Social Clashes: Digital free speech is a hot legal battleground

Social media litigation raises serious concerns about the future of free speech, including attempts at censorship by government actors critical of comments on social media, the shifting standards of private platforms to censor online expression and the rise of hate and extremist speech in the digital world.

Apr 1, 2019 12:05 AM CDT

SCOTUS blocks execution of man denied Buddhist adviser; decision was different in Muslim case

Mar 29, 2019 9:30 AM CDT

Medicaid work requirements in these 2 states blocked by federal judge

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., blocked work requirements imposed on Medicaid recipients in Kentucky and Arkansas.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said in the Arkansas decision…

Mar 28, 2019 11:23 AM CDT

Neo-Nazi who plowed car into crowd in Charlottesville, killing paralegal, pleads guilty to hate crimes

The neo-Nazi who killed a paralegal after plowing his car into a crowd of racism protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes Wednesday after Attorney General…

Mar 28, 2019 9:30 AM CDT

Former BigLaw lawyer awarded $6.3M for brain injury caused by parking garage pipe

A former lawyer with Hunton & Williams has been awarded $6.3 million for a brain injury caused when she hit her head on a low-hanging pipe in the Atlanta parking…

Mar 28, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

15 years of inaction on inmate’s habeas petition is ‘shockingly dysfunctional malfeasance,’ judge says

A South Dakota judge said Tuesday that 15 years of inaction on an inmate’s habeas petition was breaking his heart.

Judge Doug Hoffman of the Second Judicial Circuit spoke at…

Mar 27, 2019 2:13 PM CDT

Was it a stinker of a decision? Employee appeals after judge rules farting wasn’t workplace bullying

A former contract administrator with an Australian construction firm in Melbourne wants an appeals court to reinstate his lawsuit of $1.28 million in U.S. currency ($1.8 million in Australian currency)…

Mar 27, 2019 10:52 AM CDT

5th Circuit judge raises eyebrows with ‘majority-minority panel’ reference in gerrymandering case

A dissent by Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement in a Mississippi gerrymandering case is raising some questions and eyebrows. What, exactly, did the federal appeals judge mean when she wrote…

Mar 27, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

Supreme Court rules for Alaska moose hunter, says he can ‘rev up his hovercraft’ again

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the National Park Service did not have the authority to ban use of hovercrafts on Alaska’s Nation River.

The high court ruled on…

Mar 26, 2019 2:35 PM CDT

USS Cole lawsuit was served at wrong place, SCOTUS rules; $315M judgment reversed

Sailors and family members who sued Sudan in the USS Cole bombing served the lawsuit in the wrong place, according to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The faulty service requires reversal…

Mar 26, 2019 1:45 PM CDT

Purdue Pharma reaches $270M settlement with Oklahoma in opioid epidemic suit

Purdue Pharma and its owners have agreed to a $270 million settlement with Oklahoma in the state’s lawsuit claiming OxyContin contributed to an opioid epidemic, according to multiple publications.

The…

Mar 26, 2019 12:43 PM CDT

Sellers of blood-thinner drug to settle about 25,000 suits for $775M

The sellers of the blood thinner Xarelto have agreed to pay $775 million to settle about 25,000 lawsuits claiming the companies failed to warn the drug can cause potentially fatal…

Mar 26, 2019 11:03 AM CDT

In ‘major shift,’ Department of Justice argues entire Affordable Care Act should be struck down

Mar 26, 2019 9:03 AM CDT

55 years after first SCOTUS appearance, lawyer is back for second redistricting case

Lawyer Emmet Jopling Bondurant II was only 26 in November 1963 when he first appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court to argue that congressional districts should have equal populations.

Bondurant…

Mar 26, 2019 7:30 AM CDT

Federal judge rules for cheerleader kicked off squad over Snapchat F-word post

A federal judge in Pennsylvania has ruled on behalf of a high school cheerleader who was kicked of the junior varsity squad for using the F-word—multiple times—in a Snapchat post…

Mar 26, 2019 6:30 AM CDT