Before he became Postmaster General; before he removed thousands of mailboxes and sorting machines to prevent mail-in voting; before he abolished overtime pay; and before he raised the price of a single postage stamp to 58 cents, Louis DeJoy was running a company in North Carolina. Now, the campaign contributions... Read More »
The perpetual battle between landlords and tenants reached the Supreme Court on June 3 when a group of Alabama realtors asked the Chief Justice to use the court’s “shadow docket” to remove the stay pending appeal of a case that could decide the legality of the COVID-19-related eviction ban that... Read More »
In a battle of the statutes regarding the award of treble damages to a 14-year-old sexual assault victim by a school employee, the school district won. The court found the award to be punitive rather than compensatory and ruled that since the school is a public entity entitled to sovereign... Read More »
When determining what is in the best interest of a child, the primary duty of the court is to protect the child from harm. But what is harm? A recent decision by the California Supreme Court set out the statutory definitions and procedures that must be followed when deciding whether... Read More »
Depending on who is asked, between 10 and 18 million people lost their jobs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Without paychecks, an estimated 11 million of them were not able to pay their rent. Last September, in an effort to avoid massive homelessness, the Centers for Disease Control... Read More »
When it comes to economic relief for Native American tribes under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES), the federal government giveth and the federal government taketh away. Although the Act provides $8 billion of its $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund to tribes, the data used to allocate... Read More »
The Supreme Court has given judges the power to deny bail if a person under arrest continues to pose a threat to an individual or the community. A federal judge exercised her power to keep one of the Capitol rioters in detention because certain members of the media, legislators and... Read More »
California drivers who cross double lines to access carpool lanes and those who enter them alone to avoid traffic jams must pay $100 in fines, plus $390 in penalty assessments if they are caught. While these vehicle code violations might slow down traffic, they rarely if ever cause accidents or... Read More »
An innocent mistake leads to a missed court date and a hardhearted order to remove a mother and her four-year-old son. In America this year, Independence Day will be written as 07/04/2021. Most of the world, however, would indicate it by writing 04/07/2021. A similar, understandable mix-up was the basis... Read More »
Over 20 years ago, the State of Mississippi lost a Congressional seat, reducing its representation in Congress by one member. Now, the State Supreme Court has cited that lost seat as the reason to rule that a voter-approved medical marijuana initiative is unconstitutional. In a 6-3 decision issued on May... Read More »
“What’s in a name?” asked a devastated Juliet when her parents forbade her to love Romeo because his last name belonged to her family’s enemies. Now, that same question forms the basis of a Ninth Circuit decision that invalidated a parole condition prohibiting a transgender woman from using her preferred... Read More »
Defense lawyers have an old saying: “If you don’t have the law, argue the facts. If you don’t have the facts, argue the law. If you don’t have either, pound the table.” An updated version of this adage, currently being used as a defense in one Capitol rioters’ case, would... Read More »
Each day, Amazon ships about 1.6 million packages. Occasionally, one of them contains a defective product that harms its users. A second California District Court of Appeals has just ruled that it is time for a jury to decide whether the giant “online mall” is strictly liable for injuries caused... Read More »
As the calendar moves from spring to summer, millions of Americans are gaining confidence that they can safely book vacations without the omnipresent fear of COVID-19 that kept them locked indoors last year. But one popular option, taking cruises, remains on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) still-banned-without-permission-list, and the... Read More »
A 70-year-old law has prevented a West Point cadet from seeking justice for her rape by a fellow cadet. Jane Doe was denied certiorari by the U.S. Supreme Court because members of the military cannot sue for injuries “incident to military service.” The Court did not explain why rape falls... Read More »
