A victory for proponents of same-sex marriage today in the Ninth Circuit.

The Birthers have suffered yet another totally predictable loss in Court.

Not surprisingly, the Commander of the Military District of Washington has chosen to accept the findings of a preliminary hearing held last year, and ordered that Pfc. Bradley Manning face a General Court Martial for the charges that he stole hundreds of thousands of pages of classified documents which eventually ended up in the hands [...]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg had some advice on Constitution drafting for Egyptians

Virtually everything Stephen Colbert is doing was legal before Citizens United.

The latest example of no-knock mistakes:  FBI Uses Chainsaw In Raid On Wrong Fitchburg Apartment At 6:04 last Thursday morning, just before Sanchez’ alarm was set to go off, she heard a pounding outside her second floor apartment. [...] Within moments, the chainsaw had cut through most of her door, and someone on the FBI’s [...]

My latest for The Atlantic explains, “Why We Should Be Glad the Haditha Massacre Marine Got No Jail Time.”

A Federal Judge deals with the clash between individual rights, law enforcement, and technology.

Joe Paterno’s death is likely to have an impact on the criminal cases arising out of the child abuse allegations against former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky: STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The death of Joe Paterno on Sunday will partly weaken the state’s prosecution of two former university officials who have been charged in [...]

The Supreme Court issued a somewhat muddled ruling on GPS tracking today.

Some questions for opponents of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United.

Mitt Romney made a suggestion about how to fix our campaign finance system. It’s a good idea.

The first shot in a Constitutional showdown has been fired.

Not surprisingly, a three judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has unanimously rejected Texas Governor Rick Perry’s effort to get on Virginia’s Primary ballot: In a 22-page order, a three-judge panel of a federal appeals court today rejected Rick Perry’s appeal to appear on the Virginia ballot. Perry initially challenged the state’s [...]

The Commonwealth of Virginia has already filed its response to the Emergency Motion filed by Rick Perry’s campaign early yesterday morning in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals: Following Rick Perry’s appeal in his Virginia ballot access case this morning, officials in the state filed a response urging the U.S. Court of Appeals to uphold [...]

Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich are appealing the ruling that they cannot get on the Virginia ballot. Their argument doesn’t amount to much.

Not surprisingly, Rick Perry’s effort to get on Virginia’s primary ballot via litigation has failed

A far-reaching decision from the Supreme Court protecting religious liberty.

Another death row inmate. Another case of prosecutorial misconduct from the office of Harry Connick, Sr.

Some legal developments in the lawsuit over access to Virginia’s March 6th Primary Ballot.

In 2010, Oklahoma voters passed a referendum blocking state judges from considering Islamic or any other form of international law when rendering decisions in Oklahoma courts. Despite widespread criticism, the referendum passed by a wide margin in what was widely attributed to the same kind of hysteria over Islam that we had seen the previous [...]

Aaron Swartz has been arrested for downloading too many academic journal articles.

Do the Republican candidates believe that American citizens have a right to privacy? Someone should ask them.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is continuing to distance himself from the more conservative elements of his party, this time by criticizing Newt Gingrich’s comments about the judiciary in a Boston Globe Op-Ed: As an example, Gingrich points to a 2002 Ninth Circuit opinion declaring that the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance were [...]

Can the government force a criminal defendant to reveal a computer password? A Federal case in Denver is dealing with that question right now.

A truly bizarre story from Dallas that, quite honestly, raises questions about the entire immigration system: DALLAS – “It’s very frustrating,” Lorene Turner said. She has spent hours on Facebook trying to find her granddaughter, Jakadrien. “Once I get home I am up until 3 or 4 in the morning searching and looking,” Turner said. [...]

While the President’s recess appointments are bound to set off a political dispute with the Republicans, there does not appear to be a Constitution ban against them.

Ron Paul’s opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment would make a Paul Administration an enemy of civil liberties.

The Chief Justice Of The United States defends his colleagues.

Today’s New York Times reports that New York City Police officers are apparently not reporting some crimes: Crime victims in New York sometimes struggle to persuade the police to write down what happened on an official report. The reasons are varied. Police officers are often busy, and few relish paperwork. But in interviews, more than [...]

Domestic dispute or criminal act?

For a guy who says he dislikes “activist judges,” Rick Perry sure wants a certain Federal Judge in Virginia to be an activist.

Not surprisingly, most of the Republican candidates for President aren’t too keen on reducing the excessive growth in Executive Branch power.

Rick Perry is seeking Court intervention to get on the Virginia ballot. He isn’t likely to get very far.

From today’s edition of the stupid criminal files: An 18-year-old Pittsburgh man is accused of burglarizing a market with three teens, then posting pictures on his Facebook page showing the suspects mugging with some of the loot. Isaiah Cutler who has been jailed since Friday in the Dec. 12 burglary. Online court records don’t list [...]

I’ve written twice myself on Newt Gingrich’s absurd attacks on the judiciary, here and here, but it takes a wordsmith like George Will to really put Gingirch’s insanity in its place: Gingrich radiates impatience with impediments to allowing majorities to sweep aside judicial determinations displeasing to those majorities. He does not, however, trust democratic political [...]

A smoking gun?

The Supreme Court has taken the somewhat unusual step of setting aside three days on its calendar just to hear the various aspects of the Constitutional challenge to the Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act: The Supreme Court will hear arguments on President Obama’s healthcare law over a three-day span in late March. The schedule [...]

“A young transient who avoided detection because he looked like a student has been arrested by Troy University police…” Hmm.  I am not sure what that says about our student body… (Source:  Transient held in theft of $23,000 in equipment from Troy University)

Newt Gingirch ups the ante in his rhetorical assault on judicial independence.

Newt Gingrich’s ideas about the role of the judiciary are very dangerous.

I’m beginning  to have serious doubts about the legal strategy of Jerry Sandusky’s legal team. First, they let him engage in media interviews, including one in which he couldn’t give a straight answer to the question “Are you attracted to young boys?,” then they start issued veiled threats against Sandusky’s accusers and accusing them of [...]

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has released a harsh assessment of the practices of the Maricopa County, Arizona Sheriffs Department, which happens to be led by a man who has become something of a darling of the right: PHOENIX — In a harshly worded critique of the country’s best-known sheriff, the [...]

Do American courts throw people in jail for failing to pay their debts? No, they don’t.

An outsider auditor is apparently telling Senate investigators a different story about what Jon Corzine knew than the former Governor did: The regulatory arm of CME Group has turned over interviews to the Justice Department that allege former MF Global chief Jon Corzine knew that the now-bankrupt brokerage firm used customer money to lend to [...]

A new set of proposed Constitutional Amendments reveals that many people still don’t understand what Citizens United was about.

In something of a surprise move, former Penn State Assistant Coach Jerry Sandusky and his lawyers appeared at the start of what was expected to be a two-day preliminary hearing on the charges against him and exercised the right to waive the hearing: BELLEFONTE, Pa. — Jerry Sandusky waived his preliminary hearing this morning on [...]

In the Spring of 2010, Arizona passed an immigration bill, that among other things, gave police in the state the duty to check on the immigration status of anyone suspected of being in the United States illegally. The bill sparked controversy nationwide, as well as a negative reaction from the Hispanic groups, and even Republican [...]

Penn State Assistant Coach Mike McQueary is, as far as we know, the only independent witness to the alleged child abuse committed by Jerry Sandusky. In the Grand Jury Testimony that led to Sandusky’s first arrest, McQueary describes seeing Sandusky naked in the showers at the PSU athletic facilities with a young boy, also naked, [...]

In a desperate bid to save a floundering campaign, Rick Perry is willing to sacrifice important freedoms.