After a busy legislative session, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed 18 bills in the past week, including new initiatives for rural health care and economic development.  Senate Bill 644 creates a new hospital designation type, “rural emergency hospital,” and defines requirements for rural or critical access hospitals. The bill clarifies that these hospitals are required to […]

James White was back in court again, except this time he wasn’t there to take a plea. He was there for a more important reason. “Please say I do, Chief Probate Judge Kenya Johnson said. “I do,” White responded. White took the oath of office to be a prosecutor in the Fulton County Solicitor General’s Office.  […]

A Kentucky lawyer hopes to call attention to the plight of his client and others waiting for long-delayed competency exams by living in jail with his client. Lawyer Matt Pippin of Shelby County, Kentucky, has filed a motion seeking to be housed in the same cell as his client until the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center […]

In 2017, the Mississippi Supreme Court’s then-Chief Justice William Waller Jr. helped mandate that judges throughout the state explain in writing how they deliver on their duty to provide poor criminal defendants with a lawyer. He hoped the rule would spur improvements in Mississippi’s patched-together public defense system, regarded by many legal experts as among […]

State courts should strip bar associations of some regulatory functions to spur innovation and lower the cost of legal services, according to a new paper from a Stanford Law center. State bar associations have a conflict of interest in their oversight of who is allowed to provide legal services, because most of the organizations also […]

To many people, prosecutors are viewed as the “Champion of the People.” Americans rightly expect those given such tremendous responsibility and incredible power will ensure that justice is done. They shall maintain the integrity of the criminal justice system and promote respect for the rule of law. To that end, the American prosecutor ought to […]

What is the FOIA?Enacted in 1966, The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a federal law that establishes the public’s right to obtain information from federal government agencies. The FOIA is codified at 5 U.S.C. Section 552. “Any person” can file a FOIA request, including U.S. citizens, foreign nationals, organizations, associations, and universities. In 1974, […]

It has been a tough year for U.S. News college rankings. In September, Columbia University dropped from #2 to #18 in the country after misreporting data, allowing Cornell to rise to the number one school in New York. Not complaining about this one, but how this blunder could have happened in the first place called into question […]

JABBAR COLLINS LANGUISHED in jail for over 16 years for a murder he apparently never committed. He was only freed a few years ago when it was revealed at a post-conviction hearing that the main witness at his trial had told the prosecutor that he was pressured by police to lie about Collins’ involvement in the […]