Search Results for: oregon

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled Friday that all state criminal convictions which resulted from nonunanimous jury verdicts are invalid. The ruling comes after a 2020 US Supreme Court decision that held non-unanimous jury verdicts violate the US Constitution’s Sixth Amendment. The petitioner was convicted of crimes in Oregon by nonunanimous juries before the US Supreme [...]

The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC) Friday released its annual year-end report on the death penalty in the US, highlighting continually declining rates of execution despite what the DPIC called “incendiary political advertising that drove the public’s perception of rising crime to record highs.” For the eighth year in a row, authorities issued fewer than [...]

Oregon Governor Kate Brown Tuesday commuted the death sentences of 17 individuals to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. In the commutation of sentence, Governor Brown argued “that the death penalty is dysfunctional and immoral in all circumstances.” The 17 individuals were previously sentenced to death in the state of Oregon. In Article V, Section [...]

Attorneys general in 40 states Monday announced a $391.5 million, multi-state settlement with Google over the company’s location tracking practices. The agreement marks the largest US privacy settlement in history. Authorities allege that Google’s collection of location information violated the participating states’ consumer protection laws because “Google misled its users into thinking they had turned [...]

Residents of Vermont Tuesday voted to adopt Proposal 2 that amends the state constitution to repeal language permitting slavery and indentured servitude. The final vote was overwhelming with 237,097 in favor of the amendment and 30,255 against. Vermont was the first state in the United States to adopt a constitution in 1777. The constitution prohibited [...]

Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont Tuesday voted on Election Day ballot measures to end the practice of enslavement after criminal conviction. Under the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, slavery and involuntary servitude may not exist “except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” This language [...]

Voters in Oregon Tuesday adopted a ballot measure to place stricter requirements on gun ownership. The final vote was close with 740,335 in favor and 716,656 against, as of the time of this report. The new measure requires Oregonians to obtain a permit from the state police before acquiring a firearm. The applicant must pay [...]

Come November 8, Vermont residents will have the opportunity to amend their state constitution and abolish slavery and indentured servitude for good. To be clear, Vermont does not currently allow either in any form, but there is antiquated language in the state constitution that allows for certain exceptions. In the Founding Era, numerous other states [...]

Six days prior to Hurricane Ian’s eventual landfall, meteorologists sounded the alarm about a potential impact somewhere on Florida’s west coast. The storm was originally forecast to strike Tampa Bay, but ultimately touched down just south near Fort Myers. Despite the unpredictability of its path, rapid legal action by state government agencies under Governor Ron [...]

Abortion policy is now in the hands of the states following the US Supreme Court’s Friday decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. President Joe Biden has directed the Department of Health and Human Services to take steps to make sure abortion and contraception [...]