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Subpoena of AP records revives media shield bill

UPDATED 22:50 PM EDT, May 16, 2013 | FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The controversy over the government's secret subpoena of Associated Press telephone records has revived legislation that protect journalists from having to reveal their sources to federal investigators — and the White House is endorsing the idea.

The proposal wouldn't provide blanket protection for a journalist from having to reveal who he or she spoke to confidentially. But the government would have to convince a federal judge that the confidential source had compromised national security in speaking to the journalist.

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UPDATED 0:02 AM EDT, April 26, 2013

Judge: Limiting inmates' mail unconstitutional

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A federal judge in Oregon has determined limiting inmates' mail to only postcards is unconstitutional, throwing into question the legality of a practice used for years in jails across the country.

For two years, the Columbia County Jail north of Portland restricted inmates' personal mail to the sending and receiving of postcards until U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon issued an injunction that stopped the practice in May 2012.

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UPDATED 7:19 AM EDT, April 24, 2013

Dems, GOP press Obama on drone use

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats and Republicans on Tuesday challenged the Obama administration to explicitly spell out its justification for using drones for targeted killings amid growing concerns about unchecked powers of the presidency and Americans' civil liberties.

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UPDATED 15:49 PM EDT, April 5, 2013

Atty Gen: wants voting rights provision upheld

WASHINGTON (AP) — On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death, Attorney General Eric Holder challenged the Supreme Court to uphold a key section of the Voting Rights Act that requires all or part of 15 states with a history of discrimination to get federal clearance before carrying out changes in elections.

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UPDATED 19:54 PM EDT, March 25, 2013

Rove sees potential support for gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) — GOP strategist Karl Rove says he can imagine a Republican candidate in the next presidential campaign supporting gay marriage.

The statement from the former adviser to President George W. Bush appears to acknowledge that opposition to gay marriage has waned in some conservative circles.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, announced last week that he now supports gay marriage after learning one of his sons was gay.

Rove's comment was part of a panel discussion on ABC's "This Week." He did not elaborate.

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UPDATED 18:24 PM EDT, March 18, 2013

Clinton joins other Dems in backing gay marriage

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton's embrace of gay marriage Monday signals she may be seriously weighing a 2016 presidential run and trying to avoid the type of late-to-the-party caution that hurt her first bid.

Her chief Democratic rivals endorsed same-sex marriage as much as seven years ago, and it's widely popular with Democratic and independent voters.

By supporting gay marriage a full two years before the next presidential primary warms up, Clinton may render the issue largely settled among Democrats, should she decide to run.

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UPDATED 7:23 AM EDT, March 18, 2013

Serious problems persist in indigent legal defense

WASHINGTON (AP) — It is not the happiest of birthdays for the landmark Supreme Court decision that, a half-century ago, guaranteed a lawyer for criminal defendants who are too poor to afford one.

A unanimous high court issued its decision in Gideon v. Wainwright on March 18, 1963, declaring that states have an obligation to provide defendants with "the guiding hand of counsel" to ensure a fair trial for the accused.

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UPDATED 9:27 AM EDT, March 16, 2013

Judge rules secret FBI letters unconstitutional

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — They're called national security letters and the FBI issues thousands of them a year to banks, phone companies and other businesses demanding customer information. They're sent without judicial review and recipients are barred from disclosing them.

On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco declared the letters unconstitutional, saying the secretive demands for customer data violate the First Amendment.

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UPDATED 9:58 AM EST, January 12, 2013

Protesters forced to scale down at Obama inaugural

WASHINGTON (AP) — A protest group planning to stage a demonstration about unemployment at President Barack Obama's inauguration says it's being forced to scale down plans because it won't have much space on Washington's Freedom Plaza.

The ANSWER Coalition said Friday that the Presidential Inaugural Committee is taking over the plaza where protests have been held. Protesters will have a 10-yard-wide strip of sidewalk below the plaza.

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UPDATED 0:23 AM EDT, October 15, 2012

A public law school faces trial over liberal bias

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Praised by colleagues as smart, friendly and passionate about the law, Teresa Wagner was a leading candidate when two jobs came open to teach writing at the University of Iowa law school. An alumnus, she was already working part-time at its writing center and received positive reviews from students and a key committee.

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