Chris Geidner
Chief Justice Likely Helped Set Stage For Nationwide Marriage Equality Decision
Chief Justice John Roberts likely played a key role in the October 2014 Supreme Court decision not to hear the first batch of marriage cases, a move that paved the way for a much less dramatic showdown the following year when the justices ruled for marriage equality.
Chris Geidner
Obama Administration Asks Supreme Court To Take Up Immigration Case
"If left undisturbed, that ruling will allow States to frustrate the federal government’s enforcement of the Nation’s immigration laws," the Justice Department writes in asking for Supreme Court review. [Update: Texas officials are seeking delay on filing their response to the request, a move which, if granted, could push the case into the fall.]
Chris Geidner
How The WWII Internment Camps Actually Happened
The program, found to be legal at the time, was later called a "national mistake." It began with an executive order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942.
Chris Geidner
Feds Push Back On Governors Over Syrian Refugees
Governors lack any real control over placement decisions in the "federal program carried out under the authority of federal law," as federal officials said Tuesday, but those governors could nonetheless frustrate efforts at resettlement within their borders.
Chris Geidner
Justices Asked To Take Up Case Of Lesbian Parent's Adoption Rights
In September, the Alabama Supreme Court held that an adoption granted years earlier in Georgia to a same-sex couple was "void." One of the women's lawyers calls the decision "glaringly, clearly wrong," and they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take up her appeal.
Chris Geidner
More Than Half Of U.S. Governors Say Syrian Refugees Not Welcome Now
Governors in 31 states have all said they will stop or otherwise oppose accepting additional Syrian refugees in their states at this time.
Kyle Blaine
Supreme Court To Hear Case Over Texas Abortion Provider Restrictions
A decision is expected by June 2016.
Chris Geidner
Ohio Man Arrested For Alleged Support Of Radical Islamist Groups On Social Media
Terrence McNeil, 25, was arrested on charges of soliciting the murder of members of the U.S. military after posting pro-jihad messages on Twitter and Tumblr and reblogging a post calling for the death of American military personnel.
Ellie Hall
The Death Penalty In America: A Breakdown
These are the five key issues that are framing the argument over America's complex relationship with capital punishment.
Brianna Sacks
The Most Ambitious Effort Yet To Abolish The Death Penalty Is Already Happening
Derided this spring as “guerrilla warfare” by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the death penalty abolition movement is coming out into the open. The 8th Amendment Project’s leaders talk with BuzzFeed News about why — and how they plan to win.
Chris Geidner
Supreme Court Halts Execution Of Man With Claim Related To Brain Loss
Ernest Lee Johnson, who murdered three people in 1994, had asked the Supreme Court to stop his execution on Tuesday, saying Missouri's lethal injection drugs put him at risk of having a seizure because of his brain tumor and defects.
Tasneem Nashrulla
Supreme Court Questions How To Handle Jury Selection Discrimination Case
Questions of procedure bogged down nearly half of the hour-long arguments.
Chris Geidner
Nebraska Paid Outside Lawyer To Register Overseas Execution Drug Supplier With FDA
Nebraska has hired Ben England, who also has been hired by other states, to help it import drugs for use in executions. In documents confirming his work for Nebraska, England also is listed as the U.S. agent for the drug salesman in India who has been the subject of ongoing BuzzFeed News reporting.
Chris McDaniel
Obama And Democrats Fundraise At A Performance Of "Hamilton"
The Democratic National Committee is not throwing away its shot to cash in on Broadway's hottest ticket. The top ticket is costing donors $10,000 for two seats and a photo with President Obama.
Chris Geidner
There's No Evidence In Clinton White House Documents For Clintons' Story On Anti-Gay Law
Talking to people about the Defense of Marriage Act today — in a political climate that is much more supportive of LGBT rights — is very different than examining what those people actually wrote and discussed in 1996.
Chris Geidner
Obama Administration Supports Transgender Student In Federal Appeals Court
On Wednesday night, the Justice Department filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting a transgender student barred by his school from using the restroom that corresponds with his gender identity.
Chris Geidner
Lawyers Claim Death Penalty Prosecutor Said He Wanted To Cut Their Throats
Defense lawyers say Louisiana prosecutor Dale Cox made the comments during a murder trial in Caddo Parish. Cox acknowledged he wanted "to cold cock all three of them."
Chris Geidner
Florida Executes Man For 1985 Quadruple Murder
Jerry Correll, who killed four people, including his 5-year-old daughter, was executed by lethal injection after the Supreme Court declined to intervene.
Tasneem Nashrulla
Ohio Can Shield Execution Drug Suppliers From Death Row Inmates, Federal Judge Rules
The ruling, which is expected to be appealed in short order, comes after Ohio has put off executions until 2017.
Chris Geidner
States Lawyer Up, Looking To Find A Way To Buy Execution Drugs From Overseas
Texas, Ohio, and Arizona corrections officials all have hired private lawyers to try to find a way around the FDA, current law, and a federal court order in order to import execution drugs from overseas.
Chris Geidner
