Recent Updates

  • Partisan letters cost long-serving Alaska magistrate his job

    Partisan letters cost long-serving Alaska magistrate his job

    Court Watch 01/11/2022

    The longest serving magistrate in Alaska is no longer on the bench after writing letters to the editor critical of the Republican party. Former Seward Magistrate George Peck wrote four letters to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News, the latest in ...

  • Cobb County jury trials paused as COVID-19 spreads

    Cobb County jury trials paused as COVID-19 spreads

    Court Watch 01/08/2022

    As COVID-19 cases continue rising across the state of Georgia, the court system in one of its counties has decided to pause jury trials. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert D. Leonard issued an order Monday to cancel trial jurors through Jan. 21,...

  • Judges send Tyson workers’ virus lawsuit back to state court

    Judges send Tyson workers’ virus lawsuit back to state court

    Court Watch 01/03/2022

    A federal appeals court has ruled that Tyson Foods can’t claim it was operating under the direction of the federal government when it tried to keep its processing plants open as the coronavirus spread rapidly within them during the early days o...

  • US Senate confirms Menendez as federal judge in Minnesota

    US Senate confirms Menendez as federal judge in Minnesota

    Court Watch 12/20/2021

    U.S. Magistrate Judge Kate M. Menendez has been confirmed by the Senate to fill Minnesota’s federal court vacancy, the state’s two senators announced over the weekend. Menendez was nominated by President Joe Biden in September. She appear...

  • Supreme Court rejects appeal over press access in Wisconsin

    Supreme Court rejects appeal over press access in Wisconsin

    Court Watch 12/13/2021

    The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a conservative think tank over Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to exclude the group’s writers from press briefings. The justices acted without comment Monday, leaving in place lower court rulings th...

  • Court won’t stop Texas abortion ban, but lets clinics sue

    Court won’t stop Texas abortion ban, but lets clinics sue

    Court Watch 12/10/2021

    The Supreme Court on Friday left in place Texas’ ban on most abortions, offering only a glimmer of daylight for clinics in the state to challenge the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. The decision, little more than a week after the ...

  • Washington seeks over $38 billion from opioid distributors

    Washington seeks over $38 billion from opioid distributors

    Court Watch 11/16/2021

    After rejecting a half-billion-dollar settlement, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday took the state’s case against the nation’s three biggest drug distributors to trial, saying they must be held accountable for their role ...

  • Appellate court sets hearing in South Carolina abortion case

    Appellate court sets hearing in South Carolina abortion case

    Court Watch 10/12/2021

    An appellate court is set to debate a lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s abortion law about a week after the U.S. Supreme Court considers a similar measure in Mississippi. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has tentatively calendared the S...

  • Oklahoma court declines to bar duo from death penalty case

    Oklahoma court declines to bar duo from death penalty case

    Court Watch 09/12/2021

    The Oklahoma Supreme Court has rejected a request to remove two members of the state’s Pardon and Parole Board from a high-profile death penalty case. The court’s brief ruling on Friday denied a prosecutor’s request to remove Adam L...

  • Court tosses ruling against Pennsylvania COVID-19 measures

    Court tosses ruling against Pennsylvania COVID-19 measures

    Court Watch 08/11/2021

    A federal appeals court has dismissed a judge’s ruling that threw out Gov. Tom Wolf’s sweeping COVID-19 restrictions, saying the issue is now moot because statewide mitigation measures have expired and Pennsylvania voters have since const...

  • Order: Mississippi judges have discretion for COVID safety

    Order: Mississippi judges have discretion for COVID safety

    Court Watch 08/07/2021

    Mississippi judges have the power to delay trials, limit the number of spectators in courtrooms or take other steps to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the leader of the state Supreme Court says in an emergency order. Chief Justice Michael Randolp...

  • Nepal’s Supreme Court reinstates dissolved lower house

    Nepal’s Supreme Court reinstates dissolved lower house

    Court Watch 07/12/2021

    Nepal’s Supreme Court reinstated the House of Representatives on Monday and upheld the leader of the opposition’s claim to be the new prime minister. The 167-page court order removes Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli, who had been running ...