Iowa’s Supreme Court Protected Gay Marriage and Abortion Rights—and Republican Lawmakers Are Out for Payback
DNY59/Getty Conservative Iowa lawmakers are advancing a bill that would change the long-standing way judges are selected in the state. Critics of the legislation, introduced in early February, say it is motivated by displeasure over state courts blocking abortion and same-sex marriage bans. “It’s just an extreme political power grab by legislators who are unhappy…
The Supreme Court Says Stopping Executions at the Last Minute Should Be an “Extreme Exception”
Jabin Botsford/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled against delaying the execution of Missouri death row inmate Russell Bucklew, who argued that his rare medical condition could make the process excruciatingly painful. In the 5-4 decision, the majority ruled that Bucklew’s constitutional rights wouldn’t…
The Supreme Court Just Halted This Texas Death Row Inmate’s Execution
Pat Sullivan/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Patrick Murphy was granted a rare stay of execution by the US Supreme Court in a 7-2 vote that took place two hours after he was scheduled to be executed. Murphy’s religious discrimination claim argued that because he was a converted Buddhist, he…
How Court-Packing Went From a Fringe Idea to a Serious Democratic Proposal
Protesters rally at the US Capitol hours before the Senate vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, on October 6, 2018. Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. The whole thing started at a town hall in Philadelphia last month with Democratic presidential hopeful…
The Supreme Court Won’t Hear the Case of an Inmate Sentenced to Death by Racist Juror
Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Keith Tharpe, a black Georgia death row inmate, was sentenced to death in 1991 for the kidnapping and murder of his estranged wife’s sister-in-law Jaqueline Freeman. At trial, Barney Gattie, a white juror, sentenced Tharpe to death in part because he…
30 Years Ago, a Racist Juror Sentenced This Black Man to Death
ftwitty/Getty Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. On September 25, 1990, Keith Tharpe disobeyed a judge’s orders requiring him to stay away from his estranged wife and her family after he had threatened them with violence. While his wife and her sister-in-law Jaqueline Freeman were on their way to work, Tharpe blocked their…