Category: Uncategorized

Illinois is poised to legalize marijuana sales with sweeping legislation that would also automatically expunge the criminal records of people convicted of minor pot possession.

State lawmakers gave final approval to the bill Friday and Gov. JB Pritzker said he will sign the measure, which make Illinois the first state to legalize marijuana sales via its legislature. Most other states that have legalized cannabis did so via a ballot initiative process. Vermont’s legislature legalized cannabis but prohibited commercial sales.

“This will have a transformational impact on our state, creating opportunity in the communities that need it most and giving so many a second chance,” Pritzker said in a statement. “In the interest of equity and criminal justice reform, I look forward to signing this monumental legislation.”

Continue reading “Illinois posed to legalize marijuana sales, expunge criminal records for pot crimes”

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled in favor of a Native American elk hunter, citing an 1868 treaty between his tribe and the U.S. government as it revived his legal challenge to a conviction for hunting out of season in Bighorn National Forest in Wyoming.

In a 5-4 ruling, the high court sided with Crow Tribe member Clayvin Herrera. It found that the treaty, which gave tribe members hunting rights on “unoccupied” lands, is still in force even though it was signed before Wyoming became a U.S. state in 1890.

Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, who has a record of backing tribal rights, sided with the court’s four liberals, with the other four conservative justices in dissent. The same lineup voted in favor of tribal rights in a previous case this term, ruling that members of the Yakima Nation did not have to pay taxes for importing fuel into Washington state.

Continue reading “U.S. Supreme Court sides with Native American elk hunter”

An embattled Harvard University law professor under fire on campus for representing Harvey Weinstein said Monday that he has left the Hollywood media mogul’s legal defense team.

Ronald Sullivan Jr. said the rescheduling of Weinstein’s sexual assault trial created an “unresolvable conflict” with his teaching obligations at Harvard. He said the court approved his request to withdraw from representing Weinstein at the trial, scheduled to begin in New York on Sept. 9.

Continue reading “Embattled Harvard law professor leaves Harvey Weinstein’s legal defense team”

When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh is drafting opinions and asking oral argument questions, he often asks himself, “What would Justice Kennedy do?” Kavanaugh appeared with retired Justice Anthony M. Kennedy on Monday in the new justice’s first major appearance since a confirmation battle marked by accusations of sexual assault—allegations strongly denied by Kavanaugh.

Kavanaugh referred to Kennedy’s “legacy of civility” and said he tried to match that style, according to coverage by CNN and the Wall Street Journal.

During a Q-and-A session before judges and lawyers in Milwaukee, Kavanaugh and Kennedy said they agreed with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. when he said, “We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges.” Roberts had made the statement after President Donald Trump criticized “an Obama judge” who ruled against him.

Continue reading “Home Daily News In first major appearance since confirmation,… U.S. SUPREME COURT In first major appearance since confirmation, Kavanaugh stresses civility and independence”

A 73-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to escaping from federal custody where she was serving a 15-year sentence for sending poisoned baked goods to every justice on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Barbara March of Bridgeport, Connecticut, pleaded guilty Friday, report the Associated Press, the Washington Examiner and a press release.

March signed out of a halfway house in Washington, D.C., where she was completing her sentence in April 2018 and did not return as scheduled. She was arrested in Bridgeport in October.

Continue reading “Woman who mailed poisoned baked goods to Supreme Court justices pleads guilty to escape”