U.S. Court of Appeals

Illinois Attorney General Seeks Another Delay From Supreme Court In Concealed-Carry Case

Illinois is the only state in the country that has a ban on concealed-carry and though a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled the law unconstitutional, the fight continues to drag on. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, has requested a second extension, on view below, that would g ... More >>

He's Gone: As Schwagstock founder Jimmy Tebeau enters federal prison, should other music-festival organizers worry about on-site drug use?

Concealed-Carry Now Legal In Illinois? Madison County's Top Prosecutor Tom Gibbons Says Yes

Is it legal to carry guns in public in Illinois? Depends on whom you ask. Illinois is the only state in the country that has maintained a ban on concealed-carry, but across the river from St. Louis, the top prosecutor in Madison County now says that -- effective immediately -- citizens can carry c ... More >>

Sext Fiend: Jovica Petrovic tried to embarrass his ex-wife to death, and revenge porn was the name of the game

Thirty years after a white minister's son was beaten to death in the Central West End, one black man remains in prison. But there's plenty of guilt to go around.

Don't Worry, Illinois Will Not Become A Gun-Crazed Dystopia

Yesterday, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the state of Illinois' ban against concealed-carry. (We've posted the decision online here.) Illinois was the last state to have such a ban. If the Land of Lincoln doesn't appeal to keep it on the books, then lawmakers will have six months ... More >>

Eighth Circuit Lets Local Business Owner Violate Obamacare Pending Appeal

As we reported last month, Frank O'Brien -- the devoutly Catholic owner of an industrial business in Forest Park Southeast -- believes Obamacare will make him betray his faith by providing his employees insurance that will cover contraception, so he sued the federal government. Yesterday, the Eighth ... More >>

Sorry, Clayton Smokers. You Still Can't Smoke in the Park, Appeals Court Rules

The federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Clayton resident Arthur Gallagher last Thursday in his quest to overturn that city's ban on smoking in public parks. A retired vineyard owner, Gallagher enjoys lighting up stogies in Concordia Park across from Kaldi's Coffee on Demun Avenue - ... More >>

Federal Appeals Court Sides Against "God Hates Fags" Church On Law Limiting Funeral Protests

Federal appeals judges in St. Louis ruled today that yes, in fact, the City of Manchester does have the right under the Constitution to restrict where and when certain folks -- meaning the hate-spewing death-cult, Westboro Baptist Church -- can picket funerals. (Who would want to picket a funer ... More >>

Color of Law: St. Louis officials have more power than ever to regulate public art

Supreme Court Decision on Missouri Sex Offender Carries Implications Across U.S.

A sex case that began in Missouri and passed through Pennsylvania continued its path all the way to Washington, where this week U.S. Supreme Court released an opinion that poses just as many questions as answers when it comes to sex-offender registration laws. In a 7-2 ruling announced January 23, ... More >>

Literally, "See You in Court!"

It won't exactly be Law & Order, but Illinois' courtroom dramas could soon be coming to a living room near you. In an announcement titled "Extended Media Coverage In the Circuit Courts of Illinois on an Experimental Basis," the Illinois Supreme Court yesterday ordered that video and still cameras ... More >>

BZP the New Ecstasy? In the Eyes of Federal Judges, Yes

​Let's say you're a drug dealer, but the particular pills you peddle aren't exactly mainstream; in fact they're not even included in the U.S. Sentencing Commission's Drug Quantity Table, even though they're illegal. Now let's say you get busted. How is a judge supposed to sentence you? The ... More >>

Westboro Baptist Church Wins Another Legal Battle in Missouri

​Whatever your thoughts are about the "God Hates Fags" mantra of the Westboro Baptist Church, it cannot be said that the organization does not know its rights and how to defend them in court. Once again the controversial, Kansas-based church has won a legal decision in Missouri. The latest came ye ... More >>

Post-Dispatch Sued (Again) Over Retiree Benefits

​The beleaguered St. Louis Post-Dispatch -- already fending off a lawsuit from the Newspaper Guild over retiree benefits -- now faces another suit from the union representing its mailroom workers.The CWA Local 14620, also known as the St. Louis Mailers Union No. 3, represents the 220 employees who ... More >>

Court of Appeals: Prison Employees Aren't Liable for Inmate's Attack

​Let's say an inmate is attacked by fellow inmates wearing masks, then put in an isolated environment for a 30-day period, presumably for protection while the matter is sorted out. The inmate pleads to correctional officers to be kept in protective custody, claiming that his assailants warned ... More >>

City's Sign Code Violates First Amendment, Appeals Court Rules

Jim Roos' big ol' sign at Interstates 44 and 55. ​Activist Jim Roos got slapped down in 2007 when he applied for a permit for his huge "End Eminent Domain" mural near Interstates 44 and 55. The city said "No," citing the sign code. But yesterday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in turn slapped ... More >>

