Courts

PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY, Md. — A bill pending in the Maryland General Assembly to broaden public access to remote viewing of criminal court proceedings is gaining notoriety with support from singer-songwriter Fiona Apple. Apple has joined with the nonprofit group... Read More

BATON ROUGE, La. — A federal judge struck down Louisiana’s newly adopted congressional district map, ruling it must be redrawn to include a second district that gives Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. U.S. District... Read More

ATLANTA, Ga. —  A Florida law intended to punish social media companies from allegedly barring conservative politicians from their platforms is unconstitutional, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday. “Put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can’t tell... Read More

WASHINGTON — Puerto Rico’s five-year struggle to free itself from crushing debt ended Tuesday when a federal judge signed off on the U.S. territory’s bankruptcy plan. The restructuring cuts Puerto Rico’s public debt from $33 billion to just over $7.4... Read More

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina’s 2022 primary election will be moved from March to May to allow lawsuits over the alleged gerrymandering of congressional and state legislative districts to play out in the court, the state Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.... Read More

MIAMI, Fla. - Three individuals and two companies have been permanently enjoined from operating an international mail fraud scheme offering unwary consumers psychic, clairvoyant or astrological services, the Justice Department said on Friday. Robert Lhez, Mireille Dayer and Julie Poulleau,... Read More

NEW YORK (AP) — The October illegal campaign contribution trial of an associate of Rudy Giuliani — and a guilty plea set to occur this week by a second associate — puts a spotlight on Giuliani as a criminal probe... Read More

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Pandemic restrictions on Florida-based cruise ships will remain in place after a federal appeals court temporarily blocked a previous ruling that sided with a Florida lawsuit challenging the regulations. The one-paragraph decision by a three-judge... Read More

WASHINGTON — States that claim changes by the U.S. Postal Service will threaten mail-in voting failed again to get an independent monitor appointed to observe the agency's compliance with a court order. U.S. District Judge Gerald Austin McHugh in Philadelphia on Wednesday denied a request from Pennsylvania's attorney general, Josh... Read More

WASHINGTON - Two of three judges on a Washington appeals court appeared skeptical of President Donald Trump's renewed efforts to prevent accounting firm Mazars USA LLP from turning over his financial records to House Democrats. At a hearing Tuesday before the U.S. Court of Appeals, two judges appointed by... Read More

WASHINGTON - Judges and lawmakers at a congressional hearing Thursday left little doubt that Internet video and teleconferencing will become permanent parts of court proceedings soon. They described the emergency procedures instituted to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic as an... Read More

WASHINGTON – Guidelines announced last week for reopening U.S. federal courts are likely to leave the nation’s biggest cities as late-comers.  The guidelines from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts depend heavily on conditions of the epidemic in each... Read More

WASHINGTON - Free speech advocates are expressing concern that criminal proceedings being held by closed circuit video during the coronavirus pandemic threaten to cut off the people’s right to know what’s happening in federal and state courts. A federal judiciary... Read More

WASHINGTON - The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts has directed federal courts across the nation to conduct a search for surplus medical supplies after two Florida courts discovered such stockpiles and donated them to local hospitals. Employees in the... Read More

A state appeals court in Wisconsin said this week it intends to stay out of a closely watched legal dispute over the planned purging of up to 209,000 from voter rolls in the battleground state. The District 4 Appeals Court,... Read More

WASHINGTON — A U.S. appeals court in Washington denied President Donald Trump’s request that it reconsider an earlier three-judge panel ruling refusing to quash a demand by House Democrats for records at Trump’s accountants Mazars USA LLP. Congress issued the... Read More

Intellectual property policies could get a major court test this year as a real estate services company appeals a massive $706 million judgment that it stole trade secrets from a San Francisco-headquartered REtech company. At the dispute’s onset, the jury... Read More

WASHINGTON - Federal prosecutors accused a high-powered Washington, D.C. lawyer in court this week of engaging in illegal foreign lobbying by helping to craft a report critical of the Ukraine’s former prime minister. Gregory Craig, White House counsel during the... Read More

WASHINGTON - A federal judge on Friday tossed a Trump administration policy that would only allow migrants who enter the country through legal ports of entry to apply for asylum. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama... Read More

A federal judge on Friday night reinstated an Obama-era ban on oil-and-gas drilling in vast swaths of the Arctic Ocean, holding President Donald Trump exceeded his authority in attempting to overturn it. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason... Read More