Latest Statutes News

Wisconsin court: Sex trafficking can be defense for homicide
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A woman accused of killing a man can argue at trial that she was justified because he was sexually trafficking her, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in a decision that could help define the limits of legal immunity for trafficking victims nationwide. ...
Louisiana asks court to allow abortion ban enforcement
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana's Supreme Court has been asked to allow enforcement of Louisiana's ban on most abortions, Attorney General Jeff Landry's office said Tuesday. A north Louisiana abortion clinic and other abortion rights advocates are arguing against Landry's request. ...

High court marshal seeks enforcement of anti-picketing laws
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court has asked Maryland and Virginia officials to enforce laws she says prohibit picketing outside the homes of the justices who live in the two states. “For weeks on end, large groups of protesters chanting slogans, using...

Abortion ruling prompts variety of reactions from states
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that had provided a constitutional right to abortion. The ruling is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, although the timing of those laws taking effect varies. Some Republican-led...

Post-Roe, states struggle with conflicting abortion bans
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — In Arizona, Republicans are fighting among themselves over whether a 121-year-old anti-abortion law from the pre-statehood Wild West days, when Arizona was still a frontier mining territory, should be enforced over a 2022 version. In Idaho, meanwhile, it is not...

International Criminal Court marks 20th anniversary
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court marked the 20th anniversary of its establishment Friday as its prosecutors probed war crimes in countries around the world, including what one expert called a “make or break” investigation in Ukraine. The court,...

FBI opens sweeping probe of clergy sex abuse in New Orleans
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The FBI has opened a widening investigation into sex abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in New Orleans going back decades, a rare federal foray into such cases looking specifically at whether priests took children across state lines to molest them, officials and others familiar...

Wisconsin's Democratic AG sues to block state's abortion ban
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin's Democratic attorney general filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging the state's 173-year-old abortion ban, arguing that statutes passed in the 1980s supersede the ban and it's so old that modern generations never consented to it. Wisconsin passed a law...
Text from Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade
The Associated Press is making available the full text of the Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the nationwide right to abortion: Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court. Abortion presents a profound moral issue on which Americans hold sharply conflicting...

Supreme Court limits reach of federal gun crime law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the reach of a federal statute that requires stiff penalties for crimes involving a gun. The 7-2 decision united both conservative and liberal justices, though one dissenting justice compared the result to "Alice in...
