Courts

Minnesota court records show American Indians living in some northern counties are arrested at a rate far higher than any other race. That's got the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. The ACLU's work has been focused mostly in the Twin Cities. Now, the ACLU has opened a satellite office in Bemidji, to target what the group views as racial profiling against American Indians.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty Friday announced the appointment of G. Barry Anderson to fill a vacancy on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Anderson currently serves on the state Court of Appeals and will replace outgoing Supreme Court Associate Justice James Gilbert.
In a live broadcast from the Minnesota State Fair, the district attorneys of Ramsey and Hennepin Counties join Gary Eichten to discuss trends and issues in Minnesota law enforcement.
The treatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Gharib Prison moved the use of torture into the media spotlight. Numerous international laws prohibit torture, yet the practice remains in use throughout the world.
Some 23 years after Ronald Reagan made her the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor occupies a uniquely powerful position. Because she happens to sit at the ideological center of an otherwise closely divided court, O'Connor often has the privilege of casting the vote that makes the difference between a majority opinion and a dissenting one. She sat down with Walter Isaacson, the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, earlier this month to discuss her biography and her jurisprudence on issues from affirmative action to the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A Minnesota high school senior pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to unleashing a variant of the "Blaster" Internet worm that crippled thousands of computers last summer. Jeffrey Parson, 19, of Hopkins, Minn., pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally causing or attempting to cause damage to a protected computer.
State judicial races have earned reputations as the sleepier voter contests. In many cases, incumbent judges run unopposed. But in this election cycle, there are already fireworks. Attorneys in two cases are going to court to disqualify their opponents; and one challenger has infused Biblical teachings into his campaign.
Federal officials say the USA Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, does not single out libraries and bookstores for investigation. But critics of one section of the law remain concerned that the Patriot Act may go too far.
The state Supreme Court ordered the University of Minnesota on Thursday to reveal the names of candidates the Board of Regents interviewed for the school's presidency in a 2002 search that ended with the hiring of in-house candidate Robert Bruininks. Upholding lower court rulings, justices lifted a stay that allowed the university to keep the presidential search information private.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that detainees being held at the navel base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba can challenge their confinement in U.S. court. The case is considered a setback for the Bush administration, which has held terror suspects at the base and has maintained that it is beyond the reach of American courts. Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer talked with Minneapolis-based lawyer Joe Margulies, who was the lead counsel on the case.