Maryland

GOP lawmakers in Michigan and Ohio win SCOTUS stay in political gerrymandering cases

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court stayed court rulings ordering Michigan and Ohio to create new electoral maps because they were drawn to benefit Republicans. The Supreme Court granted the stays as it considers partisan gerrymandering cases in North Carolina and Maryland, report Courthouse News Service, the New York Times…

May 28, 2019 9:15 AM CDT

NYC judges have drastically cut back on bail and jail in criminal cases, study says

Like many states, New York has a bail law that is half a century old. The legal rules that in 2010 made it possible for 16-year-old Kalief Browder to be jailed on Rikers Island for three years for allegedly stealing a backpack—just because his family couldn’t pay $3,000 in bail to get him out—all remain on the books.

Mar 18, 2019 7:05 AM CDT

Top state court reinstates murder conviction of Adnan Syed; his case was chronicled in ‘Serial’ podcast

On Friday, Maryland’s top court reinstated the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose case gained prominence after it was examined in the Serial podcast.

Mar 8, 2019 5:17 PM CST

Bullying from the Bench: A wave of high-profile bad behavior has put scrutiny on judges

Across the country, judges are creating embarrassing headlines when they are accused of abusive behavior toward lawyers and litigants.

Mar 1, 2019 12:15 AM CST

Lowest bar pass rate for California in 67 years; other states see drop, too

Only 40.7 percent of the people who took the California July 2018 bar exam passed, according to a state bar news release.

Nov 19, 2018 9:23 AM CST

Maryland challenges appointment of acting AG Whitaker as illegal and unconstitutional

The wrong person has been named to temporarily take the place of ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to a motion filed in federal court by the state of Maryland on Tuesday. Maryland claims President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general was illegal and unconstitutional, and…

Nov 13, 2018 4:25 PM CST

Partisan gerrymander in Maryland violates First Amendment right to political association, court says

A special three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that Democratic leaders in Maryland violated a First Amendment right to political association and representation when they redrew boundaries for a congressional district to benefit their party.

Nov 8, 2018 11:38 AM CST

Supreme Court considers whether prisoner with dementia and no memory of his crime should be executed

The Supreme Court granted full review of Alabama death row prisoner Vernon Madison’s case. The issue is whether the Eighth Amendment and relevant court precedents permit a state to execute someone who whose mental disability leaves him without memory of his commission of the capital offense, and whether evolving standards of decency bar the execution of a prisoner whose competency has been compromised by vascular dementia and multiple strokes.

Oct 1, 2018 1:35 AM CDT

Yale Law’s Chua, Rubenfeld deny advising Kavanaugh clerk candidates to dress a certain way

Following recent articles from the Huffington Post and the Guardian reporting that Yale law professors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld told women seeking clerkships with U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that he preferred a certain look, the law school’s dean responded with a memo to students and faculty, stating…

Sep 24, 2018 12:01 PM CDT

Maryland AG seeks tens of millions from fentanyl spray manufacturer

The Maryland attorney general’s office is seeking $20 million in civil penalties from an Arizona-based drugmaker for paying doctors to write prescriptions for a fentanyl spray meant to manage pain in cancer patients but used to treat other conditions. The Baltimore Sun and WBAL-TV have coverage. “It’s an immediate release…

Sep 7, 2018 11:43 AM CDT

Suit claims cap on deduction for state and local taxes violates equal state sovereignty

Four states filed a lawsuit Tuesday that contends the $10,000 cap on federal tax deductions for state and local taxes is unprecedented and unconstitutional.

Jul 19, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

Suspect in Capital Gazette shooting lost pro se case; court said he misunderstood defamation law

A Maryland man who was a losing pro se plaintiff in a defamation suit against the Capital Gazette newspaper chain has been charged with five counts of murder in the Thursday shooting deaths of five newsroom employees. Jarrod Ramos of Laurel is accused of firing a shotgun through the doors of the newsroom and opening fire, killing two editors, a reporter, a community correspondent and a sales assistant, report the Washington Post and the Capital Gazette in stories here and here.

Jun 29, 2018 9:03 AM CDT

Judge’s order requiring an ethics probe of Hillary Clinton’s lawyers is overturned

A Maryland judge had no jurisdiction to order an ethics probe of three lawyers for Hillary Clinton, Maryland’s top court has ruled.

Jun 25, 2018 7:00 AM CDT

San Francisco district attorney to use algorithm to aid marijuana expungements

The San Francisco district attorney’s office announced it will use an algorithm to help determine expungement eligibility for those with some marijuana convictions going back to the mid-1970s. “When the government uses 20th-century tools to tackle 21st-century problems, it’s the public that pays the price,” says District Attorney George Gascón…

May 21, 2018 2:03 PM CDT

‘Serial’ subject should get new murder trial because of ineffective assistance, appeals court says

A Maryland appeals court has ruled that Adnan Syed received ineffective assistance from a lawyer who didn’t contact an alibi witness in his trial for the January 1999 murder of a high school classmate he once dated. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled 2-1 that Syed, whose case was…

Mar 30, 2018 12:41 PM CDT