Following a four-day trial, a US federal judge ruled on Friday that North Dakota’s 2021 legislative redistricting plan violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) because it dilutes the voting power of Native American voters. The case is in the US District Court for the District of North Dakota. Chief Judge Peter D. Welte [...]

A New York appeals court temporarily lifted former President Donald Trump’s gag order on Thursday. Judge Arthur Engoron originally imposed the gag order in October after Trump posted a social media post alleging that one of Engoron’s law clerks had an affair with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY). Associate Judge David Friedman from the New York Appellate [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Monday that the Louisiana State Bar Association (LSBA) violated the US Constitution’s First Amendment when it tweeted several posts that were not “germane” to the legal profession. Since membership in the state bar is required for US lawyers to practice within the state, the [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Thursday that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) lacked authority to adopt a final rule aimed at limiting “ghost guns,” weapons parts kits that can be put together to create a firearm without having to register it. The case is an [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments Tuesday over President Joe Biden’s asylum policy that adds restrictions to migrants seeking asylum. The Biden policy presumes that migrants who do not use legal pathways to enter the US are ineligible for asylum. The court previously allowed the policy to remain in place after [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit vacated a preliminary injunction on Friday against the Illinois assault weapon ban passed earlier this year. This allows the ban to go into effect. Circuit Judge Diane Wood authored the 2-1 majority opinion of the court. Wood noted that, under the precedent of the Supreme Court [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled on Thursday that a district court used the wrong standard when it determined that the Arkansas Division of Corrections (ADC) policy that requires Muslim prisoners to pray with members of the Nation of Islam and the Five-Percent Nation and only wear kufis during prayer services [...]

The US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York announced on Tuesday that it charged and arrested Patrick Dai, a Cornell University student, for posting threats online against Jewish students. The announcement stated that Dai posted threats to kill or injure other students at Cornell. The posts that led to the arrest state, [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled on Friday that the doctrine of sovereign immunity bars private individuals from suing Texas Governor Greg Abbott over Executive Order GA-37. The order, signed by Abbott in July 2021, prohibits private individuals from transporting migrants who were previously detained or subject to expulsion from the [...]

The New York Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that the state legislature authorized the Commission on Forensic Sciences to create rules allowing police to search the state’s DNA database to identify family members of potential suspects. Practically, this means New York police officers can resume using the state’s DNA databank for these types of [...]