Search

The article offers a profile of U.S. judge Merrick Brian Garland, appointed by president Barack Obama to the Supreme Court. Emphasis is given to topics such as his reputation as a moderate respected by both Democrats and Republicans, his work on the investigation into the 1995 terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and his previous legal decisions on issues such as gun control, marijuana legalization, and the detention of prisoners without trial.

The article discusses how the impending U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the investigation into the financial records of U.S. President Donald Trump may impact limits of presidential power. Topics explored include the subpoena for the personal and corporate tax documents of Trump from accounting firm Mazars USA, the statement issued by U.S. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann regarding the disclosure of tax returns by previous U.S. presidents, and the response of Mazars to the subpoena.

Reports on the lawsuit filed by Flun Gong against Chinese television director Zhao Zhizhen in the U.S. Details of the case.

Focuses on the refusal of the United States Supreme Court to accept an invitation to intervene in the 2004 presidential election. Rulings of the court on who may be present in polling places; Requirement for the provisional ballot.

Reports that "Time" magazine reporter, Matthew Cooper, was subpoenaed for a second time in an inquiry into the disclosure of the identity of Valerie Plame, a covert U.S. Central Intelligence Agency officer.

Reports that opponents of the death penalty in the U.S. are challenging the three-chemical combination in the execution of death row inmates claiming that the lethal injection drugs are inhumane and are torturing those being executed. Information on Edward L. Harper's autopsy after being executed in Kentucky indicating that it took 12 minutes for him to die; Description of how the three lethal injection drugs affects the human body; Ways in which prison personnel may fail to deliver the first drug properly.

Reports on a Tacoma, Washington federal judge's claim that the 1996 federal law that defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman is constitutional. Provisions of the law; Variation in each state's application of the law; Issue regarding the constitutionality of the marriage law.

Focuses on whether legal filings in custody, bankruptcy and criminal cases should be made public through the Internet in reference to the rape case of basketball player Kobe Bryant. Difficulty in determining whether a federal judge has a conflict of interest; Concern of the Government Accountability Office over the privacy and security of posting documents in the Internet; Effect of the disclosure of the testimony of a defense expert against Bryant's accuser on her willingness to pursue the case.

Reports that U.S. military tribunals have uphold the detention of four prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Their designation as enemy combatants; Arguments made by the prisoners' lawyers on the failure of the tribunal to comply with the ruling of the Supreme Court on the right of defendants to challenge detention.

Reports that "Time" magazine reporter Matthew Cooper is held in contempt by federal judge Thomas F. Hogan for disclosing the identity of an undercover United States Central Intelligence Agency agent officer. Hogan's rejection of the First Amendment appeal made by Cooper and the magazine.

Reports on the American Civil Liberties Union's withdrawal from the federal charity drive Combined Federal Campaign, which requires it to employ people whose names appeared on several government terrorism watch lists. Reason for the move; Background on the charity campaign.

Analyzes the legal cases involving celebrity defendants in the United States, which invoke the First Amendment law. Press restraint imposed by the Colorado Supreme Court in the rape case of basketball player, Kobe Bryant; Series of orders issued by Judge Rodney S. Melville of Santa Barbara Country Superior Court barring the release of essential information related to the case of singer Michael Jackson.

Reports that the U.S. Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court on July 21, 2004, to hear two cases on an exceptionally fast track, citing a crisis in the administration of criminal justice in the federal courts. Details of a decision issued by the court in June 2004 that affects the sentencing of criminal defendants in federal courts; Number of cases potentially affected; Details of the two cases which the Supreme Court was asked to hear.

Reports on the success of the Center for Constitutional Rights to win a case before the U.S. Supreme Court allowing detainees at the Gauntanamo naval base in Cuba to legally challenge their detentions. Case background; Lawsuit filed by the scrappy left-leaning public-interest group on behalf of people detained as suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay; Remarks of the center's president Michael Ratner regarding the group's cases in the lower courts.

Focuses on the memorandum about torture prepared by Jay S. Bybee, the assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of the Legal Counsel of the U.S. Justice Department. Emergence of questions about the ethical and moral limits of what lawyers can and should do in advising their clients; Challenges that government lawyers face in performing their obligations to their client compared to lawyers in private practice.

Reports on the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down the sentencing law in Washington. Role of the ruling in requiring any factor that increases a criminal sentence to be proved to a jury beyond reasonable doubt; Implications on the criminal system, trial courts and the federal sentencing guidelines; Issue of whether the decision will give judges more or less power in deciding sentences.

Reports on legal work on tortures in the U.S. Justice Department memorandum concerning torture.

The article reveals that the U.S. Supreme Court has been struggling to decide whether a landmark 1964 civil rights law protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workers. Topics discussed include Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the significance of the ruling for gay and transgender workers, and the division among justices on how to interpret Title VII particularly in relation to discrimination based on sex.

The article reports on the U.S. Supreme Court's move to allow the federal government to exclude most Central American immigrants from asylum applications. Topics discussed include the government's policy of allowing asylum to Central American migrants if they have been denied asylum in another country or they faced severe human trafficking, the Border Patrol's arrest of thousands of Central American migrants coming from the southwestern border, and the impact of the ban on migrant families.

The article reports on the plan of the U.S. federal government to resume executions of death row inmates after its suspension in 2003, according to an announcement by Attorney General William P. Barr on July 25, 2019. Topics include the impact of the plan on a moratorium on federal death penalty since 2003, the efforts of U.S. prosecutors to still seek death penalty in some federal cases, and criticisms of the directive by Democrats such as Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

The article reports on the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump on July 11, 2019 to abandon his plan to place a question about citizenship on the 2020 census. Topics covered include his issuance of an executive order instructing the government to instead compile citizenship data from existing federal records, the statement issued by Trump on his decision to back down on the plan to determine the citizenship status of the population, and the opposition by government experts to the plan.

The article reports that the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the cases of young men and women who were illegally brought to the U.S. when they were still children. Topics discussed include young immigrants' protection from immediate deportation, possibility that they will be provided with citizenship and President Donald Trump's efforts to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program created by former President Barack Obama to protect immigrants.

The article reports on the ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court that federal courts are powerless to hear judicial challenges to partisan gerrymandering and to delay efforts to add a question of citizenship to the 2020 census. Topics discussed are judicial power and role of the court in redrawing boundaries of voting districts, potential effects of the citizenship question on immigrants, and collection of citizenship information to draw voting districts.

The article reports on the criticisms expressed by the U.S. Supreme Court's liberal and conservative wings on the policy decisions of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. regarding the addition of citizenship question on the census as well as on partisan gerrymandering. Issues discussed are travel ban that included complete shutdown of Muslims from entering the U.S., and his conservative thinking on issues of racial discrimination, religion and campaign finance.