3 officers plead not guilty in Black man’s restraint death
SEATTLE — Five weeks after ex-Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd, three Washington state police officers pleaded not guilty Friday in the death of Manuel Ellis, another Black man who pleaded for breath under an officer’s knee. Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson charged Tacoma officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins, who […]
Pennsylvania justice in porn email scandal retires
A Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice caught up in a government porn email scandal stepped down Monday.
Ginsburg: justices should stay if able to work
RESTON, Va. — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says Supreme Court justices should work as long as they can and shouldn’t manipulate their retirement so a like-minded president can appoint their successor. Some liberals have recently called on the 80-year-old Ginsburg to retire so that President Barack Obama can choose her replacement. If she stays beyond […]
O’Connor: Campaign finance trend troubling
BRISTOL, R.I. — Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said the nation is in trouble in the area of campaign finance and told a group of law students that “careful thinking” is needed after the 2010 Citizens United decision by the high court. The decision allowed wealthy individuals and corporations to spend freely […]
Kagan: Justices not tech savvy, send paper memos
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Elena Kagan says she and her fellow Supreme Court justices aren’t the most tech-savvy group of people and still communicate with one another the same way they did when she was a clerk in 1987: with paper memos. In an appearance in Providence on Tuesday, Kagan acknowledged the justices have a ways […]
Split evident as high court hears voter ID case
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices disagreed Monday over whether states can require would-be voters to prove they are U.S. citizens before using a federal registration system designed to make signing up easier. Arizona and other states told the justices the precaution is needed to keep illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from voting. But some justices […]
Justices to hear DEA agent’s appeal on personal jurisdiction
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a Nevada court can exercise personal jurisdiction over a Georgia police officer whose sole “contact” with Nevada is his knowledge that the plaintiff has connections there.
In book, Bork says Nixon offered him next high court seat in 1973
WASHINGTON — Robert Bork says President Richard Nixon promised him the next Supreme Court vacancy after Bork complied with Nixon’s order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox in 1973. Bork’s recollection of his role in the Saturday Night Massacre that culminated in Cox’s firing is at the center of his slim memoir, “Saving Justice,” […]
Justices weigh effect of judge’s mistake
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared inclined Tuesday to rule that a criminal defendant cannot be tried again after a judge acquits him midway through a trial, even if the judge based his decision on a legal error. The justices seemed willing during argument at the high court to endorse the idea that a judge’s […]
Justices question affirmative action plan
WASHINGTON — Supreme Court justices sharply questioned the University of Texas’ use of race in college admissions Wednesday in a case that could lead to new limits on affirmative action. The court heard arguments in a challenge to the program from a white Texan who contends she was discriminated against when the university did not […]
Editorial: Too little we know of justice so slow
It’s hard to decide which is worse: the Court of Appeals’ intractably sluggish pace or its attempts to camouflage the same.
Justice Sotomayor joins Yankees Bleacher Creatures
NEW YORK — Justice Sonia Sotomayor traded benches for a day, joining the New York Yankees’ Bleacher Creatures. The Supreme Court justice attended the Yankees’ 12-3 win over Baltimore on Wednesday and sat in Section 203 of the right-field stands for the first-inning “Roll Call” of New York’s starting lineup. “Having sat in the old […]