Protecting Minority Voters: The Voting Rights Act at Work 1982-2005, National Commission on the Voting Rights Act, February 21, 2006 . Excerpt: In short, both the evidence from the hearings and the additional data relied on in this Report indicate that while the Voting Rights Act has accomplished much during its first forty years, more [...]

Zumpano v. Quinn, New York Court of Appeals, February 21, 2006 . Read the full text of the opinion . Reported in JURIST's Paper Chase here.

MacPherson v. Department of Administrative Services, Supreme Court of Oregon, February 21, 2006 . Excerpt: Whether Measure 37 as a policy choice is wise or foolish, farsighted or blind, is beyond this court's purview. Our only function in any case involving a constitutional challenge to an initiative measure is to ensure that the measure does [...]

The New York State Court of Appeals ruled 5-2 Tuesday that an illegal immigrant's status as an undocumented worker does not preclude his ability to recover lost earnings. Illegal immigrant Gorgonio Balbuena was injured at his workplace in 2000, and he sued his employer for lost wages. The trial court held in Balbuena's favor, a [...]

The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has said that the state of California has decided to postpone indefinitely the execution of condemned killer Michael Morales , initially delayed late Monday after two anesthesiologists refused to take part . Morales' death warrant had to be exercised by 11:59 PM Tuesday or state officials would have [...]

In Tuesday's environmental news, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in three cases that challenge the limits of the Clean Water Act (CWA) . The court heard consolidated arguments in Rapanos v. United States and Carabell v. US Army Corps of Engineers , challenges to the federal government's legal authority to regulate private land [...]

US District Judge James Spencer Tuesday denied a US Department of Justice request to hold additional hearings on the impact an impending shutdown of the BlackBerry wireless email network could have on government agency operations. A lawyer for plaintiff company NTP Inc. said that the order indicates that the judge seeks to end the case [...]

A lawyer representing Zacarias Moussaoui said Tuesday he would seek to compel the testimony of US Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) , recently subpoenaed by the defense as a witness to the extent of the government's knowledge of the identities of 9/11 hijackers before the terrorist attacks. Weldon last week requested that the subpoena be quashed [...]

The Oregon Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a controversial property rights compensation law, reversing a circuit court decision and declaring the law constitutional. The law, known as Measure 37 , requires the government to either provide compensation to landowners for reductions of property value caused by certain land use regulations or not to apply such [...]

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has said he will veto House Bill 1318 , a bill that would require voters to provide identification at the polls in order to vote. Noting that voter turnout in elections is currently dropping, he said the bill "places an unnecessary new burden on electors that will result in some losing [...]