High court to rule on same-sex marriage across US
Supreme Court should make gay marriage a national right
Federal judge strikes down gay-marriage ban in Alabama
He even gave an interview.
Judge rules Mich. gay vows are valid
Ky. judge grants divorce to same-sex couple
The case involves Alysha and Rebecca Sue Romero, who were legally married in Massachusetts.
Appeals court hears Arkansas, North Dakota abortion cases
Judge cuts damages for teacher fired for in vitro treatment
High court to hear would-be judges’ appeals for campaign cash
High court rejects prison beard ban
Death row inmates seek to halt shield law
Supreme Court will hear case on lethal injection drug
Oklahoma executes first inmate since botched attempt
"Wrongly convicted N.C. man is freed" by Jonathan Drew, Associated Press January 24, 2015
WHITEVILLE, N.C. — A 70-year-old man wrongly convicted of the 1976 stabbing deaths of a mother and daughter walked out of prison Friday, saying he was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed and maybe swimming in a pool.
After serving nearly four decades behind bars, Joseph Sledge was found innocent by a three-judge panel who heard testimony from a DNA expert.
The expert said none of the evidence collected in the case — hair, DNA, and fingerprints — belonged to Sledge. A key jailhouse informant had also recanted his story, saying authorities promised him leniency in his own case for his trial testimony against Sledge.
That's our $y$tem of JU$TU$!
A district attorney who was not originally involved apologized to Sledge and promised to reopen the investigation.
It's not enough anymore.
“The system has made a mistake,” district attorney Jon David said.
The $y$tem itself is the mistake.
Sledge is the eighth person exonerated after the state set up the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry Commission, the only state-run investigative agency of its kind. The commission found there was enough doubt to review Sledge’s case, and the state Supreme Court appointed the three judges to have the final say.
The key jailhouse informant, Herman Baker, signed an affidavit in 2013 recanting trial testimony. Baker said he lied at the 1978 trial after being promised leniency in his own drug case and he said he’d been coached by authorities on what to say....
No, that never happens or happened in what is now the AmeriKan Ju$tu$ $y$tem.
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"Supreme Court says former air marshal did not violate law in whistleblower case" Washington Post January 22, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an air marshal fired for leaking information about plans that he felt endangered the public could seek protection under a federal law protecting whistleblowers.
The court ruled 7 to 2 that Robert MacLean did not technically violate the law when he leaked to a reporter that the Transportation Security Administration planned to cut back on overnight trips for undercover marshals.
The news caused an uproar in Congress, and the plans were quickly scuttled.
MacLean was fired years later when it was discovered he was the source of the information.
While Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority that the Merit Systems Protection Board was wrong to say MacLean was not protected by whistleblower protection statutes, he also said it would be easy for the government to remedy that in future cases. Roberts said the government had legitimate concerns....
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Here is a concern:
Guns were smuggled aboard US airliners, prosecutor says
It's a ‘‘wakeup call for the nation,’’ so I'm, going back to sleep.
More than 2,200 guns confiscated at US airports in 2014
Yeah, you guys are doing a great job. It's whatever narrative is needed for the moment, folks. That's why the propaganda is failing.
Maybe you should be worried about that cigarette instead.
Sure wish there was something to read (during a surging economic recovery?).
"Student stopped at airport over Arabic flashcards wins $25K" Associated Press January 24, 2015
PHILADELPHIA — A college student detained at an airport for five hours in 2009 because of Arabic language flashcards in his pocket that included the words “bomb” and “to kill” has won a $25,000 settlement from the Justice Department.
The settlement with Nicholas George, now a Google programmer, also includes more training for police.
A US appeals court previously cleared federal agents of liability while acknowledging that the 30 minutes they spent questioning George was ‘‘at the outer boundary’’ of reasonableness.
City police separately detained him for more than four hours, half that time in handcuffs, as they waited for FBI agents to arrive. The agents ultimately deemed him harmless.
The agreement reiterates that police must have “reasonable suspicion” to detain someone and “probable cause” to arrest them.
Since when? C'mon.
*******
George was returning to Pomona College in California from his suburban Philadelphia home in August 2009 and removed the flashcards from his pocket as he went through security. He was studying Arabic and had visited the Mideast through a summer study program.
One Transportation Security Administration supervisor interrogating him asked about the Sept. 11 attacks and noted that Osama bin Laden also spoke Arabic.
“So do you see why these cards are suspicious?” she asked, according to the 2010 lawsuit.
George was also questioned about a book he had with him — written by a former aide to President Ronald Reagan — that was critical of US foreign policy in the Mideast.
******
A federal judge had initially upheld George’s right to sue the agents individually over the denial of his liberty and free speech rights before the appeals court sided with the agents. Neither the city nor the Justice Department admits wrongdoing in the settlement.
Yeah, government never does anything wrong in AmeriKa.
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Just another flash of AmeriKan tyranny.
NDU:
"Justices sympathetic to man deported for minor drug crime" Associated Press January 15, 2015
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has been receptive in recent years to immigrants who are fighting deportation from the United States over minor drug crimes. On Wednesday, the justices entertained the least serious transgression yet: the case of a Tunisian man who was deported after he pleaded guilty in Kansas state court to possessing drug paraphernalia.
The item in question: a sock that contained four pills of the stimulant Adderall.
A prescribed pharmaceutical.
The justices sounded almost incredulous that the Obama administration deported the man, Moones Mellouli, who came to the United States in 2004 on a student visa and was living in the country legally when he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. A jailhouse search turned up the pills in a sock.
‘‘If it’s not such a big deal that the state is willing to let him cop a plea to drug paraphernalia, why should that be the basis for deportation under federal law?’’ Chief Justice John Roberts asked Justice Department lawyer Rachel Kovner.
‘‘Your Honor, we don’t think that Congress viewed drug crimes that way,’’ Kovner replied.
She faced similar comments over and over as she gamely sought to defend the administration’s reading of the provision of federal immigration law that allows deportation for drug crimes.
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