Law

Many GOP Candidates Not Commenting On Gay Marriage Wave

7:16pm October 16, 2014

Robert Siegel talks with Washington Post political correspondent, Karen Tumulty, about the role gay marriage is playing as an issue in the 2014 elections — especially for Republicans.

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For some rural vets who live far from a VA hospital, getting medical care has meant driving a day or two from home, and missing work.

A Benefit For Rural Vets: Getting Health Care Close To Home

7:13pm October 16, 2014

by Quil Lawrence

Veterans in some rural areas have to travel hundreds of miles on empty interstates to get health care, losing a day of work or sometimes two. A new program lets them see nearby doctors instead.

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Sports

Football Players In Sayreville, N.J., Charged In Sexual Assault

6:45pm October 16, 2014

by Sarah Gonzales

Seven football players at Sayreville War Memorial High School have been charged in connection with criminal sexual contact involving younger players. The state may charge them as adults.

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Politics & Government

Justice Department's Civil Rights Division To Get Interim Leader

12:32pm October 16, 2014

by Carrie Johnson

ACLU deputy legal director Vanita Gupta will lead the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. She will likely be nominated for Senate confirmation to hold the job permanently.

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A group of professors at Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass., has slammed the school's new sexual assault policy, saying it gives victims an unfair advantage.

Harvard Law Professors Say New Sexual Assault Policy Is One-Sided

10:32am October 16, 2014

by Tovia Smith

A group of 28 law professors has written an open letter criticizing the university's new sexual assault policy, citing due process concerns and saying it gives victims more rights than the accused.

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'Culture Of Violence' Pervades Rikers' Juvenile Facilities

4:19pm October 15, 2014

by Joel Rose

Automatically charged as adults in New York, the 16- and 17-year-old boys are at risk for assault by both corrections officers and other inmates. But advocates say reform efforts are moving slowly.

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Supreme Court Blocks Abortion Rules That Closed Most Texas Clinics

12:39pm October 15, 2014

by Eyder Peralta and Chris Hopkins

The Fifth Circuit court had ruled that the laws, requiring admitting privileges and pricy upgrades, could go into effect as it considered the case. The Supreme Court decided otherwise late Tuesday.

John Yoo, a former lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice, argues that the NSA's phone records surveillance program is constitutional.

National

Debate: Does Mass Phone Data Collection Violate The 4th Amendment?

11:25am October 15, 2014

by NPR Staff

In the latest Intelligence Squared debate, John Yoo and other legal scholars faced off over the constitutionality of the National Security Agency's phone surveillance program.

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Twitter is suing the federal government over First Amendment rights. The tech company says the government stopped it from releasing extra detail about government requests for user information.

National

Twitter Is Suing The U.S. Over Free Speech (Its Own)

11:28am October 14, 2014

by Laura Sydell

Twitter sued the federal government because it stopped the tech company from disclosing government requests for user information. Twitter says the current disclosure rules aren't transparent enough.

Lynda Johnson (center) cries as she watches her daughter Kandyce Johnson (left) marry Jana Downs in Charlotte, N.C., on Monday. Same-sex couples lined up to get marriage licenses Monday, the first day Mecklenburg County issued the licenses.

National

North Carolina And Alaska Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

8:25pm October 13, 2014

by Bill Chappell

A shift in the two states is among the cascading effects of the Supreme Court's refusal to review any appeals in same-sex marriage cases in its current term.