Prison Workers Disciplined

Within little over one day last month, 43 Florida schoolchildren visiting three separate state prisons were reportedly jolted, directly and indirectly, with electronic stun guns during what the Miami Herald describes as “Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day” events gone wrong. In a fourth situation that same day,…

May 15, 2009 11:25 PM CDT

Miller Canfield Lawyer Charged in Biker Gang Case to Resign Detroit Post

Updated: Before his orientation was even finished, a Detroit lawyer announced Wednesday that a member of the new city mayor’s volunteer crisis turnaround team has effectively been fired. Meanwhile, the mayor is taking it on the chin from a political opponent for his choice of Hatim “Tim” Attalla, who works…

May 15, 2009 7:37 PM CDT

Oops. Hospital GC Not Licensed in Home State Is Suspended from $260K Job

Although Marc Goldstone is working as the North Broward Hospital District’s general counsel, he reportedly isn’t licensed to practice law in Florida. As that fact sank into the consciousness of the district’s board this week, it called an emergency meeting yesterday and suspended Goldstone from his $260,000-a-year job. He has…

May 15, 2009 5:57 PM CDT

Karl Rove to be Questioned in Probe of US Attorney Firings

A special prosecutor who is investigating accusations related to the claimed political firings of at least nine U.S. Attorneys during the Bush administration is scheduled to question former senior White House aide Karl Rove tomorrow. The Connecticut prosecutor, Nora Dannehy, was appointed in September 2008 by then-U.S. Attorney General Michael…

May 14, 2009 7:59 PM CDT

FDA Warns General Mills over Cheerios Cholesterol Claims

The Food and Drug Administration has sent a letter to General Mills warning that cholesterol claims on the Cheerios box make the food a drug under federal law. The letter, posted on the FDA website, says Cheerios should file a new-drug application if it wants to continue claiming a cholesterol-lowering…

May 13, 2009 2:29 PM CDT

Prosecutors Taken Off Fla. Murder Case for Listening to Defendant’s Phone Calls

Upholding a Florida judge’s disqualification of the entire Broward State Attorney’s Office from trying a murder case after two prosecutors listened to the defendant’s jailhouse phone calls to his lawyer, a state appeals court earlier this year dismissed a challenge by the Florida attorney general. Now new prosecutors are being…

May 12, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

W. Va. Lawyer Loses License; Gov’t Post Proved Too Tempting

A West Virginia lawyer has been disbarred by the state supreme court after his conviction for embezzling about $100,000 from a county building commission for which he served as chairman. Christopher Davis, 38, was previously sentenced to what amounted to a 60-day jail term in a Hampshire Circuit Court criminal…

May 12, 2009 8:20 PM CDT

Top NY Court Nixes GPS Tracking Unless a Search Warrant is Obtained

An apparent New York State Police practice of using GPS tracking devices on suspects’ vehicles for extended periods is a violation of their constitutional privacy rights unless a search warrant is obtained, according to a divided New York Court of Appeals ruling. In its 4-3 ruling today, the state’s highest…

May 12, 2009 6:19 PM CDT