The Rube Goldberg Gun
What happens when a jury is asked to convict a man for murder when everyone knows he didn’t pull the trigger?
Closing Arguments
The week in Courthouse News.
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America’s secret database of immigrant DNA
Supreme Court precedent holds cheek swab tests fall within the bounds of the Fourth Amendment, but no court has ruled on whether it’s legal to keep DNA from immigrants who haven't committed a crime.
Bad Spaniels let out of the dog house
For more than a decade, the manufacturer of a dog toy parodying Jack Daniel's has been in litigation over whether a poop joke tarnishes the whiskey brand's reputation.
Juvenile lifers
Colt Gray's attorney cited Supreme Court precedent in lobbying a judge not to sentence the 16-year-old to life in prison without parole. The judge said Gray is in an "unredeemable moral wasteland."
A nation divided
The Tohono O'odham Nation warns construction of a 62-mile border wall through the heart of its reservation would require the blasting of several sacred mountain ranges between Arizona and Mexico.
Heated deliberations
In a case built on circumstantial evidence, a Georgia jury deadlocked on all seven charges against a mother accused of murdering her 2-year-old son.
Judge seeks to end Trump’s delay tactics
A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump to pay writer E. Jean Carroll the $5 million he owes her after she successfully sued him for sexual assault and defamation.
SCOTUS justices open books
As the Supreme Court handed down its last rulings of the term, the justices’ annual financial disclosure forms revealed their side hustles and earnings.
Unmasking America
Eight days out from the celebration of the nation's 250th anniversary, tensions between states' rights, federal powers and voters come to a head over masks.
High court backs gun owner's right to blaze
The feds likened illegal gun possession charges against a marijuana user to an 18th-century law against habitual drunkards, but the comparison did not pass the Bruen test.
Jury looks for the spark that burned down LA
Jurors will decide whether a man infatuated with fire and charged with arson sparked the 2025 blaze that destroyed nearly 7,000 structures worth tens of billions of dollars.