U.S. Supreme Court

Youth convicts do not need life sentences

By: SF Examiner Editorial 10/03/12 5:00 PM

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that life sentences for criminals who commit their crimes when they are younger than 18 years old is cruel and unusual punishment. But at the time of that ruling, a legal loophole allowed the California sentencing guidelines to stand and some juveniles were locked behind bars — sentenced to live their lives there without any chance of rehabilitation. Read More

U.S. Supreme Court's views evolving on LGBT issues

By: Joan Biskupic 09/09/12 5:57 PM

A tall, hulking man in his late 70s, William Rehnquist, then the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, crawled down on all fours to say hello to the two little girls who had scurried under the table when he approached at a luncheon. Sally Rider and her partner, Betsy, had tried to teach their two preschool-age daughters how to shake hands with Rehnquist. At the time, Rider was his top aide. Read More

Upcoming election tests public financing changes in S.F.

By: Joshua Sabatini 08/13/12 9:40 PM

Candidates running for a seat on the Board of Supervisors this November are testing the new rules of The City’s public financing program. Read More

Students trying to topple Prop. 209

By: Bay City News 02/13/12 10:02 PM

Lawyers for 46 minority students and a civil-rights group asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco to allow them to go forward with their challenge to a voter-approved ban on affirmative action in University of California system admissions.“We’re asking that you give the students in this case their day in court,” attorney Shanta Driver on Monday told a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Read More

Making justice free to all in San Francisco

By: Ari Burack 02/13/12 9:58 PM

Supervisor David Chiu is hoping to build on a statewide pilot program offering impoverished civil court litigants access to attorneys.Chiu has cited statistics showing a great majority of poor people go unrepresented in civil litigation, putting them at greater risk of losing custody of a child or being unfairly evicted. Read More

Tougher qualification threshold eyed for public campaign cash

By: Amy Crawford 12/13/11 12:19 AM

Does San Francisco’s campaign finance law allow soapbox activists and vanity candidates to take advantage of public funding when they don’t have a chance of winning elections? Read More

San Francisco may alter public financing laws for candidates

By: Joshua Sabatini 07/12/11 8:55 PM

San Francisco’s public financing program rules could change in time to impact the November mayor’s race.After a U.S. Supreme Court decision ruled against a public financing program in Arizona, San Francisco’s program appears vulnerable to a legal challenge. Supervisor Mark Farrell introduced legislation Tuesday that would tweak the rules, which he said The City must do to avoid a legal challenge. Read More

No-Class Action

By: Nate Beeler 06/20/11 6:54 PM

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Supreme Court ruling could affect video game industry

By: Ari Burack 06/05/11 9:57 PM

A closely watched U.S. Supreme Court decision on the fate of a California law that would bar minors from buying or renting “ultraviolent” video games could come as soon as today. Both the video game industry and free-speech groups oppose the ban, which was authored by state Sen. Leland Yee and signed into law in 2005 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was later struck down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Read More

The Democratic 'D' now stands for demagoguery

By: Michael Barone 10/12/10 12:00 AM

I've been in campaign meetings. Sometimes the atmosphere is grim. Your side is down and you're looking to turn things around. The pollster goes down the list of issues tested. Health care? Nope. They hate your stand on that. The economy? Thumbs down. Foreign policy? Nobody cares anymore. Read More