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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: justice

justice stories: 18 news summaries

(Newser) - GOP senators may have pooh-poohed Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” comment, but wise Latinas everywhere are wearing the phrase like a badge of honor, the New York Times reports. From t-shirts to blogs, women of Hispanic heritage have warmed to the phrase much like other minority groups appropriate... More »

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women • justice • Hispanic • US Supreme Court • racial slurs • t-shirts • vernacular • Sonia Sotomayor • women's issues • Wise Latina

analysis

Blame Everyone Involved for Shallow Sotomayor Hearings

Dems go lightly; GOP eyes history outside of court

Jul 20, 09 8:55 AM CDT
(Newser) - With Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation a virtual certainty and her appointment unlikely to change the direction of the Supreme Court, last week's toothless hearings held few surprises. Except, that is, for observers who were hoping the Senate Judiciary Committee would press for substantive Q-and-A, Joan Biskupic writes for USA Today.... More »

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Senate Democrats • Senate Judiciary Committee • Jeff Sessions • Senate Republicans • Patrick Leahy • justice • confirmation hearings • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor

UPDATED


 Sotomayor Wins 
 Republicans' Backing 

She's shown 'judicial temperament': statement

Jul 17, 09 12:17 PM CDT
(Newser) - Richard Lugar said today he’ll back Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court bid, making him the first GOP senator to do so, the Washington Post reports. Mel Martinez of Florida, the chamber's sole Republican Latino, quickly followed suit. “Judge Sotomayor has demonstrated a judicial temperament during her week-long nomination... More »

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Florida • GOP • Indiana • Richard Lugar • Senate Republicans • justice • Mel Martinez • nominee • confirmation hearings • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor

(Newser) - After listening to senators air their issues for most of the day,  Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor finally got the microphone at the end of her confirmation hearing today, telling senators she would serve the “larger interest of impartial justice," the AP reports. Sotomayor also took an... More »

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justice • judge • Senate confirmation hearings • Lindsey Graham • nominee • US Supreme Court • Obama administration • Sonia Sotomayor

 Both Parties Will Use 
 Sotomayor to Push Agendas 

Parties hope to inspire support through questioning

Jul 13, 09 7:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Nobody expects Sonia Sotomayor to have serious trouble winning confirmation to the Supreme Court; the hearings that start today will be battles for American hearts and minds, with both parties seeing them as an opportunity to position themselves on key issues, the Washington Post reports. Aiming to ignite their base,... More »

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Senate • partisanship • justice • confirmation hearings • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor

analysis

Sotomayor's Record Reveals Rigor, Little Else

Dispassionate rulings exhaustive, but show
no larger vision

May 27, 09 7:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Sonia Sotomayor’s decisions “are not always a pleasure to read,” writes Adam Liptak of the New York Times, but “they are usually models of modern judicial craftsmanship.” They are exhaustive and technical, with even uncontroversial propositions justified with detailed footnotes. They also reveal strikingly... More »

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US Court of Appeals • justice • US Supreme Court • ruling • decision • Sonia Sotomayor • Ricci v. DeStefano

OPINION

 5 Judges Obama 
 Never Considered 

We guarantee Obama never considered any of these schmucks

May 26, 09 11:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama probably never sat down to consider the worst possible contenders for David Souter’s Supreme Court vacancy. But the guys at The Stimulist did. Here are the top (bottom?) five judges who never had a shot:
  • Myron Steele: Used his government email address to send a lewd
... More »

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Barack Obama • comedy • justice • US Supreme Court • torture memo

UPDATED

 Obama Picks 
 Sotomayor for Court 


May 26, 09 7:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Barack Obama named Sonia Sotomayor his Supreme Court pick this morning, the AP reports, setting the 54-year-old appeals court judge up to be the high court’s first Hispanic justice. Obama noted that she'd "worked at almost every level of our judicial system," saying she had more experience... More »

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Barack Obama • justice • nominee • US Supreme Court • Sonia Sotomayor • Jay-ZTV

Gay Marriage Is New GOP Litmus Test for Supremes

Same-sex unions replace abortion debate as heated issue

May 17, 09 6:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Abortion has long been the hot-button issue at Supreme Court confirmations—but this year, gay marriage is taking over, conservatives say.  Senate Republicans believe that questioning over the matter could be the new litmus test to help reveal a candidate's overall philosophy, reports the Washington Post. “It may... More »

