North Carolina federal judge finds felony disenfranchisement law is unconstitutional
A federal judge in North Carolina found on Monday that the state’s 147-year-old voting law is unconstitutional. US District Judge Loretta Biggs found that the since-amended state law, which prevented convicted felons from casting a vote, violates the Equal Protection Clause and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution. The [...]
505 law professors sign letter condemning US House committee investigation into Rutgers University
A group of 505 law professors and faculty have signed a letter that was delivered to the US House Committee on Wednesday, condemning the investigation into Rutgers University Newark Center for Security, Race, and Rights (CSRR) for campus antisemitism. The congressional investigation of Rutgers University began on March 27 by the House Committee on Education [...]
Florida Supreme Court upholds 6-week abortion ban and allows abortion referendum for November ballot
The Florida Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the state constitution does not protect the right to abortion. The ruling in Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida vs. State of Florida allows the current 15-week abortion ban to be upheld and triggers the Heartbeat Protection Act to take effect. The Act, signed into law [...]
ACLU claims South Carolina prison policy banning interviews violates First Amendment
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and ACLU of South Carolina filed a lawsuit against the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC) on Thursday, claiming the department’s ban on news media interviews for incarcerated people violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution. The department’s policy explicitly prohibits “personal contact interviews” with inmates, and in [...]
US Supreme Court leaves admissions plan in place at Virginia high school
The US Supreme Court left in place an admissions policy at an elite public high school in Virginia on Tuesday after the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the admissions practice. The plaintiffs in the case argued that the school’s policy discriminates against Asian Americans. Justice Samuel Alito dissented from the majority [...]
Federal judge strikes down Louisiana state electoral maps, orders districts redrawn
A federal judge in Louisiana struck down Louisiana state House and Senate districting maps Thursday for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) and diluting Black voter power in the gulf state. Federal District Judge Shelly Dick ordered the the maps redrawn but did not give a quota for the number of majority [...]
The Unconscionable Nazi Legacies of Executions by Gas and Lethal Injection
Alabama’s experimental use of gas to torture to death Kenneth Smith on January 25th — like all executions by lethal injection — has perpetuated a horrific Nazi legacy in the United States and is a traumatizing affront to many in the Jewish community. The fact that this torment was blindly carried out just ahead of [...]
US District Judge Colin S. Bruce sentenced Philip Buyno to five years in prison in the Central District of Illinois on Monday after he attempted to commit arson against a future reproductive healthcare center. Bruce also ordered Buyno to pay $327,547 in restitution for the damages he caused. Buyno pled guilty to attempting to use [...]
A South Carolina woman, Taylor Shelton, sued the state on Monday after she was denied an abortion at around six weeks of pregnancy. She brings this suit along with Planned Parenthood South Atlantic (PPSAT) against the state because of its alleged ambiguous language in Senate Bill 474 (SB 474), also known as the Fetal Heartbeat [...]
The US Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals declined Tuesday to rehear with the full Eighth Circuit panel of judges a prior appeals court decision curtailing private organizations’ ability to sue under section two of the Voting Rights Act for alleged racial gerrymandering in redistricting decisions. In the order denying the rehearing, Judge David Stras, writing [...]
