Law

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch (left) stands next to Chief Justice John Roberts outside the court in 2017.

Politics & Government

How a Supreme Court justice's paragraph put the Voting Rights Act in more danger

2:29pm February 26, 2023

by Hansi Lo Wang

Justice Neil Gorsuch tacked on a handful of sentences to a 2021 Supreme Court ruling, planting the seeds of a legal fight that could further weaken Voting Rights Act protections for people of color.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, seen speaking at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash., last March, is one of a dozen state attorneys general arguing for expanded access to an abortion pill that carries extra FDA restrictions.

National

Washington state attorney general says FDA rules on abortion drug are unreasonable

9:14pm February 25, 2023

A coalition of state attorneys general is suing the Food and Drug Administration over its regulation of mifepristone. NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson.

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How courts fail survivors of domestic violence

5:41pm February 25, 2023

NPR's Michel Martin talks to Dr. Judith Herman, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who says the courts fail to secure meaningful justice for survivors of domestic violence.

A lawsuit over an abortion pill could about change how the FDA approves medicines

5:56pm February 24, 2023

by Sydney Lupkin

A federal judge is set to rule in a case challenging the FDA's approval of an abortion pill decades ago. Siding with the anti-abortion group may have ripple effects on drug approvals as we know them.

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Mifepristone was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 to induce first-trimester abortions in combination with a second drug, misoprostol.

Democratic state attorneys general sue Biden administration over abortion pill rules

5:53pm February 24, 2023

by Sarah McCammon

The suit comes as a federal judge in another case is considering whether to overturn FDA approval of the same drug, mifepristone.

Disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh faced hours of cross-examination by prosecutor Creighton Waters during his murder trial in the 2021 deaths of his wife and son.

National

On the stand, Alex Murdaugh denies the murders as prosecutors press him on his lies

5:00pm February 24, 2023

by Bill Chappell

For hours on Friday, the lead prosecutor interrogated the disgraced South Carolina attorney over his lies about stealing money and his whereabouts the night his wife and son were killed in June 2021.

Ilyasah Shabazz (C), daughter of African-American activist Malcolm X, speaks alongside civil rights attorney Ben Crump (L) and co-counsel Ray Hamlin (R) during a press conference in New York on February 21, at the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center, formerly known as the Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was shot dead at 39 on Feb. 21, 1965.

World News

Malcom X's family is suing the CIA, FBI and NYPD

4:38pm February 24, 2023

by Leila Fadel

Malcolm X's daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and attorney Ben Crump talk to Morning Edition's Leila Fadel about their plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the NYPD and other government agencies.

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Alex Murdaugh denies murders, but admits to lying to police

5:46am February 24, 2023

by Victoria Hansen

The salacious murder trial of a prominent South Carolina attorney took a new twist when Alex Murdaugh took the stand in his own defense in the killings of his wife and son.

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National

Sentencing Commission considers what would qualify inmates for compassionate release

5:01pm February 23, 2023

by Carrie Johnson

The Sentencing Commission is considering changing how federal prisoners can request compassionate release, a program essential to inmates with a terminally illness or other extraordinary circumstance.

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Alex Murdaugh is testifying in his murder trial at the Colleton County Courthouse in Walterboro, S.C. He is seen here on Tuesday, listening to his defense attorneys Phillip Barber, left, and Dick Harpootlian.

National

Alex Murdaugh denies killing his wife and son — but admits he lied about his alibi

4:59pm February 23, 2023

by Bill Chappell

The former lawyer's testimony in his own murder trial marks the latest dramatic shift in a case involving a wealthy, prominent South Carolina family.