699 Search results for "judge"

Signed by Governor Jerry Brown on Tuesday, a new Californian reform bill, called the California Money Bail Reform Act, will abolish the cash bail system for all defendants awaiting a trial. Instead of cash bail, courts in different jurisdictions will create algorithms to decide who stays in custody and who leaves while they await trial.

According to reports from the Atlantic, a court ruling is expected in a matter of days from a federal judge in Brownsville, Texas which could throw the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program into disarray, leaving it in effect in some areas of the country and erasing it from the books in others. DACA was […]

Following a ruling by Houston judge Lee H. Rosenthal of Federal District Court last year, Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the Louisiana Eastern District Court has also ruled against the implementation of money bail, calling it a violation of equal protection and due process. In the New Orleans case, the judge struck down the city’s kickback […]

According to reports from the Detroit Metro Times, courts have dismissed a lawsuit brought against the state of Michigan alleging that the schools in Detroit were not providing basic education to its primarily Black and Brown students. The case, which was first reported last year, involves students being forced to teach themselves with, often with […]

In early April 2018, a New York City judge ruled in favor of a bar, The Happiest Hour, which had been taken to court for throwing out Trump supporters. The judge stated that while the law protects against religious discrimination, it says nothing on political discrimination.

Harvard Law professors Crystal Yang and Alma Cohen conducted a study which analyzed federal data on more than 500,000 defendants. One of the study’s conclusions revealed that Black defendants receive longer sentences under GOP appointed judges than Democrat-appointed judges. GOP appointed judges also give women defendants shorter sentences than Democrat-appointed judges.

According to reports from the New York Times, Judge John D. Bates of the Federal District Court for the District of Colombia called the Trump administration’s choice to terminate Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals one that was based on a “virtually unexplained” claim of unlawfulness. Judge Bates placed a stay on his decision, giving the […]

A federal judge in California rendered a recent ruling that should give communities of color some relief. U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips decided to halt the city of Los Angeles’ enforcement of most of its remaining gang injunctions, which primarily target Black and Brown people. In her preliminary holding, Judge Phillips said, “that Los Angeles […]

California’s judicial bench is becoming more representative of the state’s racial and ethnic populations, according to new findings by the Judicial Council of California. Among other findings, women now compose 35 percent of superior court judges, a rise from 2006’s 27 percent. While the racial and ethnic diversity remains incredibly low, those figures increased as […]

A TV judge may soon find herself on the opposite side of the bench as a result of the defamation of character lawsuit being filed against her by activist Deray Mckesson. Mckesson is filing the lawsuit in response to Jeanine Pirro’s comments on September 29, when she appeared on the Fox News show Fox and […]

A Tennesee judge claims he was thinking about the kids when he offered to sterilize jail inmates. To help out, he also agreed to shorten their jail sentences by 30 days. The plan appeared to be a success as 32 women received implants that would help prevent pregnancy for four years and 38 men were […]

One of the reasons that the United States has such a disproportionately high prison population is that a lot of people just can’t afford to avoid jail once they are accused of a crime. Although it’s law in most states that judges should set bond that defendants can actually afford, this isn’t often the case. Cook […]