Eighth Circuit sides with North Dakota on voter ID law

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit Court on Monday blocked a lower court ruling [opinion, PDF] that expanded the types of documents voters could use to prove their identity for elections in North Dakota, siding with state officials over Native American tribal members. North Dakota's legislature passed a law [text, PDF] in 2017 that required voters to provide a valid form of identification to the proper election official before receiving a ballot.

Appeals Court Deals Blow to Missouri Abortion Providers

An appeals court issued a ruling Monday that will make it harder for abortion clinics to open or remain in business. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2017 ruling that prevented the state of Missouri from enforcing laws that required abortion doctors to have the legal authority to admit patients at hospitals and that mandated abortion clinics to pay for expensive upgrades to bring them up to hospital standards as ambulatory surgical centers.

“Minnesota men” appeal their convictions

The three "Minnesota men" who were convicted after a three-week trial in federal court in Minneapolis appealed their convictions to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. I covered the trial every day on Power Line and following the convictions in the Weekly Standard article "'Minnesota men' on trial."

$28M verdict upheld in Nebraska wrongful conviction case

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a $28.1 million judgment awarded to six people who were wrongfully convicted of murder in one of the nation's largest false-confession cases, a ruling that could force a Nebraska county closer to bankruptcy. A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined to overturn the jury's 2016 verdict against Gage County and two former law enforcement officials.

Lawyers: Execution could be ‘gruesome’ due to rare condition

A condemned Missouri inmate faces a potentially "gruesome and painful" execution because of a rare medical condition that compromises the man's veins and causes multiple tumors in his head and throat, his attorney said Sunday. Russell Bucklew is scheduled to die by injection Tuesday evening for killing a former girlfriend's new boyfriend in 1996 in eastern Missouri.

Planned Parenthood: Arkansas faces having 1 abortion clinic

A Planned Parenthood subsidiary told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that Arkansas' restrictions on how abortion pills are administered could effectively end medication abortions in the state and leave Arkansas with only one clinic where women can end their pregnancies. Under an Arkansas law passed in 2015, doctors who provide abortion pills must hold a contract with another physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital and who would agree to handle complications.

Planned Parenthood asks Supreme Court to restore injunction on medical abortion

Planned Parenthood Great Plains today asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review and correct the 8th Circuit Court of Appeal's July ruling that would allow the state to effectively ban the safest abortion procedure - the administration of drugs that would trigger miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy. At issue is Arkansas's Act 557 of 2015, which requires physicians who provide medical abortion - including Arkansas's two Planned Parenthood Clinics and Little Rock Family Planning Services - to contract with a second physician with hospital privileges.

Filing defends laws on abortion

A federal judge's July 28 order blocking the enforcement of four abortion-restricting laws enacted this year by the Arkansas General Assembly should be reversed, attorneys for the state have argued in a 59-page brief filed at the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis. a Act 45, which would have taken effect July 30 and bans a common second-trimester procedure, dilation and evacuation, that supporters of the law have called "particularly barbaric" but foes say is the safest second-trimester abortion method available in outpatient facilities.

EDITORIAL: The American Bar Association is unqualified to fairly evaluate judicial nominees

Sen. Harry Reid's legacy as a Democratic majority leader is that he eliminated the Senate tradition of requiring two-thirds of the senators to confirm judicial appointees, making it easier for President Obama to pack the courts with liberal activist judges. This so-called nuclear option blew up in the faces of the Democrats last year with the election of a Republican president.

Senate Judiciary Committee member Ben Sasse, Nebraska Republican .(Associated Press) ** FILE **

The American Bar Association said Wednesday it didn't ask one of President Trump's judicial nominees about his personal opinions on abortion, saying the ABA's negative evaluation of him was instead based on peers who doubted he could leave his politics behind if he becomes a federal judge. Pamela Bresnahan, chair of the ABA's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, was defending her organization's role in the vetting process for federal judges, which involves rating a president's picks.

Appeals court nominee Grasz assures senators he would follow court precedent

Omaha attorney Steve Grasz repeatedly assured members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he would adhere to judicial precedent and not allow his personal views to interfere with his judgment if he is confirmed as a nominee to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

ABA: Federal judicial nominee from Omaha ‘not qualified’

The American Bar Association has issued a rare rating of "not qualified" to an Omaha attorney and former state prosecutor nominated for a seat on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The association said in a statement Monday that its committee on the federal judiciary had unanimously found Steve Grasz not qualified to fill a vacancy on the appellate court.

Court ruling favors Planned Parenthood in Missouri

A federal appeals court ruling has opened the door for Planned Parenthood to pursue abortion licenses in more areas of Missouri. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday lifted a temporary stay that had allowed the state to continue enforcing certain abortion requirements while appealing a lower court's ruling that the requirements infringed on women's abortion rights.