Recent Updates
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Judge, calm in court, takes hard line on splitting families
Court Watch 07/22/2018U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw appeared conflicted in early May on whether to stop families from being separated at the border. He challenged the Trump administration to explain how families were getting a fair hearing guaranteed by the Constitution...
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State Supreme Court returns stalking case to lower court
Court Watch 07/21/2018The South Dakota Supreme Court says a judge did not adequately explain why a Rapid City woman's Facebook complaints against her neighbor constituted stalking.The Rapid City Journal reports that a judge in 2016 granted Sarah Thompson's request for a p...
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1-year-old goes to court to get reunited with family
Court Watch 07/06/2018The 1-year-old boy in a green button-up shirt drank milk from a bottle, played with a small purple ball that lit up when it hit the ground and occasionally asked for "agua."Then it was the child's turn for his court appearance before a Phoenix immigr...
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Michigan court ends conflict over juvenile life sentences
Court Watch 06/20/2018Judges, not juries, have the sole power to decide whether someone under 18 gets life in prison without parole, the Michigan Supreme Court said Wednesday.The 4-2 decision settles a conflict at the state appeals court and clears the way for more than 2...
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Top Texas court says condemned inmate not mentally disabled
Court Watch 06/04/2018Texas' highest criminal court narrowly ruled Wednesday that a death row inmate is mentally capable enough to execute, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that his intellectual capacity had been improperly assessed and agreement by his lawyer and pros...
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Czech court: Attacker on Petra Kvitova taken into custody
Court Watch 05/26/2018A Czech Republic court has ruled a suspect in a knife attack on two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova be taken into custody.Zuzana Buresova, a spokesperson for the county court in the city of Prostejov, says the court issued the ruling on Thursda...
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California high court to rule on social media access
Court Watch 05/25/2018The California Supreme Court will decide whether Facebook and other social media companies must turn over user content to criminal defendants.The justices are expected to rule Thursday in a case that has pitted some of Silicon Valley's biggest compan...
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Supreme Court greenlights driver rights in rental car case
Court Watch 05/15/2018The Supreme Court said Monday that people who borrow rental cars from friends or family are generally entitled to the same protections against police searches as the authorized driver.The justices ruled unanimously that as a general rule someone who ...
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Court to hear challenge to Winona County's sand mining ban
Court Watch 05/04/2018Winona County, Minnesota's only county to ban the mining of silica sand for use by the oil and gas industry in hydraulic fracturing, goes to court Monday to defend the ban.Minnesota Sands LLC, which holds extensive mineral rights in southeastern Minn...
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Supreme Court to hear appeal of Missouri death row inmate
Court Watch 04/25/2018The Supreme Court agreed Monday to review the case of a Missouri death row inmate who says his rare medical condition could cause him to choke on his own blood during an execution.The justices said they would hear the appeal of inmate Russell Bucklew...
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Cosby defense team lobs attacks in court of public opinion
Court Watch 04/20/2018Jurors weren't allowed to hear testimony that Bill Cosby's chief accuser was once hooked on hallucinogenic mushrooms or had her sights set on becoming a millionaire, but that hasn't stopped the defense from airing the explosive claims about Andrea Co...
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Environmentalists ask court to restore oil-gas emission rule
Court Watch 04/19/2018Environmentalists are asking an appeals court to reinstate a rule restricting harmful methane emissions on U.S. lands, at least temporarily.Attorneys for 13 groups on Friday asked a federal appeals court in Denver to block an order by a lower court t...