Martiga Lohn reports: The future of a new Minnesota law that let the public know about polarizing political donations from Target Corp., Best Buy Co. and other companies rests with a federal judge who will decide whether to suspend the disclosure requirement on free speech grounds. U.S. District Judge Donovan Frank said Friday that he…
Category: Court
U.S. Prosecutors Eye WikiLeaks Charges While Sweden Brings Drops Rape Charges Against Assange- UPDATE
Adam Entous and Evan Perez of the Wall Street Journal report: Pentagon lawyers believe that online whistleblower group WikiLeaks acted illegally in disclosing thousands of classified Afghanistan war reports and other material, and federal prosecutors are exploring possible criminal charges, officials familiar with the matter said. A joint investigation by the Army and the Federal…
Court Overturns Order Blocking Newspaper From Printing Murder Suspect’s Photo
David Kravets reports: A California appeals court has overturned a Los Angeles judge’s order that prohibited the Los Angeles Times from publishing a photo of a quadruple murder defendant. “We conclude the superior court’s order precluding publication of photographs lawfully taken unconstitutionally violates the prohibition against prior restraint of speech,” (.pdf) the 2nd District Court…
New YorK State’s new end-run approach to compiling DNA database
Michael Virtanen reports: Local prosecutors in New York are being urged to collect DNA samples as part of plea bargains in all misdemeanor cases after a bill that would have required the record keeping got stuck in the Legislature. The state has data on genetic material from about 365,000 criminals convicted of felonies or at…