Mark Sherman

June 03, 2011 | Daily Report Online

Three Army judges are weighing a question that hasn't cropped up in decades: whether a civilian contractor working for the U.S. military can be tried in a military court. The issue eventually could end up at the Supreme Court.The case of Alaa "Alex" Mohammad Ali, a former Army translator in Iraq, challenges the notion that courts-martial only have authority over members of the armed forces.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read

June 22, 2009 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - The Supreme Court ruled narrowly Monday in a challenge to the landmark Voting Rights Act, siding with a small Texas governing authority but sidestepping the larger constitutional issue.The court, with only one justice in dissent, avoided the major questions raised over the federal government's most powerful tool to prevent discriminatory voting changes since the mid-1960s.

By MARK SHERMAN

4 minute read

July 27, 2007 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - A federal grand jury indicted a Chinese-Mexican businessman Thursday on charges he conspired to help in the production of methamphetamines destined for the United States.Zhenli Ye Gon, in whose Mexico City mansion authorities found $207 million in money allegedly tied to drugs, was part of an international conspiracy that operated in the U.

By Mark Sherman

4 minute read

March 03, 2009 | National Law Journal

The Supreme Court's conservative and liberal justices appeared divided Monday about giving convicts a constitutional right to test DNA evidence, which for 232 people has meant exoneration years after they were found guilty. The issue arose in the case of William Osborne, who was convicted in a brutal attack on a prostitute in Alaska 16 years ago. The Court appeared reluctant to embrace a 9th Circuit ruling in Osborne's favor, at least not without attaching some limits.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read

July 20, 2009 | Daily Report Online

By MARK SHERMAN

5 minute read

May 12, 2008 | Daily Report Online

Partners of Chinese women who were forced to have abortions are pressing the Supreme Court to make it easier to get asylum in the United States.The Bush administration is resisting the male partners' efforts to get asylum, even though the Republican congressman who wrote a 1996 asylum law said it was intended to cover men as well as women who are victims of China's controversial family planning policy.

By MARK SHERMAN

4 minute read

March 17, 2008 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - The Supreme Court on Monday stepped into a legal fight over the use of curse words on the airwaves, the high court's first major case on broadcast indecency in 30 years.The case concerns a Federal Communications Commission policy that allows for fines against broadcasters for so-called "fleeting expletives," one-time uses of the F-word or its close cousins.

By MARK SHERMAN

4 minute read

October 08, 2013 | Daily Report Online

The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to throw out caps on some contributions by the biggest individual donors to political campaigns. The court's conservative justices voiced repeated skepticism about overall limits on what individuals may give in a two-year federal election cycle.

By Mark Sherman

4 minute read

October 18, 2007 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - The Supreme Court's decision to review the constitutionality of lethal injection procedures has slowed the annual number of executions to the lowest level in a decade amid renewed concerns about whether it's too cruel.On Wednesday, the high court blocked Virginia's plans to kill Christopher Scott Emmett, 36, hours before he was to die by lethal injection.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read

June 25, 2013 | Daily Report Online

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a key provision of the landmark Voting Rights Act cannot be enforced unless Congress comes up with an up-to-date formula for deciding which states and localities still need federal monitoring.

By Mark Sherman

6 minute read