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You can't make a baby by hugging a tree.

ORLANDO, Fla. — College students around Florida rallied Monday to demand the arrest of a white neighborhood watch captain who shot an unarmed black teen last month, though authorities may be hamstrung by a state law that allows people to defend themselves with deadly force.

Students held rallies on the ...

Julian Zelizer says Mitt Romney stresses his career outside Washington as a plus, but the truth is knowledge of politics helps

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The International Space Station should be getting its first commercial cargo shipment in early May.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, plans to launch its Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral on April 30. The Dragon will take a few days to get to the ...

Detroit Tragedy Morphing Into National Tragedy 4-18-11

WASHINGTON — Should babies conceived using the frozen sperm of their deceased father get his Social Security survivor benefits?

The Supreme Court grappled with that question Monday in the case of Florida twins whose benefits claim was rejected by the government. Their mother used her husband's frozen sperm to conceive ...

Two years after President Obama signed health care reform into law -- and with the Supreme Court about to consider a challenge from several states trying to overturn it -- supporters and opponents of the law are gearing up for a message war like it's 2009.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum launched a final campaign blitz across Illinois on Monday, the eve of their showdown in the Land of Lincoln primary that could cement Romney's front-running status or boost Santorum's conservative-backed surge in the Republican presidential race.

Jeffrey Toobin explains the arguments for and against the health care law and discusses the justices who will hear the case.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)— Embattled San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi on Monday was sentenced to three years' probation and must participate in a domestic-violence program after pleading guilty to false imprisonment in a closely watched case that has gripped this city for nearly three months.

The sentencing for the misdemeanor came ...

Laurence Steinberg says we are not good enough at predicting the future behavior of a 14-year-old -- even a murderer -- who may not be beyond redemption. He says the Supreme Court should consider this.

Immigration Caused Coming Mega-Traumas 8-8-11

NEW YORK — The New York Mets owners and a trustee for Bernard Madoff's fraud victims settled Monday for $162 million in a case aimed at repairing the damage from a massive investment scheme.

The Mets owners will not pay anything for three years.

Jury selection had been set to ...

 

HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) — The last straw for 17-year-old Alton Burke was a note left on his door. The high school dropout picked up the phone and re-enrolled at South Hagerstown High.

Alton missed roughly 200 days of class, but Heather Dixon, the student intervention specialist who left ...

A defendant who denied living in an apartment at the time of a search did not waive his reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment where he actually paid the rent. A ruse to get defendant to open the door of the apartment did not violate the Fourth Amendment. It would have if the ruse led to consent, but this one didn’t. People v. Nelson, 2012 Colo. App. LEXIS 419 (March 15, 2012).

“[W]e need not conduct the balancing test for an Article 1, Section 11 determination because the manager of the motel evicted Harper immediately upon his arrest and then gave officers permission to search the room.” Harper v. State, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 102 (March 15, 2012).*

Defendant consented after he was told he was free to go. His prior possession offenses made the officer “curious.” McLain v. State, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 106 (March 16, 2012).*

Turns out the U.S. territories are very, very good to Mitt Romney. He romped in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico on Sunday, so much so that he took all 20 delegates. Oh, how Romney would love a romp in Illinois on Tuesday.

Police with information that a suicidal person is driving to a location to kill himself can stop the car. State v. Dunn, 2012 Ohio 1008, 2012 Ohio LEXIS 688 (March 15, 2012):

[*P22] Thus, we hold that the community-caretaking/emergency-aid exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement allows police officers to stop a person to render aid if they reasonably believe that there is an immediate need for their assistance to protect life or prevent serious injury.

[*P23] In this case, officers received a dispatch regarding an allegedly armed and suicidal person with an imminent plan to kill himself upon reaching a certain destination. Given that stopping a person on the street is "considerably less intrusive than police entry into the home itself, Illinois v. McArthur, 531 U.S. 326, 336, 121 S.Ct. 946, 148 L.Ed.2d 838 (2001), the officers' effecting a traffic stop to prevent Dunn from harming himself was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Thus, the community-caretaking/emergency-aid exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement allows police officers to stop a driver based on a dispatch that the driver is armed and plans to kill himself.

The Power Elite and the Muslim Brotherhood, Part 10, 3-19-12

Trashing America: Chemical and Animal Litter, Part 3, 11-28-11

Defendant fled at high speed across city boundaries from Cleveland to Lakewood City, and officers from the latter actually arrested him. Jurisdictional limits on police officers are irrelevant for Fourth Amendment purposes. United States v. King, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5407, 2012 FED App. 0270N (6th Cir. March 12, 2012).

A drug dog was called at the conclusion of the traffic stop, and it took 50 minutes to arrive. Since there was reasonable suspicion, this did not unreasonably extend the stop. Federal cases have permitted such detentions for longer. United States v. Adams, 2012 CCA LEXIS 87 (N.-M. Ct. App. March 15, 2012).*

Pro se defendant didn’t file a motion to suppress, so he couldn’t challenge the search on appeal. State v. Henderson, 2012 Ohio 1040, 2012 Ohio App. LEXIS 930 (8th Dist. March 15, 2012).