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Supreme Court justice blocks ruling on redrawing Texas districts
Law Promo News |
2017/08/24 00:16
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Monday temporarily halted enforcement of a lower-court ruling that required two Texas congressional districts to be redrawn.
Responding to an appeal by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Alito halted action on the order and gave those who challenged the districts until Sept. 5 to address the points raised by Paxton’s appeal.
Sept. 5 is the day the three-judge court was to hold a hearing in San Antonio on redrawing the districts, including one based in Travis County and another that includes Bastrop County.
The court ruled two weeks ago that the districts were created by the Republican-controlled Legislature to intentionally discriminate against minority voters, who tend to favor Democrats.
Top NC court weighs lawmakers stripping of governor's powers
North Carolina's highest court on Monday tackled the question of how far the Republican-led legislature can go to minimize new Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper's ability to pursue goals that helped him get elected last year by reshaping state government.
The state Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by Cooper that claims legislators violated North Carolina's constitution this spring by passing a law diminishing the governor's role in managing elections.
It's the first time the high court has waded into the ongoing political battle between lawmakers and Cooper that began after he narrowly beat incumbent Republican Gov. Pat McCrory last November. GOP lawmakers have sought to diminish Cooper's powers ever since.
The governor's lawyers told the seven-member court that the General Assembly violated the constitution's separation of powers requirement by reshaping the state elections board in ways that entrench Republican advantage. Elections boards are examples of the types of bodies that implement laws, functions that the state constitution requires from governors.
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Moscow court orders paper to refute a report on Rosneft CEO
Law Promo News |
2016/10/11 22:32
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A court in Moscow has ordered a leading independent newspaper to retract an article about a luxury yacht allegedly owned by the chief of Russia's top state-controlled oil company. retract
The Basmanny District Court ruled Monday that the Novaya Gazeta report linking Rosneft Chairman Igor Sechin to the St. Princess Olga yacht was untrue.
The newspaper used social media and ship tracking data to allege that Sechin was the yacht's possible owner, but the court ruled that the allegations were unfounded.
Sechin has been a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. He served as a deputy prime minister before taking helm of the giant Rosneft oil company.
Last month, another Moscow court ordered the business daily Vedomosti to withdraw a report about a mansion it claimed belonged to Sechin.
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Court in Russia-annexed Crimea bans Tatar assembly
Law Promo News |
2016/05/04 22:54
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The Supreme Court in the Russia-annexed peninsula Crimea on Tuesday banned a Crimean Tatar group in the latest step to marginalize the minority.
Crimea's prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya who personally lodged the lawsuit welcomed the ruling against the Mejlis, an assembly of Tatar community leaders.
"This decision aims to ensure stability, peace and order in the Russian Federation," she told Russian news agencies after the hearing.
Crimean Tatars, who suffered a mass deportation at the hands of Soviet authorities in 1944, seemed to be the only organized force within Crimea to oppose Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014. Tuesday's ban follows months of persecution, expulsions and jailing of prominent Tatar leaders as well as rank-and-file protesters.
Six people are now on trial in the city Simferopol on charges of rioting dating back to fist fights between rival rallies of a pro-Russian party and Crimean Tatars on Feb. 26, 2014 which preceded the hastily called referendum to secede from Ukraine. Not a single pro-Russian protester has faced charges.
Russia's Justice Ministry earlier this month ruled the Mejlis was an extremist group, paving the way for the outright ban of the group that represents up to 15 percent of the Crimean population.
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High court nominee praises lawyers for helping the poor
Law Promo News |
2016/04/21 10:18
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Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland praised lawyers for their work with low-income Washingtonians Thursday in his first public remarks since his nomination last month.
Garland was on familiar turf, speaking at the federal courthouse in Washington, where he is chief judge of the appeals court.
Giving people living in poverty access to the courts is critical for society, Garland said. "Without equal justice under law," Garland said, using the phrase engraved above the entrance to the Supreme Court, "faith in the rule of the law, the foundation of our civil society, is at risk."
Garland's nomination is stalled in the Senate, where GOP leaders say the next president should choose the replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia. He has met with roughly 40 senators so far, with no sign that Republicans will allow hearings on his nomination, much less a vote.
At those meetings, Garland has typically said nothing for public consumption.
His appearance Thursday was part of the White House's effort to familiarize the country with the nominee by having him speak on a noncontroversial topic, free legal assistance for the poor.
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Court says Chuck Yeager can sue Utah gun safe company
Law Promo News |
2015/02/16 11:33
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A federal appeals court says record-setting test pilot Chuck Yeager can sue a Utah gun safe company that named a line of safes after him.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled Tuesday that the 91-year-old can sue Fort Knox Security Products over an oral agreement from the 1980s that allowed the use of his name and picture in exchange for free safes.
