Supporters of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday calling for major reforms of the electoral process in Georgia. Plaintiffs argue that Georgia has had longstanding issues with voting rights, especially impacting low-income voters and voters of color: The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan, independent agency, found that among the [...]
Alejandro Andrade, former national treasurer for the government of Venezuela, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Monday by Judge Robin Rosenberg of the US District Court Southern District of Florida for his role in a $1 billion bribery and money-laundering scheme. Andrade started his political career as a bodyguard to the former president of Venezuela, [...]
The attorneys generals from Washington, DC, and 14 states filed an amicus brief on Monday in support of Maryland’s motion to replace Matthew Whitaker as US Attorney General with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The amicus brief was filed by Attorney General Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Attorney General Karl Racine of Washington, DC. The attorneys general from Connecticut, [...]
The US Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments in a case concerning an appeal of class action status and a capital case challenging Oklahoma’s jurisdiction over a crime committed in Native American territory. The first case, Nutraceutical Corp. v. Lambert, concerns the application of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure Rule 23(f), which several courts have [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled 8-0 Tuesday that the Endangered Species Act permits the Secretary of the Interior to designate private land as “critical habitat” of endangered species, which then limits the ability to develop the designated land so long as it is a habitat for endangered species. However, courts should use the arbitrary and capricious standards [...]
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan signed an executive order on Monday to create an emergency commission tasked with redrawing the state’s congressional district map. Earlier this month a three-judge panel for the District Court of Maryland ruled that the 2011 redrawing after the 2010 census was unconstitutionally done in a manner to favor Democrats. In the [...]
The US Supreme Court initiated its December sitting by hearing oral arguments in two cases Monday, including an antitrust claim against Apple. Apple v. Pepper involves third-party app developers’ concerns that Apple takes too large of a cut of the apps’ revenue and does not allow them to place their apps on competing platforms. Some [...]
New Jersey’s Medical Marijuana overhaul bill passed the Senate’s Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee on Monday, and now heads to the State Legislature’s joint appropriations committee. The Medical Marijuana bill seeks to revise requirements for authorizing and accessing medical marijuana, establish requirements for institutional caregivers, revises permit requirements for alternative treatment centers, and [...]
SCANA Corporation and South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) reached a $2 billion settlement agreement on Saturday with plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over the costs electric ratepayers have made towards the VC Summer nuclear power plant project. The lawsuit arose due to SCANA and SCE&G canceled construction of the VC Summer Units [...]
The Trump administration on Friday petitioned the Supreme Court to allow several cases challenging the president’s bar on transgender people serving in the military to bypass federal appeals courts. The policy, which blocks individuals with gender dysphoria from serving, has been subject to numerous suits. Federal district courts have entered injunctions against the ban, but [...]
