US Legal News

Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed a bill on Monday to repeal the death penalty in the state for any defendant convicted of a Class 1 felony. The bill will take effect for anyone convicted after July 1, 2020. While the bill itself did not commute the sentences of the three men serving death sentences at [...]

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled Monday that the Fourth Amendment does not bar an officer from stopping a vehicle to investigate a criminal misdemeanor that has already occurred. The case arose when police officers stopped Jermaine Jones’ vehicle to investigate allegations that he committed fourth-degree assault, a misdemeanor in Kentucky. The [...]

The Trump administration announced Monday that Migrant Protection Protocol asylum hearings scheduled through April 22 will be postponed due to COVID-19. The joint statement between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) calls on those with hearings to present at their port of entry on their [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Guerrero-Lasprilla v. Barr that a request for equitable tolling of a deadline to file a statutory motion to reopen deportation cases is a question of law, which can be reviewed by the courts. Courts can review a request for an appeal of an immigration matter despite a statute [...]

US House Democrats on Monday announced their COVID-19 stimulus bill, which includes funding for election assistance, including 15 days of early voting and no excuse ballot by mail. The bill requires corporations to protect their workers’ wages and benefits, protects healthcare workers, strengthens unemployment insurance, strengthens Child Tax Credits and the Earned Income Tax Credit, [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Allen v. Cooper that a state cannot be sued for copyright infringement because Congress did not validly abrogate sovereign immunity when it enacted the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (CRCA) of 1990. The case arose after petitioner Fredrick Allen documented the salvage of Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge, which sank [...]

Texas Governor Greg Abbott released an executive order banning all “non-essential and elective” surgeries to preserve medical supplies to fight COVID-19 on Sunday evening, and Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an order on Monday declaring that abortions fell under the ban, excluding abortions performed to preserve the life of the mother. Ohio’s Department of Health [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in Comcast Corp v. National Association of African-American Owned Media that plaintiffs claiming racial animus in contracts under 42 USC § 1981 must show that race was the “but-for” cause. The plaintiffs, Entertainment Studios Network and the National Association of African-American Owned Media (collectively ESN) alleged Comcast violated § [...]

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) took its first steps to combat COVID-19 related fraud on Saturday by filing a complaint in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas against an online company offering vaccine kits in exchange for a $4.95 shipping charge. Currently, the World Health Organization has not approved any [...]

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that a state need not adopt an incapacity test that turns on a defendant’s ability to recognize that his crime was morally wrong in order to comply with the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. The case, Kahler v. Kansas, involves a man (Kahler) who was convicted of capital murder for shooting and [...]