Law

National

Democrats push for a code of ethics for the Supreme Court in hearing

4:20pm May 02, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the need for a code of ethics for the Supreme Court. The issue has arisen following news reports about several justices and their business dealings.

Sen. Dick Durbin, top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, speaks during a hearing on Supreme Court ethics on Tuesday.

Politics & Government

Partisan divide drives Senate hearing on Supreme Court ethics

4:03pm May 02, 2023

by Nina Totenberg

Senators heard from witnesses, ranging from judicial ethics experts to a former attorney general in the George W. Bush administration, but used their questioning to reinforce their own arguments.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Tuesday that the department's investigative operation targeting fentanyl and opioid traffickers on the dark web resulted in a record number of arrests and seizures.

National

Record number of people arrested in an international fentanyl operation, DOJ says

1:47pm May 02, 2023

by Deepa Shivaram

The Department of Justice announced arrests in an international operation targeting fentanyl sales on the dark web that spanned the U.S., Europe and South America. Nearly 300 people were arrested.

Politics & Government

Morning news brief

10:17am May 02, 2023

The U.S. could run out of cash to pay its bills by June 1. Hollywood writers are striking against the major studios. The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Supreme Court ethics.

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A mobile billboard showing Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts passes the U.S. Capitol on Friday.

Politics & Government

The Senate holds its Supreme Court ethics hearing this week — with no justices

4:53pm May 01, 2023

by Rachel Treisman

Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on Supreme Court ethics reform, Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono tells NPR that the highest court in the U.S. should have the highest ethical standards.

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National

Supreme Court needs a code of conduct, says judicial ethics expert

4:26pm May 01, 2023

NPR's Sacha Pfeiffer talks with Indiana University law professor Charles Geyh about Senate efforts to pass a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court.

A federal court in Little Rock says Candance Chapman Scott illegally sold and shipped human body parts taken from medical cadavers from the University of Arkansas Medical School.

National

Arkansas woman pleads not guilty to selling over 20 boxes of stolen human body parts

11:37am May 01, 2023

by Emily Olson

She was hired to cremate medical cadavers. But first, she harvested organs, skin and genitalia and sold them to a man she met through a Facebook group called Oddities, according to court documents.

Saint Columba Catholic Church in Oakland, Calif., commemorates every murder in the city with wooden crosses in its front garden. The city's homicide rate remains stubbornly high while its murder clearance rate remains well under the already low national average.

National

More people are getting away with murder. Unsolved killings reach a record high

7:00am April 30, 2023

by Eric Westervelt

U.S. murder clearance or solve rates have hit an all-time low. Experts say mutual mistrust between police and some communities is creating a vicious cycle where unsolved killings breed more mistrust.

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National

Abortion bans fail to pass in 2 conservative states

9:04pm April 29, 2023

by Selena Simmons-Duffin

In the year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a number of states have dealt with the issue of abortion access in their legislatures. This week was particularly eventful.

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National

In New Mexico, anti-abortion activists take abortion restrictions local

5:36pm April 29, 2023

by Sarah McCammon

New Mexico is at the heart of a fight over abortion rights that's pitting local anti-abortion ordinances against state officials who support abortion rights.

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