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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: courts

courts stories: 20 news summaries

(Newser) - A change in the law is threatening to scuttle a Dutch ship's mission to provide abortions to women throughout the world, reports the Independent. Dr. Rebecca Gomperts has delivered "abortion pills" that cause miscarriages to women in nations where abortion is illegal. She has skirted local laws by docking... More »

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abortion • pregnancy • abortion ship • Right to Life • courts • pro choice • prescription drugs • Holland • Christian right • Dutch government • clinic • Rebecca Gomperts • abortion pills

(Newser) - A criminal court in the Maldives has ruled that 150 women will be flogged for having affairs in the Muslim country, reports the Independent. Some 50 men face the same punishment. Earlier this month an 18-year-old woman fainted after being flogged 100 times for having sex with two men, who... More »

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Islam • crime • courts • Muslim • Maldives • female sexuality • flogging • caning

(Newser) - Public opinion is swinging against Sharia law in Pakistan's Swat Valley as tens of thousands flee fighting between Pakistani forces and the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. A public fed up with inefficient and corrupt secular courts once welcomed the Taliban's version of religious law, but lawmakers and pundits now... More »

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Islam • Taliban • Pakistan • courts • Islamic Sharia law • Swat Valley

 O'Connor: I'm Not a 'Feminist' 

Former justice wants kids to learn about courts

Mar 22, 09 1:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - Sandra Day O’Connor says the reason she hoped a woman would be named to replace her on the Supreme Court is that it's easier not to be the only woman on the nation's highest bench. As the first female justice, she tells Deborah Solomon in the New York Times... More »

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feminism • women • courts • Sandra Day O'Connor • website • US Supreme Court

(Newser) - Public defenders are as overworked as hell, and they’re not going to take it anymore, the New York Times reports. Arguing that their hectic schedules result in scant attention for clients, government-appointed lawyers around the country are refusing new cases and suing to limit their workload. “The quality... More »

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Florida • justice system • Miami • courts • prosecutor • trial • felony • judge • lawyer • misdemeanor • public defender

Drunk Driver Opts for
'I'm Stupid' Sign

Man chooses to wear the sign, not do the time

Oct 10, 08 8:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Wisconsin drunk driver who crashed into a water treatment plant has chosen humiliation over jail time, WEAU reports. Instead of serving a sentence for property damage, Shane McQuillan, 22, who admitted he was “just being stupid,” was sentenced to wear a sign reading “I was stupid.... More »

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Wisconsin • crime • courts • drunk driving • judge • sentence

Great White to Pay $1M
Over Deadly R.I. Stage Fire

Latest legal development in nightclub fire tragedy

Sep 2, 08 5:18 PM CDT
(AP) - The 1980s rock band whose pyrotechnics sparked a nightclub fire that killed 100 people in Rhode Island has agreed to pay $1 million to survivors and victims' relatives. The settlement offer from Great White was revealed in court papers today. Roughly $175 million has now been offered by dozens of... More »

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courts • accident • nightclub • settlement • accidental death • rock music • fire

Fla. Law Changes Terms to Make Divorce Less Toxic

Change removes contentious terms from books

Sep 1, 08 7:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - Divorcing parents won't be making deals on "custody" and "visitation" in Florida in the future; a new law scrubs the terms from its legal code in a bid to reduce acrimony and give kids a better shot at continuing relationships with both parents. Starting next month, custody will... More »

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Florida • divorce • parenting • law • children • courts

Tiffany Presses eBay to Police Forgeries

Showdown may force online auctioneer to monitor—at a big cost

Mar 26, 08 8:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - A legal battle between Tiffany & Co and eBay could change the face of online auctioneering forever, the Wall Street Journal reports. The jeweler says eBay should be responsible for checking its millions of listings for counterfeit goods, while eBay maintains that it's up to the trademark holder to flag... More »

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Internet • eBay • online auction • courts • counterfeit • Tiffany • trademarks • jewelry • forgeries • copyright infringement

 Serbs Storm UN's
 Kosovo Courthouse 

Angry crowd clashes with UN police, occupies buildings in divided town

Mar 15, 08 8:11 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hundreds of Serbs smashed down gates at two United Nations-run courthouses in northern Kosovo yesterday and stormed the buildings, AFP reports. The mob, opposed to Kosovo's independence, hauled down the UN flag and hoisted the Serbian one. They clashed with UN police, pelting them with rocks and metal objects. NATO's... More »

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United Nations • Serbia • Kosovo • courts • Kosovar independence • Ethnic Serbs

Socialite's Son Faces Criminal Charges

Brooke Astor's offspring allegedly defrauded New York's 'First Lady'

