Recent Updates
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Supreme Court nominee has defended free speech, religion
Legal Exams 02/12/2017Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has been a defender of free speech and a skeptic of libel claims, an Associated Press review of his rulings shows. His record puts him at odds with President Donald Trump's disdain for journalists and tendency to la...
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Travel ban decision in hands of federal appeals court judges
Legal Exams 02/11/2017A federal appeals court will decide whether to reinstate President Donald Trump's travel ban after a contentious hearing in which the judges hammered away at the administration's motivations for the ban, but also directed pointed questions to an atto...
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Supreme Court upholds broad reach of bank fraud law
Legal Exams 12/15/2016The Supreme Court is upholding the broad reach of a federal law prohibiting bank fraud. The unanimous ruling on Monday came in the case of a California man who illegally siphoned about $307,000 out of a Taiwanese businessman's Bank of America bank ac...
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Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate
Legal Exams 11/04/2016The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night stayed the execution of an Alabama man convicted of the 1982 shooting death of a woman's husband in a murder-for-hire arrangement. Five justices voted to stay the execution of Tommy Arthur as the high court co...
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Lithuania wants Gorbachev to testify in war crimes trial
Legal Exams 11/01/2016A Lithuanian court has called former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to testify in a mass trial related to the 1991 crackdown on the country's independence movement. Gorbachev and Russian authorities haven't answered previous requests so it's unlikel...
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Kansas court upholds death sentence in 1996 slaying
Legal Exams 11/01/2016Kansas' highest court on Friday upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a college student 20 years ago. The Kansas Supreme Court let stand Gary Kleypas' death sentence in the 1996 rape and stabbing death of 20-year-old Pittsburg State...
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Lithuania wants Gorbachev to testify in war crimes trial
Legal Exams 10/17/2016A Lithuanian court has called former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to testify in a mass trial related to the 1991 crackdown on the country's independence movement. Gorbachev and Russian authorities haven't answered previous requests so it's unlikel...
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DC gun law gets hearing before Washington appeals court
Legal Exams 09/20/2016An appeals court will hear challenges to a District of Columbia law that places tough requirements for gun owners to get concealed carry permits. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is hearing arguments Tuesday in tw...
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Court rejects challenge to Michigan's emergency manager law
Legal Exams 09/13/2016An appeals court on Monday rejected a challenge to Michigan's emergency manager law, saying Gov. Rick Snyder's remedy for distressed communities doesn't violate the constitutional rights of residents. Emergency managers have exceptional power to run ...
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Appeals court sympathetic to voting rules challenge
Legal Exams 09/12/2016A federal appeals court seems likely to side with voting rights groups trying to stop Kansas, Georgia and Alabama from making residents prove they are U.S. citizens when registering to vote using a national form. Judges heard arguments in the case Th...
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Judge in Stanford swimmer case switching to civil court
Legal Exams 08/26/2016A judge whose six-month sentence in the sexual assault case of a former Stanford swimmer has removed himself from handling criminal matters, but efforts to recall him remain. Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky requested that he be assigned to civi...
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Appeals court delay requested in ex-Virginia governor's case
Legal Exams 07/26/2016Prosecutors have asked a federal appeals court to delay action for 30 days on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's corruption case — to allow both sides time to analyze it. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reportsthe U.S. At...