U.S.: Navigating the immigration court system in the rural mountain West

NPR News: "The backlog in U.S. immigration courts is now over 850,000 cases long. People can wait years for their hearings. And that can be a long time to pay for a lawyer and to make appearances in court. Both of these things can be much harder for immigrants living in rural and mountainous parts of the West."

U.S.: Longest-running housing discrimination case outlives judge

ABC Fox Montana News: "A federal judge who worked until his recent death at age 96 left a historic trail of groundbreaking legal opinions. But one case outlived Damon Keith: the longest-running housing discrimination lawsuit in the United States."

Lake Region Bar Association holds Law Day event

The Lake Region Bar Association held a Law Day event at the Lake Region Heritage Museum May 1. Fourth, fifth and sixth graders from Tate Topa Tribal School in Fort Totten, Sweetwater Elementary School in Devils Lake and Starkweather Public School performed a mock trial and deliberated as jurors in the historic federal courtroom.

Nation: Study examines how tribes have used treaty rights to successfully halt energy development

University of Kansas: "A University of Kansas law professor has written a study analyzing seven cases in which treaty rights have been upheld in courts or administrative bodies and prevented energy development in areas with legal ties to tribes opposed to the projects."

U.S.: Seat reclining dispute aboard flight from MSP ends in legal thicket

MPR News: "On July 9, 2015, two passengers had a heated argument aboard a Delta Airlines flight from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. It started when Monique Lozoya tried to recline her seat and the passenger behind her, Oded Wolff, traveling with his wife, jostled the seatback."

Conference of Chief Justices adopts guidelines to make family courts work for the families they serve

News Release: "In an important step toward making family courts more user-friendly and less adversarial, the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) has adopted new guidelines to help courts evolve to meet changing needs and expectations.

With Washington victory, the 'necessity defense' for environmental protesters is gathering steam

Legal News Line: "A Washington appeals court’s decision to overturn the conviction of a man who claims he had no choice but to break into a pipeline facility to save the planet from global warming represents the most important endorsement yet of a legal strategy that once was considered impossible."

N.D. Attorney General opinions: April 11

Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued an opinion that the City of Dickinson violated the open records laws because it did not provide records within a reasonable time and that the City of Arnegard violated the law by holding committee meetings without providing public notice.

Nation: Beware of even the fine print, attorneys warn of ALI's insurance law Restatement

PennRecord: "The industry should be wary of more than just the main points in the American Law Institute's project on insurance liability law, because danger also lurks in the comments section, said several panelists at a University of Connecticut Law School conference."

Mountain West tribes and states join Indian Child Welfare Act lawsuit

Wyoming Public Media: "So far, 325 tribes and states, including Montana, Idaho, Utah and Colorado, have joined forces to preserve a law that gives Native families preference in adoption of Native children. Texas, Indiana and Louisiana argue the Indian Child Welfare Act creates a special and unequal status for Native children that's unconstitutional."

Nation: 3 months into new criminal justice law, success for some and snafus for others

Wyoming Public Media: "After spending 15 years in prison for a drug offense, Randy Rader had almost lost hope that he might get out of prison before his release date in 2023. If Rader's conviction for 5 grams of crack cocaine — his third drug offense — had happened after 2010, he would have received a much shorter sentence."

Calif.: Single mom wins $153K in child support 50 years after divorce

ABC News: "A California woman was finally awarded child support 50 years after her ex-husband moved to Canada without making any of the court-ordered payments."

U.S. court: Cop can’t stop driver for flipping him off

MPR News: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit was short and to the point in ruling this week that giving the finger to a cop is free speech and you can’t be pulled over for doing so."

U.S.: Judicial Conference approves package of workplace conduct reforms

News Release: "The federal Judiciary’s national policy-making body [March 12] approved a package of workplace conduct-related amendments stating the obligations of judges and Judiciary employees to report reliable information likely to constitute misconduct."

U.S.: Appeals court to hear Native American child welfare case

Winona Daily News: "A federal law that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption proceedings involving Native American children is facing the most significant legal challenge since it was enacted more than 40 years ago."

Nation: Tougher law-school sanctions could come later this spring

Arizona Republic: "The accrediting body for the nation's law schools continues to consider setting tougher standards for schools where too many graduates fail the bar exam. Even as they do, more schools are reviewing their own passage rates and changing the data they report about their graduates."