A burglary conviction will stand after the Indiana Court of Appeals found race-neutral reasons to strike a black juror, though the appellate court did opine on best practices to avoid confusion in future Batson challenges.
Although the $34 billion budget dominated the session, legislators introduced and considered more than 600 bills each in both the Senate and the House. The ones they passed covered a variety of matters, including hate crimes, hemp, gambling, foster parents, electricity generation and, of course, electric scooters.
A 7th Circuit Court of Appeals panel affirmed the denial of a black student’s discrimination suit against Indiana University, finding no abuse of discretion in resolving discovery disputes regarding her classmate’s demographics.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is being sued in federal court by four women who say he drunkenly groping them during a party last year. The women, including an Indiana lawmaker, say their aim is to ensure all individuals working in and around the Indiana Statehouse are able to perform their jobs and pursue their careers free from sexual harassment, gender discrimination and retaliation for reporting such situations.
The Supreme Court is throwing out an Oregon court ruling against bakers who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The justices’ action Monday keeps the high-profile case off the court’s election-year calendar and orders state judges to take a new look at the dispute between the lesbian couple and the owners of a now-closed bakery in the Portland area.
Muncie-based First Merchants Bank has settled a federal lawsuit, following U.S. Department of Justice allegations that the bank engaged in lending discrimination by redlining predominantly African-American neighborhoods in Indianapolis.
The campus sexual assault lawsuit brought by an unidentified male student against Purdue University, which was one of the first such cases to be heard by a federal appellate court since the U.S. Department of Education issued its “Dear Colleague” letter in 2011, is still awaiting a ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals while the number of similar complaints being added to the dockets of circuit courts around the country continues to grow.
A former employee alleges Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann fired her unfairly after she rejected his romantic advances. Hermann denied the allegations but acknowledged the former employee had told him he had made her uncomfortable.
The mayor of Madison, Indiana, distancing his community from a local Ku Klux Klan group that is planning a rally in Ohio this month, saying the city doesn’t “stand for any kind of hate.”
When Ian Samuel returned to Twitter on Friday after a nearly six-month absence, he posted his letter of resignation, announcing his decision to leave Indiana University Maurer School of Law.
The Supreme Court is taking on a major test of LGBT rights in cases that look at whether federal civil rights law bans job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed legislation Wednesday aimed at getting Indiana off a list of five states without a hate crimes law, saying that the state has “made progress and taken a strong stand against targeted violence.”
The Indiana Senate adopted the House’s version of a bias crimes bill Tuesday afternoon, sending the legislation to Gov. Eric Holcomb despite complaints from opponents who say the bill isn’t specific enough.
Indiana lawmakers have shelved a bill that would have made it harder for residents to change their gender on driver’s licenses or state identification cards.
The Supreme Court was about to adjourn for the day when the Georgia baritone politely inquired of the lawyer at the lectern. Justice Clarence Thomas was breaking a three-year silence at high court arguments with a couple of questions in a case about racial discrimination in the South.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state’s anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple. The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed & Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs.
Indiana residents who don’t identify as male or female have the option starting this month of describing themselves as a nonbinary gender on their driver’s licenses and state identification cards.
Federal judges can’t rule from the grave, the US Supreme Court held Monday, writing that a federal court can’t count the vote of a judge who died in a decision issued after the judge’s death. The justices said “federal judges are appointed for life, not for eternity.”
The Republican-majority Senate stripped a hate crimes bill Tuesday of language that specified the types of crimes it would apply to — those motivated by race, religion, sexual orientation, gender and other categories — despite emotional pleas by Democrats to leave the bill as written.
A disability discrimination claim brought against Indianapolis Public Schools by a former bus attendant who says the school district failed to accommodate her medical conditions will continue on “extremely narrow” grounds, a federal judge has ruled.