Recent Updates
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Some Michigan counties pause jury trials amid COVID surge
Court Watch 01/18/2022Jury trials have been paused in some western Michigan counties due to a surge in coronavirus cases, court officials said Monday. Chief Judge Mark Trusock said all jury trials in Kent County 17th Circuit Court, based in Grand Rapids, were on hold unti...
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Partisan letters cost long-serving Alaska magistrate his job
Court Watch 01/11/2022The longest serving magistrate in Alaska is no longer on the bench after writing letters to the editor critical of the Republican party. Former Seward Magistrate George Peck wrote four letters to the editor of the Anchorage Daily News, the latest in ...
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Cobb County jury trials paused as COVID-19 spreads
Court Watch 01/05/2022As COVID-19 cases continue rising across the state of Georgia, the court system in one of its counties has decided to pause jury trials. Cobb County Superior Court Judge Robert D. Leonard issued an order Monday to cancel trial jurors through Jan. 21,...
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Judges send Tyson workers’ virus lawsuit back to state court
Court Watch 01/01/2022A federal appeals court has ruled that Tyson Foods can’t claim it was operating under the direction of the federal government when it tried to keep its processing plants open as the coronavirus spread rapidly within them during the early days o...
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Supreme Court rejects appeal over press access in Wisconsin
Court Watch 12/13/2021The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a conservative think tank over Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to exclude the group’s writers from press briefings. The justices acted without comment Monday, leaving in place lower court rulings th...
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Court won’t stop Texas abortion ban, but lets clinics sue
Court Watch 12/10/2021The Supreme Court on Friday left in place Texas’ ban on most abortions, offering only a glimmer of daylight for clinics in the state to challenge the nation’s most restrictive abortion law. The decision, little more than a week after the ...
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Washington seeks over $38 billion from opioid distributors
Court Watch 11/16/2021After rejecting a half-billion-dollar settlement, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Monday took the state’s case against the nation’s three biggest drug distributors to trial, saying they must be held accountable for their role ...
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Trials delayed for mother, son in Mississippi fraud cases
Court Watch 11/13/2021Judges have delayed the state and federal trials of a mother and son charged in one of Mississippi’s largest public corruption cases. State Auditor Shad White has said Nancy New and Zachary New were responsible for misspending millions of dolla...
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Appeals court agrees city can’t ban Catholic group’s rally
Court Watch 11/09/2021A federal appeals court has upheld a judge’s ruling that Baltimore city officials cannot ban a conservative Roman Catholic media outlet from holding a rally at a city-owned pavilion during a U.S. bishops’ meeting. St. Michael’s Medi...
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International Criminal Court to probe abuses in Venezuela
Court Watch 11/05/2021The International Criminal Court is opening a formal investigation into allegations of torture and extrajudicial killings committed by Venezuelan security forces under President Nicolás Maduro’s rule, the first time a country in Latin Am...
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Order: Mississippi judges have discretion for COVID safety
Court Watch 08/07/2021Mississippi judges have the power to delay trials, limit the number of spectators in courtrooms or take other steps to try to slow the spread of COVID-19, the leader of the state Supreme Court says in an emergency order. Chief Justice Michael Randolp...
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Court upholds ban on in-person church services in California
Court Watch 05/24/2020An appeals court has upheld California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s ban on in-person church services amid the coronavirus pandemic, in a split ruling that found that government’s emergency powers override what in normal times would be fundamental ...