Latest National courts News
Appeals court upholds Tennessee's abortion waiting-period
A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld Tennessee's 48-hour waiting period for women seeking abortions, arguing that opponents had failed to identify instances where a woman had been significantly burdened by the requirement. The decision comes after a lower federal...
Jurisdictional question revived in suits over coastal loss
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The question of whether lawsuits blaming big oil companies for loss of vulnerable Louisiana coastal wetlands will be tried in state courts, as local parish governments want, or in federal courts, as the oil companies want, has been revived by a federal appeals panel. ...
Biden's new evictions moratorium faces doubts on legality
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden may have averted a flood of evictions and solved a growing political problem when his administration reinstated a temporary ban on evictions because of the COVID-19 crisis. But he left his lawyers with legal arguments that even he acknowledges might...
Brooks seeks immunity in Capitol violence lawsuit
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks is asking a federal judge to grant him immunity from a lawsuit accusing him of helping to incite violence at the U.S. Capitol, arguing he was performing his job duties when he spoke at a rally on Jan. 6. In a...
Biden nominates first LGBT federal appeals court nominee
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is nominating a Vermont judge who played a critical role in paving the way for the legalization of same-sex marriage to become the first openly LGBT woman to serve on any federal circuit court. The White House announced Thursday...
Vermont Supreme Court justice nominated to US appeals court
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A justice on the Vermont Supreme Court who played a role in the state's passage of the first-in-the-nation civil unions law has been nominated to a seat on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the White House announced Thursday. The announcement...
Italy wins US case as it seeks to reclaim marble statue
MILAN (AP) — Italy has won a legal victory in its bid to reclaim an ancient marble statue it asserted was stolen after it turned up in the possession of a New York antiquities dealer. A U.S. district court in New York on Monday threw out a suit seeking to lift Italy's...
Biden's new evictions moratorium faces legality doubts
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden may have averted a flood of evictions and solved a growing political problem when his administration reinstated a temporary ban on evictions because of the COVID-19 crisis. B ut he left his lawyers with legal arguments that even he acknowledges might...
Haaland hasn't made decision on Alaska refuge road issue
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has not decided the position she will take on a proposed land exchange aimed at building a road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska, a U.S. government attorney said Wednesday in arguing the position taken by Haaland's...
Judge rebukes Jan. 6 defendant, sentences him to time served
A federal judge on Wednesday assailed the false claims of election fraud pushed by former President Donald Trump and his supporters as she sentenced a member of the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 to time served, saying the Michigan man “placed his trust in someone who repaid...
