Courts

Obama cosponsored legislation in 2005 to restore grant funding

April 3, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) joined a bipartisan coalition of senators in calling on the Senate Appropriations Committee to fully fund the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) Program in this year's Supplemental Appropriations bill. For more than two decades, the Byrne/JAG program has provided funding each year for nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement officials to help make communities safer and improve criminal justice programs.    » read more »

Hamilton County Court Says Law Is Constitutional

March 10, 2008 -- COLUMBUS - For the first time, an Ohio common pleas court has ruled that a state law which bans smoking in public places and in most places of employment is constitutional.

The ruling from the Hamilton County Common Pleas Court was filed Friday. The case is the only constitutional challenge to the Ohio Smoke Free Act that has resulted in a court decision.    » read more »

Case of Jeremy Jaynes Sets National Precedent; Spammer Sentenced Under Virginia Anti-SPAM Act; Legislation and Initial Conviction Achieved by Former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore

Feb. 29, 2008 -- Richmond - Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell announced today that the Virginia Supreme Court has upheld the nation’s first felony SPAM conviction. “SPAM” refers to unsolicited bulk email sent by fraudulent means.    » read more »

Biden Legislation to Completely Eliminate the Unjust 100-to-1 Crack/Powder Sentencing Structure and Replace with 1-to-1 System

February 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC – At a hearing addressing the federal cocaine sentencing laws today, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) called for an end to the current crack/powder cocaine sentencing disparity. Currently, it takes 100 times more powder cocaine than crack to trigger the five- and ten-year mandatory minimum sentences under federal law.    » read more »

Death Penalty in Flawed Military Commissions Should Not Be an Option

Washington, DC, February 11, 2008 – The trials of six Guantanamo detainees being charged for their role in the September 11, 2001 attacks should be moved from the Guantanamo military commissions to US federal courts, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

Public Citizen Joins Lawsuit to Force Agency to Release Records

Feb. 11, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is flouting three court orders requiring it to regularly provide a nationally recognized researcher with the statistical data she needs for her studies, according to a court action brought today by the researcher.    » read more »

January 25, 2008 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today signed into law a package of criminal justice reforms that establishes a new felony offense of “home invasion” and significantly strengthens the state’s system for dealing with paroles.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is giving high praise today to the Utah Supreme Court for adopting the state’s first reporter privilege rule. The Utah Supreme Court adopted the draft of Rule 509 Reporter Privilege, a proposal that had been supported by the Attorney General. Shurtleff has been working with legislators, prosecutors, journalists and the Supreme Court for the past two and a half years to come up with a workable and reasonable rule that would allow reporters to protect confidential informants.    » read more »

January 24, 2008 -- The Georgia Supreme Court has denied Agri-Cycle, LLC’s latest bid to re-open a Jackson County waste processing facility that caught fire in early September 2007.    » read more »

January 15, 2008 -- OLYMPIA -- The Washington Attorney General’s Office filed an amicus, or friend of the court, brief yesterday in the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Snohomish County PUD (PUD) in its dispute with Morgan Stanley Capital Group Inc (Morgan Stanley) over its 2001 power contract.    » read more »

Statement of Michael Kirkpatrick, Attorney, Public Citizen

Jan. 11, 2008 -- In a decision released Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston has given air carriers a license to discriminate against passengers based upon their race or ethnicity.

In writing that safety takes precedence over civil rights, the court put its stamp of approval on racial profiling. We believe this decision opens the door for airlines to arbitrarily violate the rights of passengers.    » read more »

20 December 2007 -- A judge has issued a ruling in the 1998 bombing in the Northern Ireland town of Omagh. Defendant Sean Hoey, who faced 56 charges relating to a car bomb that killed 29 people and injured more than 200, has been found not guilty.

A stunned silence in the public gallery of Belfast Crown Court greeted the verdict in the worst bombing during three decades of so-called troubles in Northern Ireland. Electrician Sean Hoey, 38, was accused of being the principle bomb-maker in a group of conspirators.    » read more »

Keith Rogers Appointed to the Washington County Circuit Court

December 19, 2007 -- Salem – Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski today announced his appointment of Keith Rogers to the Washington County Circuit Court. Judge Rogers will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Tim Alexander, effective December 31, 2007.    » read more »

12/19/2007 -- Oklahoma’s Multicounty Grand Jury adjourned from its December session today after issuing one sealed indictment and a report, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

The indictment will be unsealed in Oklahoma County District Court at 9 a.m., Dec. 21 before Judge Kenneth Watson. That indictment names one person on 13 counts.    » read more »

December 19, 2007 -- ATLANTA – Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue announced today the appointment of Brian M. Rickman as the district attorney for the Mountain Judicial Circuit, comprised of Habersham, Rabun and Stephens Counties. The vacancy for this position was created by the resignation of Michael H. Crawford.

A brief biography is provided below:    » read more »