Courts

01/22/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointments of Ronald F. Frazier and Tamila E. Ipema to judgeships in the San Diego County Superior Court.    » read more »

01/22/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Christopher B. Marshall to a judgeship in the San Bernardino County Superior Court.    » read more »

01/22/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointment of Donald J. Proietti to a judgeship in the Merced County Superior Court.

Proietti, 54, of Merced, has served as a partner for Allen Proietti & Fagalde since 1983. He was previously an associate at the same firm from 1979 to 1982. Proietti earned a Juris Doctorate degree from the Thomas Jefferson School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arizona, Tucson. He fills one of the new positions created by Senate Bill 56. Proietti is a Democrat.

The compensation for this position is $178,789.

Source: California Governor

01/22/2009 -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the appointments of Huey P. Cotton, David S. Cunningham III, Victor H. Greenberg, Howard L. Halm, Maren E. Nelson, Michael Terrell and Geanene Yriarte to judgeships in the Los Angeles County Superior Court.    » read more »

January 22, 2009 -- MONTGOMERY - Alabama Governor Bob Riley on Thursday appointed Dothan attorney Lori Collier Ingram as Houston County District Court Judge.

“Lori Collier Ingram has considerable experience and is highly regarded in the legal profession for her work ethic and qualifications. I am confident she will serve with distinction as district court judge,” Governor Riley said in announcing her appointment.

Ingram has worked as an attorney since she received her law degree in 1987 from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University in Birmingham. She is a member of the Houston County Bar Association, the Alabama State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.    » read more »

August 06, 2008 -- Chicago, IL -- Below is a statement from Senator Obama on Today's Military Commission Verdict in the Hamdan Case:

"I commend the military officers who presided over this trial and served on the hearing panel under difficult and unprecedented circumstances. They and all our Armed Forces continue to serve this country with valor in the fight against terrorism.    » read more »

NEW YORK, Aug. 12, 2008 –The American Bar Association’s House of Delegates approved recommendations relating to expanding military members’ access to the courts, encouraging bipartisan commissions to evaluate prospective judicial candidates and urging the U.S. government to expand its interaction with the International Criminal Court. The House, the ABA’s policy-making body, met during the final two days of the Association’s Annual Meeting in New York City.    » read more »

Washington -- 23 June 2008 -- A U.S. federal appeals court has struck down the U.S. military's classification of a Guantanamo Bay detainee as an enemy combatant. This is the first time the U.S. court system has overruled the Bush administration's designation of a detainee since the Guantanamo facility began operations in early 2002.

Guantanamo protesters, Barcelona: Photo by Quim (CC)    » read more »

May 15, 2008 -- Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement on the California Supreme Court decision to overturn the state's anti-marriage ban:

"The Supreme Court of California today took a step forward in the long march toward protecting equal rights under the law for every American. This should not be a matter of politics or partisanship; it is a matter of protecting the rights and dignity of all American families."

Source: DNC

May 14, 2008 -- Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today, in an appeal filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, is seeking to uphold a provision of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act that bars the federal government from imposing unreimbursed costs on towns and cities.

The appeal seeks to recover hundreds of millions of dollars that Connecticut towns and cities are being forced to spend - illegally, without federal reimbursement - in order to comply with NCLB.

Blumenthal is appealing from the U.S. District Court, which declined to rule on the actual merits of his case. Blumenthal has asked the court to uphold that the Unfunded Mandates Provision under NCLB means what it says it means:    » read more »

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 »