10 Search results for "7th circuit"

For the first time in over twenty years and the first time during his presidency, President Obama will nominate a black lesbian for a federal judge position. Staci Michelle Yandle is President Obama’s pick to preside in the 7th Circuit federal court, which includes several Midwestern states. 

The nation’s first voter ID law came from a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit in Indiana. The law was integrated into American politics in 2007, despite opposition from Democrats and the American Civil Liberties Union. One of the judges regrets it.

Thaddeus Jimenez was just 13-years-old when he was convicted of Eric Morro’s murder in 1993 in Chicago. He served nearly 20 years in prison for the crime that he says he didn’t commit. Now a 7th Circuit judge has awarded Jimenez $25 million for the wrongful conviction.

The Supreme Court will take up the case of gay marriage.

A federal judge struck down Wisconsin’s voter-ID law Tuesday, saying it violated the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution. The law had already been previously blocked by a state judge. 

Director Dee Rees has long been considered an exceptional directorial talent and now it appears that she has created a film which will give her the Oscar buzz she deserves. Mudbound, which is based on Hillary Jordan’s 2008 debut novel of the same name, is a World War II era story of two Mississippi families—one […]

  A mother of three who drove her children into the Atlantic Ocean in March was ordered to be committed to a state mental hospital for the crime. Circuit Judge Leah R. Case found that Ebony Wilkerson met the legal standard of being “menifestly dangerous to herself and others,” according to NBC. 

  A federal judge equated Texas’ strict voter ID requirement to a poll tax deliberately meant to suppress voters of color and struck it down less than a month before election day. The verdict came just a few hours after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a similar measure in Wisconsin.

  We previously reported that President Obama had nominated Staci Yandle to preside over the U.S. District Court in Illinois. Today, it was announced that both Yandle and Darrin Gayles have been confirmed as federal judges. Yandle is now the second black lesbian–and the first in 20 years–to be confirmed; Gayles becomes the first openly gay […]

Darrell Wallace took the Kroger 200 on the racing circuit’s Camping World Truck Series this past Saturday making him the first African American to win the NASCAR race in 50 years.