Nov 27, 07 11:25 AM CST
(Newser) - The son of the late socialite and philanthropist Brooke Astor has been indicted, along with a former family lawyer, the New York Times reports. The exact charges are unknown, but the case stems from years of accusations that Anthony Marshall took advantage of or defrauded his aging mother as... More »

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courts • Brooke Astor • Anthony Marshall

Saudi Rape Victim 'Crushed Human Being,' Husband Says

Blames judge, not system, for sentence

Nov 21, 07 9:41 AM CST
(Newser) - The husband of the Saudi gang-rape victim sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail blamed one judge's vendetta—and not the Saudi judicial system itself—for her treatment "as a guilty person who committed a crime." He told CNN his wife has been a severely depressed,... More »

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Saudi Arabia • courts • rape • Islamic Sharia law • justice • Saudi rape victim

Boy George Charged With Chaining Up Male Escort

Singer faces false imprisonment charges

Nov 13, 07 11:47 AM CST
(Newser) - Demonstrating endless imagination in running afoul of the law, Boy George has been charged with false imprisonment after a male escort told police the eccentric pop star chained him to the wall of his London flat. Police originally arrested the singer in April, when a 28-year-old Norwegian complained that George,... More »

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celebrity trials • courts • Boy George

Fujimori Will
Be Extradited
to Peru

Former president faces human rights abuse, embezzlement charges

Sep 21, 07 11:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Chilean court ruled today to extradite Peru's ex-president Alberto Fujimori to his former country to face corruption and human rights abuse charges, Reuters reports. Judges cited evidence from two massacres linked to Fujimori’s war with Maoist faction Shining Path as the key to their decision. Fujimori has been... More »

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courts • Peru • Chile • international law • international court • extradition • Alberto Fujimori

Bush's AG Pick Has History With Terror Trials

Blind sheik case gave preview of security issues facing Mukasey

Sep 20, 07 2:08 PM CDT
(Newser) - Before America was paying attention, Judge Michael Mukasey tried a landmark terrorism case. The 1995-96 trial of blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, convicted with nine others of plotting a massive "day of terror" at three New York sites, forced Mukasey, now President Bush's nominee for US attorney general, to... More »

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terrorism • law • courts • Michael Mukasey • civil liberties • George W. Bush

Supreme
Court Slays Patent Trolls

Three recent decisions clamp down on frivolous patents and lawsuits

Aug 21, 07 6:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - Technology Review looks at three recent Supreme Court decisions—taken together, "historic"—that crack down on "patent trolls," unscrupulous companies that file thousands of patents and just as many lawsuits, aggressively hunting for license fees. The new rulings make it harder to launch these licensing campaigns,... More »

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courts • patent trolls • license fees • US Supreme Court • patent

Judge May Have Sued His Own Pants Off

Plaintiff in $54M suit vs. dry cleaners
on thin ice in day job

Aug 8, 07 6:42 PM CDT
(Newser) - Roy Pearson, the DC judge who sued his dry cleaners for $54 million after they lost his pants, may need to start tailoring his resume. A city commission informed Pearson yesterday that his reappointment is in jeopardy, reports the Washington Post. Though the pants trial made Pearson a national... More »

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courts • Roy Pearson • judge • lawsuit • pants

EU Court Protects File Sharers

European downloaders may be protected from angry copyright holders

Jul 18, 07 5:53 PM CDT
(Newser) - European ISPs cannot be forced to hand over identities of illegally-downloading subscribers in copyright infringement suits, an advocate general for the EU's top court ruled today. Such information could only be procured in criminal, rather than civil, proceedings. The court most often sides with such opinions, though they are not... More »

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music industry • music downloads • European Union • courts

Teen Sex Case Takes a Turn

Judge throws out
'cruel and unusual' 10-year sentence;
AG plans to appeal

Jun 11, 07 6:10 PM CDT
(Newser) - A judge ordered a 21-year-old Georgia man freed from prison today, ruling that his 10-year sentence for aggravated child molestation—receiving consensual oral sex from a 15-year-old when he was 17—was "cruel and unusual" and that keeping him incarcerated would be a "miscarriage of justice." The... More »

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prison • Jimmy Carter • Georgia • oral sex • Genarlow Wilson • courts • child molestation

(Newser) - The same legal argument marshaled to justify mistreating prisoners is behind the Bush administration’s contention that the President can fire U.S. attorneys for any reason or no reason, according to Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick. It’s the theory that a greater power—like killing people in war—embodies... More »

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Bush administration • justice system • US attorney • politics • courts • power • George W. Bush

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