Government

As Musharraf Exits, Pakistan Lawyers Seek Trial and Restoration of Judges

As Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf, resigned from office today, lawyers whose protests for over a year helped achieve this situation celebrated. They also called for the restoration to office of dozens of appellate court judges he removed last November. “Hundreds of lawyers gathered in the courtyard of the Lahore High…

Aug 18, 2008 10:29 PM CDT

Latest Twist in Detroit Mayor Saga: Judge Says City Can’t Remove Him

The city council doesn’t have the power to remove Detroit’s embattled mayor from office, a Michigan judge has ruled. However, today’s decision by Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Ziolkowski doesn’t derail a planned Sept. 3 hearing on Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick by the state’s governor, reports the Associated Press. Kilpatrick has…

Aug 18, 2008 7:08 PM CDT

Payments to Edwards’ Mistress Raise Campaign Law Issues

Payments made on behalf of former presidential candidate John Edwards to his admitted mistress may not have complied with campaign laws, experts say. At least one says money paid by Fred Baron, a wealthy Dallas trial attorney who served as Edwards’ national finance chairman, to Rielle Hunter could potentially present…

Aug 15, 2008 8:59 PM CDT

Once Cleveland’s Top Municipal Lawyer, Cornell Carter May Lose Law License

Convicted in a felony case concerning the misuse of a former employer’s credit card, the onetime director of the municipal law department in Cleveland agreed to a deal that would save his law license. Cornell Carter, 41, entered a one-year diversion program that could have resulted in the case being…

Aug 15, 2008 6:41 PM CDT

Landmark Mass. Brain Injury Settlement Could Put 2,000 in Community Care

An unprecedented settlement between Massachusetts and an advocacy group could eventually help 2,000 brain-injured patients from nursing homes to community care. Among them is 29-year-old Kaya Alexander, who has lived in a nursing home since a 2006 auto accident left her partially paralyzed, and desperately wants to be back among…

Aug 14, 2008 11:09 PM CDT

Lawyer-Led Protests Prevail in Pakistan: Musharraf is Expected to Step Down

After more than a year of lawyer-led protests over the breakdown of the rule of law helped force parliamentary elections that brought opposing parties to power, the president of Pakistan reportedly has agreed, or will soon agree, to step down. Sources say President Pervez Musharraf probably will announce his decision…

Aug 14, 2008 9:34 PM CDT

Detroit Mayor is Untethered, Then Re-Restricted

Reversing another judge’s earlier order that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick had to wear an electronic tether due to his violation of bond restrictions on traveling, a Wayne County Circuit Court judge today not only untethered the mayor but lifted the travel ban. “He is not a flight risk. I see…

Aug 14, 2008 7:25 PM CDT

Ex-Prisoner Puts Tenn. Federal Judge Appointment on Hold

More than a year ago, President George W. Bush nominated Gustavus Puryear IV to be a federal district judge in Nashville, Tenn. His nomination is supported by Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker of Tennessee, which ordinarily would put him on a fast track to confirmation. But a former…

Aug 14, 2008 3:51 PM CDT

Judge Slashes Fee Request for WilmerHale and Wiley Rein

Updated: A federal judge has slashed an attorney fee request in a false claims suit from $20 million to a little more than $7.5 million. His opinion explaining his action takes aim at fees charged by the two plaintiffs’ firms, WilmerHale and Wiley Rein. Chief U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth…

Aug 14, 2008 2:42 PM CDT

Overseer Moves to Seize $8B in California Funds for Prison Health Care

A court-appointed overseer for health care in California prisons has asked a federal judge to turn over $8 billion in state funds. J. Clark Kelso said the money is needed to meet minimum constitutional standards for prison health care, the Los Angeles Times reports. He said U.S. District Judge Thelton…

Aug 14, 2008 2:02 PM CDT

Secret GPS Tracking of Suspects, Without Warrants, OK’d By Courts

In what one critic describes as a signpost of our “always-on, surveillance society,” police departments increasingly have been secretly using GPS, without seeking search warrants, to track the movements of uncharged suspects. The satellite technology can be highly effective for this purpose: Although authorities are reluctant to discuss their investigative…

Aug 13, 2008 6:58 PM CDT

Gang-Related Issues Widespread in US, Aided by Internet

Even as the federal government focuses on gang-related criminal activity as an enforcement priority, helping to organize major raids and providing money to local authorities to enhance their efforts, widespread gang-related concerns aren’t likely to be easily resolved. In Hartford, Conn., a plan to impose a 9 p.m. curfew, starting…

Aug 13, 2008 4:57 PM CDT

NYC Plans to Track All Vehicles Entering Manhattan

In an effort to combat potential terrorist attacks, the city of New York is working on a plan to track every vehicle that enters Manhattan. “It calls for photographing, and scanning the license plates of, cars and trucks at all bridges and tunnels and using sensors to detect the presence…

Aug 12, 2008 8:39 PM CDT

Detroit Mayor Didn’t Violate Bond

Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick finally caught a break. The prosecution in one of the two criminal cases in which he is currently a defendant contended that he had violated the terms of his bond by having contact with his sister, who is a witness in the case, while both…

Aug 12, 2008 5:03 PM CDT

Plame Can’t Sue Gov’t. Officials Who Allegedly Outed Her as US Spy

Because high-level government figures were acting within their official capacity when they allegedly revealed to reporters that Valerie Plame had spied for the U.S., she and her husband can’t sue them for damages, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C. has ruled. “The conduct … was in the defendants’ scope…

Aug 12, 2008 4:29 PM CDT