The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held Monday that Washington state has jurisdiction over crimes involving non-Native Americans on the Yakama Nation reservation. Public Law 280, which was passed in 1953, gave states the “consent of the United States” to assume full jurisdiction over causes of action on Native American reservations by [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit ruled Monday that former St. Louis Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce was entitled to absolute immunity over her decision to prosecute former police officer Jason Stockley for first-degree murder. In 2011 Stockley and another officer observed what they thought was a drug transaction, which led to a [...]

Iran sentenced journalist Ruhollah Zam to death on Tuesday for inciting unrest and protests in Iran. Zam ran Amadnews, an anti-government website that had around 1.4 million followers on the messaging app Telegram. On Amadnews, Zam shared protest videos and damaging information about Iranian officials. The website was shut down by the government, but it [...]

Mississippi lawmakers approved a proposed amendment to the state’s constitution on Monday that would change the election procedure for governor. Under current law, the governor is elected by an electoral vote from the Mississippi House of Representatives. With the amendment, the governor would instead be elected by a majority during the general election followed by [...]