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Voter citizenship issue goes before federal court
Headline Legal News |
2014/08/27 14:13
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An appeals court panel will hear oral arguments this week in a closely watched case that could have far-reaching implications for voting rights nationwide.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver will hear arguments Monday in an appeal filed by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
The agency is seeking to overturn a federal judge's order that the commission modify a federal form to include special instructions requiring Kansas and Arizona residents to provide citizenship documentation when they register to vote.
At the crux of the suit is whether the federal government or states have authority to regulate voter registration. Each side contends the U.S. Constitution supports its position.
The states argue the requirements prevent voter fraud by thwarting voting by noncitizens. Critics view them as suppressing voter turnout. |
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Ala court upholds generic drug decision
Headline Legal News |
2014/08/18 14:45
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The Alabama Supreme Court is standing by a decision that business sees as a defeat.
The court on Friday issued an opinion that mostly parallels its ruling last year in a generic drug case.
A divided court says the original decision isn't as broad as some are claiming. But a majority stuck by a 2013 decision saying a brand-name drugmaker can be held responsible by someone who took a generic medication made by a different company.
The Business Council of Alabama says it's disappointed. So is Wyeth, the drug manufacturer sued by Danny and Vicki Weeks over the man's use of a generic form of the brand-name medicine Reglan.
The Weeks filed suit in federal court, and a judge asked the Supreme Court to clarify state law. |
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Washington high court to hear charter school case
Headline Legal News |
2014/08/18 14:44
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The Washington Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the state's voter-approved charter school law violates the state constitution.
Oral arguments concerning the lawsuit brought by charter school opponents have been scheduled for the afternoon of Oct. 28.
A King County Superior Court judge found in December that parts of the new law are unconstitutional. Judge Jean Rietschel's decision focused on whether certain taxpayer dollars can be used to pay for the operation of charter schools.
Both sides asked the Supreme Court to skip the appeals court process and directly review the case.
Attorney Paul Lawrence says the briefs to the court and the oral arguments will focus on that part of the lawsuit.
The state's charter school system was approved by voters in 2012. |
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Suspect in bodies-in-suitcases case due in court
Headline Legal News |
2014/07/17 12:33
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A former police officer charged with dumping two bodies in suitcases along a rural Wisconsin road is due to enter a plea.
Fifty-two-year-old Steven Zelich is scheduled to attend a plea hearing in Walworth County Circuit Court Thursday on two counts of hiding a corpse.
Zelich's attorney, Travis Schwantes, says the charges might not stand up because prosecutors need to show the former West Allis officer tried to conceal a crime. Schwantes says Zelich claims he killed the two women in the suitcases accidentally during sexual encounters.
Authorities say homicide charges are expected to be filed in the counties where the women died. The bodies of 19-year-old Jenny Gamez, of Cottage Grove, Oregon, and 37-year-old Laura Simonson, of Farmington, Minnesota, were found in the suitcases by highway workers June 5. |
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Priest guilty of killing nun will get funeral Mass
Headline Legal News |
2014/07/07 14:55
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A Roman Catholic priest convicted of stabbing and strangling a nun 34 years ago in a hospital chapel will receive a funeral Mass, a church official said Saturday.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson remained an ordained priest after his conviction and his services will follow the usual protocol for a diocesan priest's funeral, the Rev. Charles Ritter, administrator for the Diocese of Toledo, said in a statement.
Robinson, 76, died Friday. He had been serving a prison sentence of 15 years to life in what church historians have characterized as the only documented case of a Catholic priest killing a nun. He was arrested 24 years after the nun's death and found guilty in 2006 of stabbing and strangling Sister Margaret Ann Pahl at a Toledo hospital where they both worked.
Robinson had been in a hospice unit since the end of May after suffering a heart attack.
Robinson and Pahl, 71, had worked closely together at the hospital, where he was a chaplain and she was caretaker of the chapel. He presided at her funeral Mass.
Prosecutors blamed the murder on Robinson's simmering anger over Pahl's domineering ways, saying their relationship was strained and that Pahl was upset over the shortening of Good Friday services a day before she was killed. |
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