US Legal News

The US Department of State on Monday designated the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM) as global terrorists, the first time that the department has designated a racially or ethnically motivated terrorist group. RIM is a terrorist group that provides paramilitary-style training to neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and it plays a prominent role in trying to rally [...]

The Judicial Council, the policymaking body of the California courts, approved 11 temporary emergency rules on Monday to ensure California courts can meet the state’s health directives while also providing the public with due process and access to justice. The rules that were adopted include “setting bail statewide at $0 for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies to [...]

A judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma issued a temporary restraining order Monday against the state’s ban on abortion during the COVID-19 pandemic. The request for a temporary restraining order was brought to the court by abortion rights advocates against Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt after he issued an executive [...]

The US Supreme Court denied a petition Monday to consider whether the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) can continue investigations and request broad employment information after a worker has filed a lawsuit. As is customary, the court did not provide their rationale for denying the petition. However, Justice Clarence Thomas issued a dissent to the denial [...]

The US Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Office of General Counsel and Media Bureau on Monday rejected a petition by Free Press, an advocacy group, demanding a government investigation into broadcasters that aired statements by President Donald Trump during White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings and related commentary regarding the COVID-19 pandemic by other on-air personalities. [...]

On Monday night, the Wisconsin Supreme Court blocked Governor Tony Evers’s emergency executive order to postpone the state’s Tuesday, April 7, primary election— mere hours after Evers signed it. Shortly after, the US Supreme Court denied an extension of absentee ballot submission deadlines. The election will go forward as planned. In the initial order, Evers [...]

Citing concerns about the spread of COVID-19, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed an executive order Monday postponing Tuesday’s primary election. In the order, Evers postponed the elections until June 9 and extended the deadline for absentee ballots until then. Though Evers was initially reluctant to postpone the elections, as he was unsure if he had [...]

The US Supreme Court declined Monday to take up the question of whether Washington DC’s metro (WMATA) violated the First Amendment by banning religious advertising, letting a lower court ruling stand. The DC-area metro rejected a Christmas bus advertisement from the Catholic Diocese because of a blanket restriction of religious advertising. For Christmas-season advertisements specifically, [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that it is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment for a police officer to make an investigative traffic stop after running the license plate of a vehicle and learning that the owner’s driver’s license has been revoked, even if the officer is unsure that the owner is driving the vehicle. [...]

A special US District Court panel of three judges on Saturday denied California inmates’ request that a certain category of inmates be released in order to allow the physical distancing necessary to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The request, which was filed on March 25, invoked an order entered by the special panel in 2009 [...]