Court Throws Out Death Penalty for Slayer of Three
The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered a new sentencing for a death row inmate convicted of killing his girlfriend and her two young children around the holidays in 2006. Justices on Thursday upheld James Aaron Miller’s murder conviction but ordered that he be resentenced. Miller was convicted of killing Bridgette Barr, 5-year-old Sydney Barr and [...]
Religious College Group May Have to Admit Gays for Funding
The United States Supreme court is pondering if a College Christian group at a California Law School has to admit homosexuals and non-believers in order to gain campus status. The case was brought to the attention of the US Supreme court after a chapter of the Christian Legal Society at the University of California’s Hastings [...]
Courts Revisit Miranda Warnings, Possible Re-write
A Florida Supreme Court is looking over the famous Miranda warnings this week in order to ensure that officers of the law explicitly state that criminal suspects can have lawyer present ruing interrogations. The Miranda laws currently state that criminals have the ability to have a lawyer present but in what capacity and during what [...]
Court Refuses to Revive Student Speech Case
The Supreme Court has refused to revive a case in which a high school student’s speech was halted because it contained religious themes. The high court refused to hear an appeal from Erica Corder on Monday. Erica was punished in 2006 for her speech at the Lewis-Palmer High School graduation ceremony. Her speech was screened [...]
Supreme Court Rejects Case Involving Religious Speech Delivered at Shcool
A student who complained that her constitutional right to free speech was violated when a school turned her microphone off during her graduation speech, will not be able to bring her case to the Supreme Court. A federal appeals court had already ruled against valedictorian Brittany McComb of Henderson, Nev. who challenged the actions of [...]
Supreme Court to Look at Life Sentences for Juveniles
The Supreme Court is deliberating on whether sentencing a juvenile to life in prison with no chance of parole is cruel and unusual punishment. Their considerations are focused particularly on cases where the crime was a homicide. The cases, which were heard on Monday, involve two convicted men from Florida. They were sentenced to live [...]
Supreme Court Tosses Student’s Religious Speech Appeal
The Supreme Court recently rejected an appeal from a student whose microphone was turned off during her religious high school graduation speech. The justices said on Monday that they will not hear a lawsuit filed by Brittany McComb of Henderson, Nevada, which challenged the actions of school officials from Clark County. A federal appeals court [...]
Justice O’Connor’s Husband Dies at age 79
The husband of retired United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, John J. O’Connor III died Wednesday from complications related to Alzheimer’s Disease. The 79-year-old lawyer died in Phoenix Arizona after two decades of deterioration from the disease. Married in 1952, the O’Connor’s were a well known Washington couple who enjoyed the social scene [...]
Life in Prison Deemed Cruel and Unusual Punishment for Juveniles
The Supreme Court is examining the case of two Florida convicts who were given a life without parole sentence for non-homicide related crimes. The young men in question were both sent away to prison when they were in their teens. Attorneys fro the men argue that it would be considered cruel and unusual punishment to sentence [...]
Booksellers say Law Protecting Kids Goes Too Far
The Supreme Court of Ohio heard arguments on Tuesday in a case that pitted defenders of online child protection against advocates of free speech. This is one of the longest-running cases that wrestles with how states protect minors from pornography and predators on the internet without stepping on the rights of adults. Two federal laws [...]