U.S. Court of Appeals

[UPDATE]: Prop 8 and DOMA Head To The Supreme Court

UPDATE: According to the New York Times, the Supreme Court agreed this afternoon to decide on the constitutionality of the Proposition 8 appeal and the Defense of Marriage Act.It is, arguably, the most significant social battle in America's courts since Roe v. Wade or even Brown v. the Board of Educ ... More >>

DOMA Unconstitutional, Rules New York Appeals Court. But It's Not Dead -- Yet

The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York ruled today that parts of the Clinton-era Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) are unconstitutional because they discriminate against same-sex couples.But don't get your hopes up just yet -- the issue of DOMA's constitutionality will li ... More >>

Scientology Wins Appeal In Lawsuit Alleging Forced Labor and Forced Abortions

California's federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today posted its affirmation of a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit against the Church of Scientology brought by two of its former employees, Marc and Claire Headley. The Headleys had worked at Scientology's International Base near Hemet ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Ban Doesn't Hurt Disabled, Court Says

More weed news from the West Coast: A federal court in California just ruled 2-1 that cities can ban medical marijuana dispensaries -- and that doing so doesn't violate the Americans With Disabilities Act. As detailed by the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco's Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appea ... More >>

Yetta Kurland Chats with the Voice on WWRL About the Big, Fat Gay Marriage Week [AUDIO]

With advances in same-sex marriage equality on the march in the states of Washington, Maryland and New Jersey, this week could possibly shape up to be as historically gay as last week was for the institution of marriage. To discuss what all of this state-by-state activity meant for same-sex couple ... More >>

BREAKING: Ninth Circuit Rules California's Prop 8 Unconstitutional

By a vote of two to one, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just ruled that California's Proposition is unconstitutional. Simply put: even though more Californians voted for Prop 8 than not, that proposition was a violation of the constitution of the United States of America, according to the ... More >>

Christine Quinn, Activists Address The Stonewall Inn After Prop 8 Ruling

Marriage equality supporters gather outside of the Stonewall Inn tonight to hail the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that California's Proposition 8 is unconstitutional. There were many of the same people present who were at a rally the first time a federal court ruled the California voter ref ... More >>

Religious Leaders and Electeds Protest Mike Bloomberg in the Rain Prior to State of the City

The rain didn't stop a group of religious leaders and elected officials from rallying outside Morris High School in the Bronx today before the mayor's State of the City speech. Around 100 protestors were fenced in a block away from the school chanting under a sea of umbrellas. They had trekked to th ... More >>

California Supreme Court Grants Standing in Prop 8 Case to Opponents of Same-Sex Marriage

​The California Supreme Court ruled today that opponents who sued to appeal U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's 2010 ruling, which found Prop 8 to be unconstitutional, have "standing" to do so. Walker's ruling in the case Perry v. Schwarzenegger would have, effectively, allowed same-sex marri ... More >>

Al Qaeda Stockpiling Toxin; Warren Weinstein Kidnapped in Pakistan; Health Care Bill Hiccup

Castor bean flower, via Wikipedia​The New York Times says Al Qaeda's branch in Yemen is stockpiling castor beans in an attempt to manufacture ricin, a harmful toxin, to use in America. According to the report, the terrorist cell wants to "secretly concoct batches of the poison, pack them aroun ... More >>

Barack Obama Tries to Reinstate Don't Ask, Don't Tell Yet Again Before Ending It

​Although the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the United States government to immediately halt Don't Ask, Don't Tell, military recruiters across the nation seem to be dragging their feet, and Obama's Justice Department has asked the court for a stay on their order "by the close of busin ... More >>

Rich People Love Fast-Food; It's Been a Good Year for Maine Lobster

​A U.S. Appeals Court upheld a lower court ruling allowing Starbucks to end its distribution agreement with Kraft. [BusinessWeek] Rich people are eating out more at fast-food restaurants. It turns out some people with six-figure salaries would rather spend their money on Jimmy Choos than dinn ... More >>

Stay Lifted on Prop. 8 Decision: Gays in California Can Marry As of August 18

Judge Vaughn Walker will lift his temporary stay on last week's decision declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional. However, as Joe My God notes, the stay won't expire until August 18. But after then, California will again become one of the few states where gay and lesbian couples can marry, at least ... More >>

Inmate Gets Pregnant in Rikers, Sparking Investigation

​Staff writer Graham Rayman also contributed reporting to this story. Law enforcement officials are investigating how a female inmate got pregnant while being held at Rikers Island, the Voice has learned. After the pregnancy was discovered by a doctor, officials transferred the woman to a qu ... More >>

President Obama in Search of a Justice "Who Respects Women's Rights"

​President Obama said today that he "has no abortion litmus test" in selecting a replacement for Justice John Paul Stevens and that he "wants to make sure any nominee he picks respects individual rights, including women's rights," reports the New York Times.

