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Grant to help veterans court expand services
Legal World News |
2014/12/11 14:46
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A federal grant will help the Tennessee Veterans Treatment Court expand services over the next three years so that it can serve more people in Shelby, Montgomery and Davidson counties.
The court allows service members and veterans who end up in the criminal justice system to choose treatment and recovery programs instead of ending up behind bars.
The Leaf-Chronicle reports the $1.5 million grant will allow the Montgomery County veterans court to increase its capacity from 40 to 78. Much of the Fort Campbell Army post is located in the county.
In all, the grant will allow the program to serve 263 more veterans over a three-year period.
"It's much more than just a way for veterans to avoid a jail sentence," said E. Douglas Varney, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Mental Health. "This is a voluntary decision for a service member who's arrested on a non-violent offense to seek help, get into recovery and start receiving the mental health and substance abuse treatment they need."
Officials aim to help veterans find out why they engage in criminal behavior and break the cycle. In addition to assessing, analyzing and treating problems, services including job assistance are available to those who volunteer.
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Court weighs role of race in Alabama redistricting
Legal Information |
2014/12/11 14:43
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The Supreme Court wrestled Wednesday with a dispute over the use of race to redraw political districts that turns the usual arguments on their heads.
The complicated case argued at the high court involves the use of a landmark voting rights law that led to the election of African-Americans across the South and Supreme Court decisions that limited the use of race to draw electoral maps.
Only in this case, Republicans in Alabama are invoking the Voting Rights Act to justify concentrating black voters in some legislative districts, and African-Americans challenging the state's legislative maps said the GOP relied too heavily on race.
"Do you realize you are making the argument that the opponents of black plaintiffs used to make here?" Justice Antonin Scalia asked a lawyer for the challengers. Scalia appeared favorable to the state's argument.
Justice Stephen Breyer was more skeptical of the state's claims, but he too found the role reversal curious. "This is an obverse and odd situation," Breyer told Alabama Solicitor General Andrew Brasher.
The outcome could come down to whether the justices think that race was the motivating factor in the state's 2012 redistricting or that Republicans merely tried to maximize their partisan advantage. |
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Kansas watches high court justice on gay marriage
Legal World News |
2014/12/11 14:43
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Kansas gay-rights advocates are watching the U.S. Supreme Court as they hope same-sex couples can get marriage licenses this week.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday temporarily blocked gay marriages in Kansas, but it wasn't clear how long she or the high court would continue to do so.
Sotomayor put on hold a federal judge's injunction preventing the state from enforcing its gay-marriage ban. The lower-court ruling was to take effect at 5 p.m. CST Tuesday.
The judge's injunction came in a lawsuit filed last month by the American Civil Liberties Union. Kansas wants to keep enforcing its ban while the lawsuit is reviewed.
Sotomayor directed the ACLU to respond Tuesday. If the justice reconsiders, gay couples could head to Kansas courthouses Wednesday morning.
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RI court hears $60M dispute with Catholic order
Law Firm News |
2014/12/11 14:42
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The niece of a woman who gave more than $60 million to a now-disgraced Catholic order is asking the Rhode Island Supreme Court to let her sue so the money can go somewhere more deserving.
The court is due to hear arguments Tuesday over lawsuits brought by Mary Lou Dauray against the Legion of Christ, whose founder secretly molested seminarians and fathered three children. Dauray's aunt, Gabrielle Mee, died in 2008 and left everything she owned to the Legion.
A Superior Court judge ruled in 2012 that Douray did not have standing to sue and threw out her lawsuits against the Legion of Christ and Bank of America, which Douray claimed breached its fiduciary duty as the trustee of Mee's estate.
When Judge Michael Silverstein issued that decision, however, he wrote there was evidence that the Legion had exerted undue influence on the widow.
The Legion was founded in 1941 by the late Rev. Marcial Maciel. Documents show Vatican officials knew about his abuse for decades but looked the other way as the conservative order brought in money and vocations. The Vatican took over the Legion in 2010 and launched a reform process which culminated this year with the election of a new government and approval of constitutions.
But priests and followers continue to leave the movement. The Legion announced in October that the college it owned in Smithfield, where Mee once lived as a consecrated member of its lay movement, would close next year. |
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