The decision says the arrangement ended around 2008, after Yeager's wife started asking questions about it.
The court dismissed some claims but ruled that Yeager can sue over claims that the company kept using his likeness after the agreement ended. The company disputes that accusation.
Yeager served during World War II and became the first person to break the sound barrier in 1947. |
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High court poised to upend civil rights policies
Law Promo News |
2013/04/02 10:00
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Has the nation lived down its history of racism and should the law become colorblind?
Addressing two pivotal legal issues, one on affirmative action and a second on voting rights, a divided Supreme Court is poised to answer those questions.
In one case, the issue is whether race preferences in university admissions undermine equal opportunity more than they promote the benefits of racial diversity. Just this past week, justices signaled their interest in scrutinizing affirmative action very intensely, expanding their review as well to a Michigan law passed by voters that bars "preferential treatment" to students based on race. Separately in a second case, the court must decide whether race relations - in the South, particularly - have improved to the point that federal laws protecting minority voting rights are no longer warranted.
The questions are apt as the United States closes in on a demographic tipping point, when nonwhites will become a majority of the nation's population for the first time. That dramatic shift is expected to be reached within the next generation, and how the Supreme Court rules could go a long way in determining what civil rights and equality mean in an America long divided by race.
The court's five conservative justices seem ready to declare a new post-racial moment, pointing to increased levels of voter registration and turnout among blacks to show that the South has changed. Lower federal courts just in the past year had seen things differently, blunting voter ID laws and other election restrictions passed by GOP-controlled legislatures in South Carolina, Texas and Florida, which they saw as discriminatory. |
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Cohen & Grigsby Adds Further Depth to Practice Areas
Law Promo News |
2010/07/20 01:26
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Cohen & Grigsby, a business law firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA and an office in Bonita Springs, FL, is pleased to announce that the following highly experienced attorneys have joined Cohen & Grigsby's Pittsburgh offices: •Clifford B. Levine joins Cohen & Grigsby with extensive experience in complex commercial and governmental litigation, as well as land use development, environmental, energy and construction litigation and counseling. Levine has a statewide practice involving all phases of land use and governmental law. He has been a featured speaker and active practitioner with current issues such as Marcellus Shale, eminent domain and takings, regulatory preemption and constitutional limitations to land use controls. He also has experience with the development of energy projects and environmentally sensitive industries. He has been serving as lead counsel for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in litigation involving fiscally distressed cities and has had considerable involvement with the laws governing municipalities and public authorities, including his past service as the vice chair of both the City of Pittsburgh Planning Commission and its Zoning Board of Adjustment. Levine has considerable political experience, having recently served as chair of President Barack Obama's Western Pennsylvania Steering Committee, and is currently a member of the President's National Advisory Board. Levine served as statewide election law counsel to the Bob Casey for Senate campaign in 2006 and currently is acting in that capacity for the Dan Onorato for Governor campaign. Levine, a member of the Allegheny County Academy of Trial Lawyers, has been recognized in Best Lawyers in America and as a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer, which identifies the top five percent of lawyers in the state. He recently was named one of the 100 most politically influential individuals in Pennsylvania. Levine received his J.D. from Duke University and his B.A. in economics from the State University of New York at Albany.
•Alice B. Mitinger joins Cohen & Grigsby with significant experience in land use litigation and development and with appellate, regulatory, administrative and election law issues. Mitinger has appeared before governing bodies and zoning hearing boards throughout western Pennsylvania and recently served a three-year term on the Zoning Board of Adjustment for the City of Pittsburgh. Mitinger has represented a wide variety of clients, including wireless telecommunications providers, landfill companies, independent power producers, real estate developers and the Commonwealth's Department of Community and Economic Development. Highly active in the community, Mitinger currently serves as the president of the Board of Trustees of Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures, member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and co-director of the Alumni Schools Committee of the Yale Club of Pittsburgh, among other roles. Mitinger received her J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and her B.A. in history from Yale University.
"Cliff Levine and Alice Mitinger bring considerable experience in the areas of land use, energy and governmental law," said Jack Elliott, president and CEO of Cohen & Grigsby, PC. "With the extensive number of legal issues concerning Marcellus Shale and other energy industries, Cliff and Alice greatly complement our practice in this area."
Levine indicated that he and Mitinger are very enthusiastic about joining Cohen & Grigsby. "We are attracted to the breadth of experience and overall number of highly skilled lawyers, which will greatly enhance our practice and provide a great depth of service for our clients," said Levine. "We are looking forward to a long and productive association with such a fine firm." Prior to joining the firm, both Levine and Mitinger were attorneys in the Pittsburgh office of Thorp Reed & Armstrong, LLP.
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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