The Newspaper Rack Victory: One Small Step for Print, One Giant Leap for Spare Change

​Eat a dick, Hudson News.

Jockbeat: Judge says Feds Improperly Obtained Steroid Data, Just As We've Been Saying All Along

​   Though it was related to page 70 in this morning's Daily News, Wednesday's decision by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is going to have a huge impact on future reporting of performance enhancing drugs.   Essentially the 9-2 vote means that the federal agents who sei ... More >>

Court: Times Can't Have Spitzer Sex Scandal Wiretap Info

The New York Times has lost its bid to obtain wiretap information related to former Governor Eliot Spitzer's involvement in the Emperor's Club prostitution ring. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Friday that general journalistic or public interest -- what the Times argued was the basis fo ... More >>

Court Rejects Appeal of Term Limits Case; Bloomberg Still In

Another term limits extension challenge has been defeated: Yesterday the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to intervene in a suit against Mayor Bloomberg's third term shenanigans. This was an appeal of a lower court ruling against the suit earlier this month. As Elizabeth Dwoskin reported ... More >>

Justice Denies: Feds won't stop Bloomie's term limits coup

Yesterday afternoon, the Justice Department shot down one of the last legal challenges to Mayor Mike Bloomberg's controversial term limits extension. In a fifty-page appeal, lawmakers and civil rights groups had asked the federal government last month to consider the term limits extension a violatio ... More >>

Judge: Fast Food Calorie Board Law Doesn't Violate Free Speech

Photo (cc) pnoeric. You probably find those calorie counts in chain restaurants, displayed by a local law last year, to be helpful or at least horrifying (670 calories in a Venti Double Chocolaty Chip Frappuccino Blended Creme?). But libertarians hate them and dream of returning to the caveat empt ... More >>

Crooked Cops Eppolito and Caracappa Get Re-Convicted

Habeas Corpus Edges Bush Regime, 2-1

The Best and Worst of Sex 2005

Tristan's annual roundup of 12 months of foot fetishes, male prostitutes, and porn-bashing

On Rumsfeld's Watch

A PBS documentary names U.S. torture commanders

After Miers: Bush Needs to Reunite His Base

A list of strategic picks for Supreme Court

John Roberts v. One French Fry

Beneath his black robes, what does Roberts reveal of his values as a human being?

Pulling Up Lame

Loser versus loser: Handicapping the coming Supreme Court vacancies

New York Times v. Janice Rogers Brown

Black woman nominated to a high federal appellate court is still scandalized

Letters

Political Prisoners

Minorities struggle to break free of felon voting bans

A Torturous Test for Bush's Judge Picks

How Bad a Year?

Music biz recovery means suing and firing more people

A Judge's Life: The Final Reckoning

'Look at the Justice System From a Black Perspective'

Bush's Vanished Prisoner

He Wonders Whether He Will See the Light of Day Again

Who Made George W. Bush Our King?

He Can Designate Any of Us an Enemy Combatant

Redefining the Center

Liberal Decisions From a Conservative Court

How Much Diversity Is Enough?

Does a White Mother on Welfare Count?

Liberty's Court of Last Resort

Nobody Knows Hamdi's Own Story

A Citizen Shorn of All Rights

A Case Vital to Future Americans, Too

License to Ill

God Is Not in the Constitution

The Government Cannot Endorse Any or All Religions

Court Jousters

A Small Cartel of Conservative Lawyers Rewrites the American Rule

Nation

The Wrong Man Gets a Second Chance

A Decision Protecting All Defendants

Dream of a Worldwide Truce

Abortion Foes Join Florida Legal Fray

Big-Time Lawyer Files Suit in Federal Court

The Clinton-Reno Rule of Law

With a May 11 Court Date, Why the Rush?

How Free Can Speech Be?

The Names of Murdered Doctors Are Crossed Out

Cheryl Hopwood vs. State of Texas

Sixteen of the Admitted Blacks Had Lower Scores Than the Rejected Whites