Opening the federal courthouse door slightly to state death-row inmates whose lawyers sloppily miss a deadline, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that a new lawyer ought to be available to take up the cause, even if that is years later. The Court f…
Jan 20 2015
Argument analysis: Running for a court seat, tin cup in hand?
Analysis
Florida used to have a tawdry reputation for corrupt judges, but one of the state’s key remedies for that may have gone too far. That, at least, was the impression that emerged from an hour of argument Tuesday on the constitutional…
Jan 19 2015
Argument preview: Judges, politics, and money
At 11 a.m. Tuesday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hold one hour of oral argument on the solicitation of campaign donations by judicial candidates, in the case of Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar. Arguing for the candidate will be Andrew J. Pincus…
Jan 18 2015
A quiet departure for Al-Marri
Analysis Every time a detainee is released from Guantanamo and sent to another country, it makes headlines. But very few people noticed last week as another man caught up in what was the “war on terror,” Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, left for his home country, Qatar. Still, it was al-Marri who came close to making constitutional history… Read More
Jan 16 2015
Court will rule on same-sex marriage (UPDATED)
UPDATE 7:51 p.m. The Obama administration will file a brief in the same-sex marriage cases, supporting equal access to marital rights in all of the states, Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
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Taking on a historic c…
Jan 15 2015
Oklahoma executions allowed to resume (UPDATED)
(UPDATED 9:14 p.m. Oklahoma completed the execution of Charles Frederick Warner less than an hour after the Supreme Court had acted.)
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Nearly nine months after a widely criticized execution that went seriously awry in …
Jan 14 2015
Launching today — Welcome to lyldenlawnews!
The slow, sometimes halting progress toward life in the digital age picks up a bit today, with this launch of a new website. Some of what you will see here will look the same — close coverage of the Supreme Court, keeping up with lower courts, and watching the law as an always fascinating human… Read More
Jan 12 2015
South Dakota same-sex marriage ban falls
Building toward a test on same-sex marriage in one of the handful of federal appeals courts that have not yet ruled on the issue, a federal trial judge in South Dakota on Monday struck down that state’s ban. That means that such marriages are …
Jan 12 2015
Argument analysis: If a law turns out to be “silly” . . .
Analysis
The Supreme Court gave some hints on Monday that it might be willing to give local governments some flexibility on regulating outdoor signs — but probably not when a lawyer for a municipality is led to concede that the impact of that com…
Jan 12 2015
Court denies one same-sex marriage case (UPDATED)
UPDATED 11:21 a.m. The four same-sex marriage cases challenging the Sixth Circuit’s ruling that upheld four states’ bans have now been set for consideration by the Justices at their Conference on Friday of this week. The post below ha…
