Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed an elections overhaul into law Tuesday that adds more voting restrictions in the booming state, after Democrats spent months protesting what they say are efforts to weaken minority turnout and preserve the GOP's eroding dominance.
Read More »Judge says forcing waits in Mexico to seek asylum is illegal
A federal judge ruled Thursday that the U.S. government's practice of denying migrants a chance to apply for asylum on the Mexican border until space opens up to process claims is unconstitutional.
Read More »Jan. 6 riot lawyer’s illness throws wrench in several cases
A prominent conservative attorney representing more than a dozen defendants charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol is seriously ill and hasn’t appeared in court for more than a week, throwing some cases into disarray.
Read More »Arizona man who wore horns in Capitol riot pleads guilty to felony
An Arizona man who sported face paint, no shirt and a furry hat with horns when he joined the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge and wants to be released from jail while he awaits sentencing.
Read More »Texas 6-week abortion ban takes effect, with high court mum
A Texas law banning most abortions in the state took effect Wednesday, with the Supreme Court silent on an emergency appeal to put the law on hold.
Read More »Judge tosses Trump rollback of clean water safeguards
A federal judge has thrown out a Trump-era rule that ended federal protections for hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways and left them vulnerable to pollution from nearby development.
Read More »Records rebut claims of unequal treatment of Jan. 6 rioters
It's a common refrain from some of those charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and their Republican allies: The Justice Department is treating them harshly because of their political views while those arrested during last year's protests over racial injustice were given leniency. Court records tell a different story.
Read More »Supreme Court allows evictions to resume during pandemic
The Supreme Court's conservative majority is allowing evictions to resume across the United States, blocking the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Read More »South Dakota AG gets fines, no jail time in pedestrian death
South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg pleaded no contest Thursday to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges over a crash last year that killed a pedestrian, avoiding jail time despite bitter complaints from the victim’s family that he was being too lightly punished for actions they called “inexcusable.”
Read More »Mistrial in Michael Avenatti’s California embezzlement case
A California judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the embezzlement trial of attorney Michael Avenatti, who is charged with stealing millions in settlement money from his clients.
Read More »OxyContin maker’s lawyer warns of long, expensive litigation
A lawyer for Purdue Pharma said Monday that a judge needs to accept the OxyContin maker's plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the opioid epidemic or face “years or decades of Hobbesian hell” with complicated litigation that would not result in fair payouts to abate the epidemic or pay individual victims.
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