A box of the Fentanyl-based drug Subsys, made by Insys Therapeutics. Handout via REUTERS

A New York doctor has been sentenced to nearly five years behind bars because of his role in a kickback scheme that was centered around a potent fentanyl-based spray, Subsys. Jeffrey Goldstein 51, of New Rochelle, New York, was one of several doctors involved in a conspiracy that violated the... Read More »

Employees with Falcon Critical Care Transport remove a patient from Gateway Care and Rehabilitation on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, in Hayward, Calif. The facility currently has eleven COVID-19 related deaths with dozens of staff members and patients infected with the novel coronavirus.Yalonda M. James/The Chronicle

The federal government has joined a 2015 lawsuit filed by a whistleblower against a string of California skilled nursing homes. The lawsuit accuses the owner of several nursing homes of illegally participating in a kickback scheme that resulted in millions of dollars of fraudulently secured funds. The case came to... Read More »

jurors in court

In an attempt to prevent defense attorneys from scoping out information about prospective jurors on the Internet, one California court adopted the general procedure of withholding their names in felony cases. An appeals court ruled that such a general practice could violate a defendant’s constitutional rights and should only be... Read More »

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has repeatedly invoked the First Amendment to defend company policies.

The First Amendment protects free speech. However, the line becomes tricky when it comes to social media. Can social media platforms regulate what you say or is what you say on the platform protected by the First Amendment? Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. will take down any content... Read More »

Demonstrators in support of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), hold up ‘ACA is Here to Stay’ signs outside the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., file photo, June 25, 2015. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNBC)

The US Supreme Court has rejected a challenge by Republican state governors that would have invalidated the individual mandate included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare. The court ruled that the parties challenging the law lacked a legally required basis to sue, known as standing. This... Read More »

Protesters burn an American flag on the steps of the Colorado State Capitol on January 20, 2021.

On June 21, 1989, the Supreme Court voted to uphold a protestor’s right to burn the American flag for the sake of protesting. In the Texas v. Johnson case, the court voted 5-4 in favor of Gregory Lee Johnson, who burned the American flag during a protest at the Republican... Read More »

Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., file photo, April 26, 2021.

The idiom “timing is everything” maintains that success is directly related to when something happens. In the case of ex-President Trump’s defense in a defamation suit filed by one woman who is accusing him of rape, his timing may well lead to his success. Because Trump’s allegedly defamatory remarks were... Read More »

parents with kid drawing rainbow

In yet another decision that displays the justices’ commitment to protecting religious freedoms, the US Supreme Court ruled that the City of Philadelphia could not refuse to work with a Catholic agency that refused to place children with same-sex foster parents. The case, titled Fulton v. Catholic Social Services, was... Read More »

Jay-Z

Grammy award-winning Superstar Jay-Z is suing popular hip hop photographer Jonathan Mannion for selling iconic images and prints of the rapper. According to the lawsuit, Mannion is profiting off the image and likeness of the rapper without Jay-Z’s consent. Mannion first worked with Jay-Z after he photographed the cover of... Read More »

In this Sept. 16, 2015, photo, U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin III, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense. That's according to three people familiar with the decision who spoke on condition of anonymity because the selection hadn't been formally announced. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

In his opening remarks to the Senate Armed Services Committee on the President’s 2022 Budget Proposal, the nation’s new Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin, said that he has already received recommendations from an independent commission to address the horrific problems related to the sexual abuse of both women and... Read More »

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, convicted for carrying out the Boston Marathon bombing attack, file photo, April 19, 2013.

The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to reexamine the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in an effort to reinstate the death sentence for him. On April 15, 2013, Tsarnaev and his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev attacked the Boston community at the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon.... Read More »

O'Donnell has served in the position since 2002, and was the first openly gay man elected to the New York Assembly. (AP Photo/Hans Pennink via Patch)

The New York State Assembly has approved a critical bill titled the Gender Recognition Act. If approved by the governor, under this act, New York state residents who apply for a driver's license or renewal will now be able to select their “sex designation of M, F, or X as... Read More »

In this June 7, 2021, file photo, demonstrators at Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital in Baytown, Texas, wave at cars that honk at them to support their protest against a policy that says hospital employees must get vaccinated against COVID-19 or lose their jobs. A federal judge dismissed their lawsuit, saying if workers don’t like the rule, they can go find another job. (Yi-Chin Lee/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A Houston judge handed down a rather critical ruling in the case of hospital employees who filed suit after their hospital system mandated vaccinations for all its staff members. Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas, brought forth a mandate that stipulated all staff members would need to get the COVID-19... Read More »

Illegally possessed firearms seized by authorities are displayed during a news conference in Los Angeles in 2018.(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Some gun restrictions that are commonly in place around the country include background checks, restrictions on gun ownership for felons, and gun licensing. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is a phone system that a Federal Firearms Licensee (FFL) calls to do a background check on people who... Read More »

Still from a police dash cam shows a trooper walking around Janice Nicole Harper's overturned car on U.S. Highway 167 in Pulaski County, Ark., file photo, July 9, 2020.

Arkansas state police are facing a lawsuit after one of their own caused the vehicle of a pregnant woman to flip over during a traffic stop. On July 9, 2020, Nicole Harper, 38, was driving 84 miles per hour in a 70 mph zone along U.S. Highway 167 in Pulaski... Read More »