With the Supreme Court again refusing to delay lower courts’ rulings in favor of same-sex marriage, Alabama on Monday morning became the thirty-seventh state where such unions are legal, and at least four couples promptly were wed at a courthouse in Montgomery. Alabama’s situation, though, is unique because of a looming legal battle over who… Read More
Feb 5 2015
Bobby Chen seeks a second chance
With one of the highest profile Supreme Court lawyers now at his side, and with abundant apologies, Bobby Chen, a New York man who succeeded in the rarest of opportunities for a non-lawyer, is trying to get his case reinstated before the Court. Beating the odds, he had succeeded in getting the Justices to grant review… Read More
Feb 5 2015
Eleventh Circuit won’t decide same-sex marriage cases
Even as the Supreme Court ponders a request by state officials in Alabama to block same-sex marriages in that state, the Eleventh Circuit Court has decided it will take no further action on that constitutional question in any case on that issue that reaches it.
Feb 4 2015
Alabama seeks same-sex marriage delay
State officials in Alabama asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday evening to postpone same-sex marriages in the state, after lower trial and appeals courts refused any delay. At present, a federal trial judge’s ruling striking down the state’s same-sex marriage ban is due to go into effect on February 9. The state officials asked the Justices… Read More
Jan 30 2015
Same-sex marriage issue grows at appeals court
A federal judge in Atlanta on Thursday cleared the way for a same-sex marriage case in Georgia to move to a federal appeals court, joining cases already there from Alabama and Florida. The Georgia appeal should come before the case is decided in his trial court, U.S. District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr., ruled.
Jan 29 2015
Court allows Texas execution (UPDATED)
This post appeared originally on scotusblog.com The Supreme Court on Thursday evening cleared the way for Texas to execute death-row inmate Robert Charles Ladd, a new indication that the Justices will leave states with wide leeway to carry out the death penalty. With no noted dissents, the Court turned down two pleas for delay of… Read More
Jan 29 2015
Louisiana inmate in key case about to be free (UPDATED)
UPDATED: George Toca has now been released, his lawyers said in a public statement. ——— A Louisiana prison inmate whose life sentence is under review by the Supreme Court was on the verge of being released on Thursday, according to news accounts in New Orleans. George Toca, convicted of second-degree murder nearly thirty years ago when… Read More
Jan 28 2015
Ouster of state judge Moore sought
A liberal legal advocacy group on Wednesday filed an ethics complaint against Alabama Chief Justice Roy S. Moore, seeking his removal from the bench. The challenge by the Southern Poverty Law Center was based upon the judge’s public protests about federal courts’ rulings on same-sex marriage.
Jan 28 2015
Oklahoma executions put off
This post appeared originally on scotusblog.com Without a noted dissent, the Supreme Court on Wednesday afternoon delayed the scheduled execution of three Oklahoma death-row inmates, whose case the Justices will hear in late April. The executions were put on hold, but only so far as the state would use a specific drug in the procedure —… Read More
Jan 27 2015
Court allows Georgia execution
This post originally appeared on scotusblog.com UPDATE 8:20 p.m. Georgia completed the execution of Warren Hill, with death pronounced at 7:55 p.m. In two brief orders allowing the state of Georgia to execute a man whose lawyers claim he is intellectually disabled, the Supreme Court gave a strong signal on Tuesday evening that it is not… Read More
