Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden’s attorney general nominee, vowed Monday to prioritize combating extremist violence with an initial focus on the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as he sought to assure lawmakers that the Justice Department would remain politically independent on his watch.
Gov. Eric Holcomb has been presented a second time with the same slate of nominees to fill a vacancy on the St. Joseph Superior Court, potentially curing an injunction that had blocked the governor’s appointment after a local commission member sued, claiming two fellow members were ineligible.
Frost Brown Todd is opening a new office in Washington, D.C., consolidating the firm’s federal public policy and regulatory practices into the new location and drawing upon the expertise of attorneys throughout the firm’s other nine offices, including Indianapolis.
A coalition of former federal judges, including two from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, is urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Judge Merrick Garland as the U.S. Attorney General, describing him as having a “strong moral compass and abiding integrity.”
An Indianapolis lawyer who was suspended for his noncooperation with two attorney misconduct investigations has had his suspension in one of those cases lifted. However, the lawyer is still unable to practice law in Indiana.
Indiana’s appellate courts are set to hear arguments next week in a case related to medical malpractice and one dealing with disability issues arising under Kentucky law.
A longtime private practitioner in a small Evansville law firm was appointed as judge of the Vanderburgh Superior Court on Thursday. Gov. Eric Holcomb announced the appointment of the new jurist who will succeed Judge Richard G. D’Amour upon his retirement in April.
Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law is partnering with Purdue University to create the first agricultural economics and law program in the nation, the Indianapolis law school has announced.
The Lake County Bar Association on Thursday issued the most damning rebuke to date of a bill in the Indiana General Assembly that would alter how judges in that county and St. Joseph County are selected. The northwest Indiana county’s bar called the bill “an abomination” and “a political power play by parties not even within Lake County to take even more power away from the people of Lake County in selecting their judges.”
Members of the state’s highest court last week turned away nine cases on petition for transfer but agreed to hear arguments in three cases, including disputes over the legality of teacher contracts and two media companies’ litigation over the use of consumer data.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana is closing all federal courthouses Feb. 16 because of the winter storm dumping heavy snow throughout much of Indiana. Likewise, many state courts also closed, including Marion Superior and Circuit Courts.
The Legal Services Corporation, which supports legal aid agencies across the country including Indiana Legal Services, is asking the federal government for hundreds of millions in supplemental funding, saying low-income Americans are being hit especially hard by the economic devastation from the pandemic.
A Marion County deputy prosecutor has been named the newest member of the Marion Superior Court bench.
Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson on Monday announced plans to resign from office after Gov. Eric Holcomb “selects a successor and the successor is ready to serve.” Lawson, 71, is the longest-serving secretary of state in Indiana history. She was appointed to the office by then-Gov. Mitch Daniels in March 2012 and was elected in 2014 and 2018.
Donald Trump was acquitted Saturday of inciting the horrific attack on the U.S. Capitol, concluding a historic impeachment trial that spared him the first-ever conviction of a current or former U.S. president but exposed the fragility of America’s democratic traditions and left a divided nation to come to terms with the violence sparked by his defeated presidency.
Valparaiso University announced Thursday that is dropping the team name Crusaders, the school mascot and all logos associated with the term that it says has been embraced by hate groups.
The pending retirement of Allen Superior Judge Charles F. Pratt from the court’s Family Relations Division will create a judicial vacancy, and qualified candidates have until 1 p.m. March 10 to apply, the Indiana Supreme Court announced Friday.
The Southern Indiana District Court has announced plans to resume in-person jury trials in April following a months-long hiatus due to the pandemic. Jury trials in Southern District courts are expected to resume April 5, and clerk offices in all divisions will reopen to the public next week.
Indiana health officials will soon expand coronavirus vaccines to Hoosiers ages 60 to 65 as they continue to sidestep federal recommendations for vaccine rollout and delay the timeline for teachers and other essential workers to become eligible for COVID-19 shots.
Indiana legislators would face coming up with $3.5 million a year for local police agencies if they repeal the state law requiring a permit to carry a handgun in public.