courts and the judiciary

A teenager accused of plotting to kill her father two years ago is scheduled to appear Tuesday in Howard County Circuit Court for the start of her trial.

By Alison Knezevich

May 25, 2015

Howard County officials expect to lose more than $2 million in annual revenue after the Supreme Court decided this week that Maryland residents have been paying too much in taxes on out-of-state income.

A split decision Monday from the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled Maryland's income tax law as unconstitutional could cost Carroll about a $1 million in back taxes and several hundred thousands of dollars a year going forward.

There's a widespread assumption that racial, ethnic and sexual authenticity is bound up in support for liberal policies. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has one of the most poignant life stories of any African-American in public life, but he's routinely belittled as a sellout because he's conservative. Ben Carson, a child of an illiterate single mom in inner-city Detroit who became a world-renowned brain surgeon, has also gotten the "Uncle Tom" treatment.

The Senate has an opportunity to rein in the NSA's secret spying program

A Howard County man charged in two home invasions last year pleaded guilty Monday and will face at least a mandatory five-year minimum when he is sentenced.

The program, revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, has been challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union and other civil liberties groups. Most judges who have reviewed the program upheld it.

By Ian Duncan

May 7, 2015

A Hampstead man pleaded guilty to distribution and possession of child pornography in federal court Monday and will be sentenced in July.

After an appellate court found that a judge made improper statements while sentencing a man convicted of sexually abusing three children, he received the same sentencing at a hearing Thursday.

Yhe past year's examples of racially charged police abuses from Ferguson to Staten Island to North Charleston affecting the Supreme Court.

The owner of the Canton diner Sip & Bite, who was previously charged in federal cocaine sting in Virginia, has pleaded guilty in the case, federal court records show.

By Jessica Anderson

Apr 16, 2015

Maryland's second highest court has faulted state oversight of local efforts to control polluted runoff, in a case that could have bearing on legislation in Annapolis to repeal storm-water fees for cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay.

By Timothy B. Wheeler

Apr 7, 2015

Alan Gross was languishing in prison in Cuba when he sued the federal government for allegedly failing to prepare him for his dangerous mission on the communist island.

By Ian Duncan

Apr 6, 2015

Before the current Supreme Court session ends this summer, the justices will make a landmark decision on same-sex marriage. But conservatives shouldn't wait to lose in court. They should accept same-sex marriage now. I say this as a conservative who recognizes that the arguments against it are the type of anti-freedom fightin' words guys like me hate.

Arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court last week over whether Texas can refuse to issue license plates bearing the Confederate battle flag to the group Sons of Confederate Veterans should sound familiar.

By Kevin Rector

Mar 28, 2015

President Barack Obama has nominated trial attorney Paula Xinis to become a U.S. District Court judge in Maryland.

A federal appeals court will hear arguments on key provisions of Maryland's sweeping gun-control law.

Americans have a First Amendment right to fly the flag of their choice but government-issued license plates are a different matter altogether

The lawsuit specifically takes aim at the ILA's decision last fall to put Local 333 under trusteeship for alleged mismanagement, its refusal to recognize recently admitted members of the local, and "regular, continuing, and institutionalized acts of racial discrimination" committed against Local 333 by the ILA and STA, in violation of a 1971 federal court order designed to end such conduct.

When eighth-graders at Monarch Academy crack open their textbooks to read about Thurgood Marshall and Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, they'll do so knowing they've sat in the same church pews and walked along the same streets as the civil rights legends.

Darrell Homer, 24, was sentenced to life in prison with all but 30 years suspended by Circuit Court Judge Stephen J. Sfekas after pleading guilty to first-degree murder, prosecutors announced. Homer had confessed to police, they said.

A 37-year-old man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court Thursday to robbing a Northwest Baltimore 7-Eleven — a heist that ended with him being shot by a police officer.

The former leader of a Baltimore treatment center pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday to stealing from the employee retirement plan and mishandling employee income taxes.

By Pamela Wood

Mar 17, 2015

Legal argument to make same-sex marriage apply nationally makes sense for conceal carry permits, too

A Pikesville man is facing up to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to sell contraband cigarettes. Ilgar Rakhamimov was one of several people implicated in an Azerbaijani crime ring involving illegal cigarettes and prescription drugs.

By Pamela Wood

Mar 16, 2015

Judge Joseph H. Young, a retired federal District Court judge who presided over the 1974 corruption trial of Baltimore County Executive Dale Anderson, died Saturday of complications of a fall he suffered two weeks ago. He was 92 and resided at Roland Park Place.

By Jacques Kelly

Mar 15, 2015

When Michigan State takes the court against Maryland in Saturday's Big Ten semifinals, the Spartans will be carrying those memories of frustration and futility.

By Don Markus

Mar 14, 2015

The chief deputy clerk of the Baltimore City Circuit Court was promoted Thursday to succeed Frank M. Conaway, Sr., who died last month after 17 years as clerk, the court announced.

By Colin Campbell

Mar 12, 2015

A local order of nuns that has sued the federal government over a contraception coverage requirement under Obamacare found hope in a ruling Monday by the Supreme Court, which backed the University of Notre Dame in a similar action.

Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh issued a legal analysis Monday arguing same-sex marriage bans in states across the country are based solely on "fear, prejudice, and hate," and must be overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

By Kevin Rector

Mar 9, 2015

Former Baltimore police officer Samuel Ocasio will have his conspiracy conviction heard by the Supreme Court this year. The court will settle a legal interpretation on how lower courts interpret a conspiracy charge under the Hobbs Act.

By Mark Puente

Mar 7, 2015

An Ellicott City man accused of embezzling money from a nonprofit behavioral health company has been working as a fiscal officer for the Howard County government.

Should Supreme Court dismantle Affordable Care Act, a single payer system can't be far away

Cornelius F. Sybert Jr., a retired Howard County Circuit Court judge whose legal career spanned four decades, died.

By Frederick N. Rasmussen

Mar 4, 2015

Maryland General Assembly should take the threat of big money and party politics out of how it selects circuit court judges

Justice Kennedy turns a debate about four words in the ACA into a constitutional question.

A man was shot and injured in East Baltimore Sunday night, though the victim is expected to survive, police said.

By Carrie Wells

Mar 2, 2015

The Court of Appeals of Maryland — the highest court in the state — will be hearing a lawsuit Monday regarding whether central committees shall recommend one name or several to fill a legislative vacancy.

A 24-year-old Towson man was sentenced in federal court Wednesday to 42 months in prison for possession of child pornography.

By Alison Knezevich

Feb 25, 2015

A 60-year-old Baltimore man pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to robbing a prescription drug van carrying $93,000 worth of pharmaceutical drugs, prosecutors said.

Harford's Norman joins Senate judicial proceedings, court rules panels