National News
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U.S.: Case of bungled pot raid on tomato-loving family revived anew
Courthouse News Service: "The bizarre case of a Kansas sheriff’s department that mistook tomato plants and loose-leaf tea for evidence of a marijuana grow and accordingly launched a SWAT-style raid on an innocent suburban family will return to a lower court for a third crack at a judgment." -
Celebrating 230 Years of the U.S. Courts
U.S. Courts News Release: "On [Sept. 24, 1789], President George Washington signed the Judiciary Act of 1789 establishing a federal court system separate from state courts. The 230-year-old act set forth a three-tier federal court structure of one Supreme Court and two levels of inferior courts." -
Nation: 39 states show decreases in prison populations
ABC News: "The renewed interest in criminal justice reform is having an impact in a real way, experts say. A recent report shows that 39 states had decreases in their prison populations from 2009 to 2017." -
Nation: 'FACT' teams aim to keep people with mental illness out of jail
MPR News: "When someone is experiencing a mental health crisis, often the only alternatives are jail or an emergency room. Neither of those alternatives is particularly helpful, and sometimes they can make a person’s condition worse." -
The Constitution Annotated: The Constitution explained in plain English
To celebrate this year's Constitution Day, the Law Library of Congress is launching the Constitution Annotated, a website that provides online access to a massive Senate document that has served for more than a century as the official record of the U.S. Constitution. -
U.S.: Court cuts jury award, warns Steinbeck family to end litigation
KTLA News: "A federal appeals court attempted to close the book on endless litigation between the relatives of author John Steinbeck in a ruling that upheld a $5 million verdict against his daughter-in-law, but threw out $8 million she faced in punitive damages." -
Feds decline to adopt protections for Yellowstone bison
Courthouse News Service: "The federal government has decided there will be no review of the Yellowstone National Park bison to be considered for federal protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on Thursday." -
ABA releases new formal ethics opinion
The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility has released Formal Opinion 488 on judges’ social or close personal relationships with lawyers or parties as grounds for disqualification or disclosure. -
U.S.: Watched case on taxpayer access to courts won’t be reheard
Bloomberg News: "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit won’t review the dismissal of a lawsuit against IRS efforts to combat micro-captive transactions, in a case raising major questions about when tax rules can be challenged in court." -
Revered from left and right, she’ll soon be Canada’s longest-serving judge
Los Angeles Times: "Newspaper publisher Conrad Black, who disagrees with just about everything she does and believes, says, 'she would get my vote as an ecumenical saint.' Alan Dershowitz, who disagrees with only most of what she does and believes, says he would 'trade her for two American Supreme Court justices.'"