District Judge

On the second day of questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson defended a sentence she ordered during a trial over child pornography, pointing to the sentencing guidelines established by Congress. The ruling has faced harsh scrutiny from Republicans who accuse Brown Jackson of being too lenient.

The federal judge who ruled that former White House counsel Don McGahn must comply with a House subpoena for his testimony put her ruling on a brief hold Wednesday. Such holds, known as administrative stays, are often issued to give lawyers a change to file their appeals, NBC News reported. U.S. District Judge Kentanji Brown Jackson said her order “should...

An Oklahoma judge who last summer ordered consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million to help address the state’s opioid crisis on Friday reduced that amount in his final order in the case by $107 million because of his miscalculation. District Judge Thad Balkman’s latest order directs the company to pay the state $465 million. In it,...

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday put on hold a Trump administration rule requiring immigrants prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas. U.S. District Judge Michael Simon granted a temporary restraining order that prevents the rule from going into effect Sunday. It’s not clear when he will rule...

Two computer hackers have pleaded guilty to concocting an extortion scheme that entangled Uber in a yearlong cover-up of a data breach that stole sensitive information about 57 million of the ride-hailing service’s passengers and drivers. The pleas entered Wednesday in a San Jose, California, federal court by Brandon Charles Glover and Vasile Mereacre resurrected another unseemly episode in Uber’s...

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Alabama’s near-total abortion ban from taking effect next month and called the law — part of a wave of new abortion restrictions by conservative states — clearly unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson issued a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking Alabama from enforcing the law that would make performing an abortion a felony in almost...

U.S. immigration authorities separated more than 1,500 children from their parents at the Mexico border early in the Trump administration, the American Civil Liberties Union said Thursday, bringing the total number of children separated since July 2017 to more than 5,400. The ACLU said the administration told its attorneys that 1,556 children were separated from July 1, 2017, to June...

A judge on Wednesday ordered the State Department to begin producing within 30 days documents related to the Trump administration’s dealings with Ukraine, saying the records were of obvious public interest. The documents were sought under a Freedom of Information Act request by American Oversight, an ethics watchdog that investigates the administration. Any release of government documents could shed new...

An attorney representing six vaping companies who oppose Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban on sales of vape-related products failed to file the proper paperwork in court Tuesday. Because of the snafu, nothing was decided.

There were fireworks in the courtroom Tuesday, but not because any progress was made. The attorney representing six vaping companies who oppose Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker’s four-month ban on sales of vape-related products failed to file the proper paperwork in the correct fashion, and the judge was not happy.

A federal judge is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit challenging Massachusetts’ four-month ban on the sale of vaping products. The hearing Tuesday in Boston federal court is expected to focus on the vaping industry’s request to temporarily lift the ban while the broader case is decided.

The scene is playing out in courtrooms from coast to coast — federal judges being asked to block a new Trump administration policy scheduled to take effect next week that would deny legal permanent residency to many immigrants over the use of public benefits. Almost a dozen lawsuits have been filed from New York to California with plaintiffs including states,...

The Department of Public Health has confirmed Massachusetts’ first vaping-related death.

A federal judge upheld Massachusetts’ four-month ban on the sale of vaping products on Friday, at least for now. U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani denied the vaping industry’s request for a temporary reprieve from the ban while their legal challenge plays out in Boston federal court, saying the plaintiffs did not show they would likely succeed on the merits of...

A federal judge has cleared Harvard University in a lawsuit that had alleged racial bias against Asian American applicants.

Harvard University does not discriminate against Asian Americans in its admissions process, a federal judge ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit that reignited a national debate over affirmative action. U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs said in her decision v that Harvard’s admissions process is “not perfect” but passes constitutional muster.

A judge has ordered that a Houston man charged with capital murder in the slaying of a sheriff’s deputy be held without bond.

A judge delayed enforcement of a subpoena seeking President Donald Trump’s tax returns Wednesday until at least next week

A group of women who say they were sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein have suffered a setback in seeking money from the government over a plea deal that spared the financier a lengthy prison term.

The man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan is interested in getting a job in the music industry, possibly in California.