Archdiocese Not Liable For Pedophile Priest Robert Johnston

courtesy of SNAP MidwestRobert Johnston: not the archdiocese's fault that they hired a perv.​Score one for the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis. Because, as a legal ruling today makes clear, even if a Christian ethicist would hold the church accountable for allowing a predatory priest to run roug ... More >>

No You May Not Use Your Dad's Identity, Say Courts

OK, son. You can have my identity. But just this once. ​But daddy said I could! Apparently, federal judges don't necessarily care what daddy says. At least when it comes to identity theft. In an opinion released today by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, judges affir ... More >>

Today in Chain-Restaurant Litigation: Chipotle Loses, Taco Bell "Wins"

Image via​Some days it feels like every major national restaurant chain is involved in litigation.Today is one of those days.First, we have this report from the San Francisco Chronicle that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to listen to an appeal from mega-burrito kingpins Chipotle after a lower ... More >>

Homophobia is Protected Speech

It's a marketplace of ideas. Some of them are terrible.​It's been a great week for folks who hate lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people -- and want the world to know about it.The Supreme Court today ruled 8-1 that those hate-spewing assholes from Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas are pr ... More >>

Grinding Justice: Operation Streamline costs millions, tramples the Constitution and doesn't work

Costco Condemns Veal

Costco condemns veal producer at urging of animal rights group. The Associated Press reports that the Washington-based wholesale club was presented a video of Buckeye Veal Farm in Ohio, made by animal rights group Mercy for Animals. The video shows calves chained in pens too small for them to lie do ... More >>

St. Louis Wins Decision Vs. Eminent Domain Mural

ij.orgRoos and his sign.​The U.S. District Court of Eastern Missouri today ruled in favor of St. Louis City in a suit over a well-known sign south of downtown. In 2007 activist Jim Roos painted a mural on the side of a building with the message: "End Eminent Domain Abuse." At the time, the buildin ... More >>

Missouri Attorney General Calls for Execution of Man Linked to Larry Flynt Shooting

Larry Flynt has been in a wheelchair since the 1978 shooting.​Attorney General Chris Koster yesterday called on the Missouri Supreme Court to set execution dates for two convicted murderers. The first, Joseph Franklin, was convicted in 1997 for the shooting death twenty years earlier of a man out ... More >>

Miracle Man: Darryl Burton forgives St. Louis. He just doesn't trust it.

Readers mull Monsanto and Mexico

8th U.S. Circuit Court to Mexican Immigrants: "Adios, illegals!"

Jennifer Silverberg Former Valley Park Mayor Jeffery Whitteaker led the fight to pass the anti-illegal immigrant ordinance in 2006In a ruling that could have national implications, Valley Park's controversial and long-debated ordinance prohibiting city employers from hiring illegal immi ... More >>

Fizzled Out: Andrew Gladney, heir to the 7-Up fortune, is off to a federal penitentiary

English, Por Favor: Is speaking in Spanish a firing offense?

Guilt-Edged

Pugnacious defense attorney Frank "Tony" Fabbri never backed away from a fight. Then the lawyer ran afoul of the law.

Law and Anarchy

St. Louis Police Chief Joe Mokwa and his officers may stand trial for violating the civil rights of “anarchists” in 2003.

A Shot in the Arm

A federal appeals court says Darryl Burton might very well be innocent of the 1984 murder of Donald Ball. But there's nothing they can do about it.

Road Rules

When a checkpoint isn't really a checkpoint, the constitutional forecast is cloudy

The Case of the Vanishing Videotape

A workhouse inmate claims he was wrongly beaten, and city officials scramble to get their stories straight

So Long, Joe

While Joe Amrine waits to die, Missouri courts won't admit they may be wrong

Judging Mariano

The circuit clerk and the city's judges square off on the public's right to know. The clerk and the public are losing.

The Ethics Omission

Enforcers of Missouri's campaign-finance laws would rather hide than seek.

Cough It Up

The man who created Josie and the Pussycats can't understand why his girls don't belong to him

A Cheney Link to St. Louis

Published the week of July 26-August 1, 2000

The Olmstead Challenge

The U.S. Supreme Court says it's time to end segregation: People with disabilities must be allowed to leave institutions and move into the community. Sounds great -- except the state's overwhelmed and the community's nowhere near ready.

Tin Soldiers and Nixon (Still) Coming

Arrest of Vietnam protester Howard Mechanic is just another war crime

Howard's End

After nearly three decades on the run, a fugitive from the raucous anti-war era is outed

DON'T STOP — GET STARTED

Former Aldermanic President Francis Slay lays the blame for his mayoral candidacy at incumbent Clarence Harmon's door

HEAVEN HELP US: THE NATIVITY FLAP IS BACK

WHITE NOISE

The appointment of a senior executive of the discrimination-claim-plagued Adam's Mark chain to a leadership position in the St. Louis County NAACP stirs outrage

FREE AT LAST

Ellen Reasonover is released from jail after 16 years

Feature

Letters to the Editor

Money Doesn't Buy Politicians?

Even the worst judges ought to know better than that