News

Three federal Bureau of Prisons employees of the United States Penitentiary Big Sandy, located in Inez, Kentucky, were indicted on Thursday, for federal civil rights violations, specifically violating an individual’s rights under the color of law and of falsifying records to impede an…

A federal probation officer in Columbus received Xanax pills and other compensation in exchange for not reporting people she supervised who were dealing drugs between 2016 and 2018, according to documents filed in U.S. District Court this week (…

President Biden has marked the second anniversary of the murder of George Floyd by signing an executive order aimed at reforming federal police practices and establishing a national database of police…

State supreme courts still fail to reflect the diversity of the communities they serve, according to an update published Friday by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

The percentage of justices of color on state supreme courts increased only slightly…

The Justice Department is updating its use of force policy for the first time in 18 years, saying explicitly that federal officers and agents must step in if they see other officers using excessive force. The new policy is …

Today, in Shinn v. Martinez, No. 20-1009 (May 23, 2022), a divided Supreme Court held, under §2254(e)(2), a federal habeas court may not conduct an evidentiary hearing or otherwise consider evidence beyond the state-court…

Man in Puerto Rico charged with machine-gun-possession pleads guilty with an advisory prison range of 24 to 30 months. At sentencing, man request 24 months. Prosecutor requests 30 months. District court: Convinced that neither party's suggested sentence "reflects the seriousness of the offense,…

New York man covicted of armed robbery is sentenced to 100 months' imprisonment plus five years of supervised release, during which he cannot commit a new crime. Man commits more crimes, including allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend. But when she refuses to testify at his supervised release…

California man charged in gun case was facing trial in September 2020. The trial court adopted COVID restrictions and precluded the public from entering the courtroom and giving access to the proceedings only by streaming audio. Man: objection! This violates my Sixth Amendment right to a public…

The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm Sunshine Suzanne Sykes to a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, making her the state’s first-ever Native American federal judge and just the fifth Indigenous woman in U.S. history to serve on a federal court (…