For NATO, Time to Clarify Goals

During President Trump's recent visit to Europe, much was made of the fact that in a speech before NATO leaders, he did not explicitly affirm America's commitment to NATO's Article V. This put much of European opinion on edge and was one of the things that prompted German Chancellor Merkel to brazenly hint that Europe might have to 'go it alone.' Everyone knows about Article V, right? It is repeated ad infinitum in press releases and news stories about NATO.

Five myths about fatherhood

This month, the Supreme Court struck down a law that treated unwed mothers and fathers differently when granting citizenship to their children born outside the United States - the requirements for fathers were stiffer. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, authoring a majority opinion joined by five other justices, wrote that the law was based on gender stereotypes that violated the notion of equal protection.

How a Michigan State student ended up playing a role in Watergate investigations

When then-Michigan State University student Gordon Freedman first got wind of the Watergate hearings in 1973, he didn't want to miss out. So the 21-year-old from Charlevoix left class one day, hopped into his orange Volkswagen bug and headed off to Washington, D.C., where he started off as a passionate observer, but then landed a job as a staffer with Sen. Herman Talmadge.

Missouri Senate panel advances abortion regulations

A panel of Missouri senators on Tuesday advanced legislation to create new abortion regulations - including annual inspections of clinics - requested by Republican Gov. Eric Greitens in his call for a special session focused solely on abortion laws. Members of the Senate Committee on Seniors, Families and Children voted 4-2 along party lines in favor of a package of proposals that would place new restrictions on abortion clinics.

Things would have different with legit districts

Over the last four years, Republican legislators, fueled by veto-proof majorities in both houses, have refashioned the state's tax code, voting laws, and its policies on education, the environment and social issues. After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that North Carolina's legislative districts are unconstitutional and Gov. Roy Cooper's called for a special redistricting session, it's natural to ask how state and legislative politics might have been different had Republicans drawn legal districts in 2011.

Second US appeals court refuses to revive travel ban

A second court upheld a Maryland judge's ruling that also blocked Trump's 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Photo: Reuters President Donald Trump suffered another legal setback on Monday as a second federal appeals court refused to revive his travel ban on people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority nations in a dispute headed to the US Supreme Court.

Ap Was There: Supreme Court legalizes interracial marriage

EDITOR'S NOTE: On June 12, 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court was wrapping up the final orders for the term. Among the cases before them was that of Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple who had been sentenced to a year in jail for violating Virginia's ban on marriage between people of different races.

Fair Elections Project Calls for Fair Map Drawing Process to Continue

Wisconsin fair elections advocates blasted legislative leaders and the attorney general for trying to stay a decision to implement new, constitutionally valid maps for legislative districts in Wisconsin, as lawyers for the citizen respondents filed a brief at the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the state's request for delay. "The federal trial court found that Wisconsin citizens' rights were violated and that the only solution was a new district maps in time for the 2018 election," said Sachin Chheda , director of the Fair Elections Project, which organized and launched the lawsuit.

First Amendment protected Jeremy Christian’s right to speak his mind

That's an often-asked question as the nation's attention has focused on Portland as a hub of bigoted speech -- a community where Jeremy Christian ranted unfettered for months or even years before police say he fatally stabbed two good Samaritans in the neck and left another wounded May 26. Christian's Facebook posts refer to nihilism, Hitler, ovens and killing others, including those who trod on his free-speech rights. Several weeks before the attack on the MAX train, Christian shouted his death wish for Muslims and vitriol toward African Americans at a public march.

Man who stuffed Lubbock woman’s body into luggage set to die

Attorneys for a Texas death row inmate known as the "suitcase killer" have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to halt his scheduled execution this week for the slaying of a Lubbock woman whose body was stuffed inside a suitcase dumped in the trash. Rosendo Rodriguez III, of San Antonio, was condemned for the 2005 killing of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin, identified in court documents as a prostitute.

Inmate’s lawyers seek to halt execution citing faulty drug

Lawyers for a condemned Alabama inmate made a series of legal filings Wednesday to try to halt his upcoming execution, arguing there are questions about the sedative that will be used. Robert Melson, 46, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Thursday for the 1994 fatal shooting at a Popeye's restaurant he was robbing in Gadsden, 60 miles northeast of Birmingham.

North Carolina governor presses lawmakers to redraw maps now

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is pushing Republican state legislators to immediately redraw General Assembly districts, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed that nearly 30 House and Senate maps are illegal racial gerrymanders. Cooper announced Wednesday he's calling a special session - to begin Thursday and run simultaneously with the current General Assembly work session - to get new maps drawn.