Legal News

Sandra Day O’Connor’s Experience As A Legislator Guided Her Consensus-Building Work On The Supreme Court

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 12/08/2023 - 5:00am

Supreme Court nominee Sandra Day O’Connor is shown speaking before a Senate hearing on her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court in a Sept. 9, 1981 file photo. O’Connor joined the Supreme Court in 1981 as the nation’s first female justice.
(John Duricka / AP Photo)

When Sandra Day O’Connor stepped down from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006, she was the last justice to have served as an elected legislator. She previously was a member of the Arizona state Senate and later its majority leader.

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Hate Crimes Are On The Rise — But The Narrow Legal Definition Makes It Hard To Charge And Convict

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 12/08/2023 - 4:00am

With hate crimes, context is everything, and events outside of the United States – like the war between Israel and Hamas – can have far-reaching and potentially tragic consequences.

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Pipeline Company Prevails Over Two County Ordinances In Iowa

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 12/08/2023 - 3:00am

A federal judge on Monday permanently barred two Iowa counties from enforcing their ordinances that restrict the placement of carbon dioxide pipelines.

Shelby and Story Counties adopted restrictions after two companies proposed to build pipeline systems to transport captured carbon dioxide from ethanol plants and other facilities.

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High Fees, Long Waits Cast Shadow Over New Criminal Expungement Laws

Published by josie@omahadail... on Fri, 12/01/2023 - 5:00am

More states are making it easier for residents to clear or seal their criminal records.

The effort has drawn bipartisan support, as lawmakers across the political spectrum say it will help people find jobs and housing, in turn boosting local economies and reducing reliance on social services.

“Folks that get out of jail or prison with criminal records, it’s like getting out with the handcuffs still on,” Keith Wallington, the director of advocacy with the Justice Policy Institute, a nonprofit criminal justice research and advocacy group, told Stateline.

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Experts to Examine a Controversial Forensic Test That Has Helped Convict Women of Murder

Published by josie@omahadail... on Fri, 12/01/2023 - 5:00am

The U.S. has not prioritized stillbirth prevention, and American parents are losing babies even as other countries make larger strides to reduce deaths late in pregnancy.

Legal experts from two universities will convene a group to study a dubious forensic test that has helped send some women to prison for murder though the women insisted they had stillbirths.

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The Supreme Court Has Adopted A Conduct Code, But Who Will Enforce It?

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 11/17/2023 - 5:00am

The Supreme Court on Monday released a code of conduct governing the behavior of the country’s most powerful judges for the first time in its history. But experts said it was unclear if the new rules, which do not include any enforcement mechanism, would address the issues raised by recent revelations about justices’ ethics and conduct.

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Colorado Supermarket Shooting Suspect Pleads Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 11/17/2023 - 4:00am

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — A man accused of a mass shooting at a Colorado supermarket in 2021 pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity Tuesday as a judge ruled the case can move to a trial following testimony giving new details of how he killed most of the 10 victims in just over a minute using a gun with a high-capacity magazine.

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We Studied Jail Conditions And Jail Deaths − Here’s What We Found

Published by Nikki Palmer on Fri, 11/17/2023 - 3:00am

The family of Samuel Lawrence, one of 10 people to die in Georgia’s Fulton County Jail in 2023, is fighting for answers and accountability.

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The Words That Helped Wrongly Convict Kathleen Folbigg

Published by jason@omahadail... on Fri, 11/10/2023 - 2:00am

Kathleen Folbigg reacts the day after her release from prison in Coffs Barbour, Australia, Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Folbigg, who spent 20 years in prison was pardoned and released Monday June 5, 2023, based on new scientific evidence that her four children died by natural causes as she had insisted.
(AP Photo)

Prosecutor: Are you able to say whether or not Caleb died from a catastrophic asphyxiating event of unknown causes?

Pathologist: I believe that is likely. […]

Prosecutor: In relation to Laura […] her cause of death was consistent with smothering?

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Omaha, Lincoln Responses To New Concealed Handgun Law Could Be Headed To Court

Published by jason@omahadail... on Fri, 11/03/2023 - 3:00am

OMAHA — Since the Nebraska Legislature this year limited cities’ authority to regulate concealed handguns more strictly than the state does, Omaha and Lincoln have restricted people from carrying concealed handguns on some city land.