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gay rights • abortion • gay marriage • Senate • abortion rights • justice • debate • US Supreme Court

Ginsburg Shows No Signs
of Slowing Down

Symposium celebrates 'midpoint'
of justice's career

Apr 12, 09 8:43 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg has shown no signs of slowing, despite cancer surgery in February: Since then, she's attended every Supreme Court session, written more opinions than all but one other justice, and raised plenty of questions from the bench. A symposium celebrating Ginsburg’s service almost seemed designed to quash... More »

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cancer • feminism • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • justice • pancreatic cancer • US Supreme Court

OPINION

In Stevens Case, Justice Was Served After All

Ruling in court of public opinion trumps court
of law's dismissal

Apr 8, 09 7:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - Ted Stevens and his lawyers were awfully indignant yesterday for a crew that had just won. “You’d think there would be jubilation,” said Stevens’ attorney. Instead, “it was revulsion, revulsion turned to anger,” Brendan Sullivan raged. Stevens himself lamented that “consequences…can never be... More »

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Department of Justice • corruption • prosecutorial misconduct • Ted Stevens • justice • Brendan Sullivan • Brenda Morris • Dana Milbank • William Welch

Ginsburg Back in Court After Cancer Surgery

Docs optimistic, but senator predicts justice has 9 months to live

Feb 23, 09 10:37 AM CST
(Newser) - Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg returned to the Supreme Court today, 18 days after her surgery for pancreatic cancer, the AP reports. Doctors gave her an encouraging prognosis after removing a small malignant tumor, but in a speech this weekend, Sen. Jim Bunning said Ginsburg would be dead within 9 months,... More »

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cancer • surgery • Ruth Bader Ginsburg • justice • pancreatic cancer • US Supreme Court • Jim Bunning • malignant tumor

 Blinded Woman 
 Wins Eye-for-Eye 
 Islamic Justice 

Iranian court orders acid be dropped in attacker's eyes

Dec 15, 08 3:36 AM CST
(Newser) - An Iranian judge is applying Islamic law to give a blinded woman the eye-for-an-eye justice she seeks. A jilted suitor who poured acid on the woman—blinding and disfiguring her—will have the chemical dropped into his eyes, the Washington Post reports. Some officials say it may deter similar crimes... More »

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Iran • women • violence • court • justice • corporal punishment • acid

Dallas DA Makes Waves by Overturning Convictions

DA makes waves with quest to root out wrongful convictions

Nov 15, 08 6:34 AM CST
(Newser) - Craig Watkins is becoming famous for something rather unusual for a district attorney: getting people out of jail, the Wall Street Journal reports. The Dallas County prosecutor is painstakingly going through hundreds of convictions secured by his predecessors, using DNA evidence to overturn wrongful convictions. His Conviction Integrity Unit has... More »

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Texas • Dallas • justice • wrongful conviction • exonerate • innocence • district attorney • DNA evidence • Craig Watkins

OPINION

Supreme Court: It's a Dialog, Not an Isolated Oracle

Reporter looks back at 30 years and 2,691 decisions

Jul 13, 08 5:00 AM CDT
(Newser) - Rather than boldly paving new roads, the Supreme Court functions largely as a bellwether of public opinion, cementing change “rather than propelling it,” writes Linda Greenhouse, looking back on some 30 years of reporting on the court for the New York Times. The justices don’t constitute a... More »

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justice system • justice • US Supreme Court • decision

Cigar Woes Snare Another Politician

London mayor under investigation for case grabbed in Iraq in '03

Jun 24, 08 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - London's mayor found out yesterday that he is “the one and only Western politician to be brought to justice for crimes committed in Iraq.” Boris Johnson's misdeed? Taking a cigar case as a souvenir from the smashed villa of Iraq’s former deputy prime minister while on assignment... More »

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Iraq • Saddam Hussein • Tony Blair • war crimes • England • justice • Britain • Tariq Aziz

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

Supreme Court Blocks Gitmo Detainees

Justices rule on police chases, patents; will hear Texas death-penalty case

Apr 30, 07 2:04 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court will not hear the cases of two Guantanamo detainees who sought to challenge the government's policy on military tribunals, it announced today. But it will hear arguments this fall in the case of a Texas death row inmate, a Mexican national whose appeal was supported by the... More »

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military tribunal • trial • Guantanamo Bay • court • justice • detainee • US Supreme Court

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