Justice
May 4, 2018 -
The plaintiffs in the historic federal nuisance lawsuit against the hog industry's waste disposal practices in North Carolina could face complications in collecting the $50 million verdict because of an industry-promoted state law that limits punitive damages. Their attorneys are challenging the law's constitutionality.
April 27, 2018 -
A federal appeals court recently ruled that Florida can keep its harsh re-enfranchisement system in place. But a November ballot referendum there could lead to reforms, which have also recently come to states including Alabama and Virginia.
April 27, 2018 -
Armed with a new study documenting the deadly poverty that plagues the U.S., coalitions in at least 40 states — including every state in the South — are preparing for 40 days of direct action to demand an end to public policies that hurt the most vulnerable.
April 26, 2018 -
This week the Environmental Protection Agency held a public hearing in Virginia on a proposal to roll back federal coal ash regulation. Among those who weighed in was a newspaperman from a rural Georgia community that's been targeted for coal ash dumping.
April 20, 2018 -
A lawsuit filed this week against a Tennessee-based private prison corporation that operates an immigrant detention center in Georgia is the latest in a series of such suits challenging prison companies' practices under human trafficking laws — but a group of Republican lawmakers wants the government to defend the companies.
April 19, 2018 -
A law targeting white-supremacist terrorism is being used to sue a conservative Virginia activist who falsely accused people of voting illegally — the latest example of how the Reconstruction-era statute remains relevant today.
March 29, 2018 -
For years, Southern state legislators have tried to defend racial gerrymandering by claiming that it's required by the Voting Rights Act. Now the Trump administration is pointing to the same law to justify a new census question about citizenship.