Michigan Litigation Law Blog | Local Michigan and National Legal News Updates

Few protections are as essential to individual liberty as the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Framers made that right explicit in the Bill of Rights following their experience with the indignities and invasions of privacy wrought by "general warrants and warrantless searches that had so alienated the colonists and had helped speed the movement for independence." Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752, 761 (1969). Ever mindful of the Fourth Amendment and its history, the Court has viewed with disfavor practices that permit "police officers unbridled discretion to rummage at will among a person's private effects." Arizona v. Gant, 556 U. S. 332, 345 (2009).

The Supreme Court said Monday that employers can prevent employees from joining together to file class-action lawsuits through arbitration clauses in their contracts, dealing a blow to organized labor and upholding the Trump administration’s position on federal employment law.

Since it began, Michigan's effort to give poor people a fairer fight in court has been led by individuals trained in a lifetime of social justice.  

A 2-2 vote from the state Board of Canvassers on a ballot proposal to end union-scale wages for public construction projects means the effort is stalled and headed to the Court of Appeals.

A federal judge in Washington state has issued a permanent injunction that blocks the Trump administration from slashing grants to a Planned Parenthood program that funds teen pregnancy prevention programs across the country.

The decision came from US District Judge Thomas Rice on Tuesday, whose ruling stated that the Trump administration cannot end the program, due to the fact that it would cause harm.

By a 7-to-2 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that the procedure was a permissible way for the agency that administers patents to fix its mistakes.

A federal appeals court appears to be on the side of Michigan prisoners seeking credit for good behavior.

Even state prisoners have civil rights, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.

In a 2-1 opinion, the court ruled that a 1999 amendment that excluded prisoners from coverage under the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act is unconstitutional.

Just when you thought you wouldn’t hear about the monkey selfie ever again, the legal saga lives once more. Although the parties — the photographer, a self-publishing book company, and PETA, on behalf of the selfie-taking monkey — reached a settlement in September of last year, the Ninth Circuit is now refusing to dismiss the case. This means the court will be coming out with an official appellate decision about the monkey selfie.

Three former waitresses at the Grand Coney restaurant in Grand Rapids filed a lawsuit alleging they and other women were victims of sexual harassment by a shift manager at the restaurant.

The case presents a clash between two vitally important rights: The right to vote in a safe environment and the right to say (and wear) what you want.

Judge Curiel, once attacked by Trump, rules border wall can proceed

The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will stay out of the dispute concerning the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for now, meaning the Trump administration may not be able to end the program March 5 as planned.

The U.S. Supreme Court began churning out opinions Wednesday, producing four decisions — as many as the justices have produced over the past 4 1/2 months combined.

A man attacked by a police dog while handcuffed during an arrest near Minneapolis has filed a federal lawsuit.

Emojis and emoticons are becoming an increasingly prevalent part of our American vernacular. The small icons belong to a visual language expressed through text messages and emails — and they're not going anywhere.

The nation's powerful public employee unions stand to lose membership, money and political muscle at the hands of the Supreme Court this year. The only question appears to be how much.