After Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker on Thursday afternoon rejected his motion objecting to Marion County’s plan for early voting, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill turned to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. Hill is proceeding over the objection of Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson, whose office is charged by law with election oversight.
A motion filed by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill to amend a consent decree establishing multiple early voting sites in Marion County for the upcoming November general election has been denied. Indiana Southern District Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker wrote the state’s objections have no merit.
Marion County’s decision to open additional voting centers is being contested by Attorney General Curtis Hill, but the Marion County Election Board disputes his assertion that the agreement to offer more early voting sites is contrary to Indiana law or that the board lacked a unanimous vote.
A federal lawsuit against the Indianapolis police chief will continue after a district court judge declined to abstain from hearing the case alleging a local ordinance restricting panhandling is unconstitutional.
Marion County voters will be able to vote in one of six satellite voting locations in the 2018 general election, officials announced Wednesday in response to a federal court order. A consent decree entered earlier this month required the county to establish at least five early-voting locations.
Damon R. Leichty, partner in the South Bend office of Barnes & Thornburg LLP, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, potentially filling the last empty seat in the federal judiciary in Indiana. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Leichty will fill the vacancy created when Judge Robert L. Miller, Jr., took senior status in January 2016.
The Marion County Election Board has agreed to open five additional satellite locations for early in-person voting starting with the 2018 general election, settling a lawsuit brought in 2017 by Common Cause Indiana and the NAACP. Senior judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana signed on Tuesday a consent decree offered by the plaintiffs and defendants.
The nominees for the Northern and Southern Indiana district courts will have to wait at least another week before they receive a vote from the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The committee unanimously agreed Thursday to hold over a host of nominees to the federal bench, including Holly Brady and James Patrick Hanlon, nominees for the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts, respectively.
A federal judge Wednesday ordered Marion County to establish at least two early satellite voting precincts in time for the November general election, though the court refrained from requiring them in time for the May 8 primary election.
A federal judge has barred the Marion County Sheriff’s Office from detaining people in Indianapolis based solely on requests by immigration officials.
President Donald Trump has nominated Barnes & Thornburg partner James Sweeney II for a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
A federal judge Wednesday ruled against 27 workers who claimed they suffered respiratory injuries from exposure to a microwave popcorn butter flavor ingredient that has been linked to lung disease in the manufacturing process.
A workhorse court within the 7th Circuit, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has long been designated as a judicial emergency. It’s now having to cope with the caseload made heavier by the recent deaths of two colleagues.
A federal judge is set to hear arguments in a lawsuit seeking to block a new Indiana law that makes it tougher for girls under age 18 to get an abortion without their parents’ knowledge. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky say portions of the new law are unconstitutional.
An Indiana law prohibiting voters from taking photos of their ballots for personal use is an unconstitutional violation of First Amendment rights, a district court judge has decided.
While secrecy in the voting booth has become a thing of the past for those ready to share their views and daily lives on social media, laws nationwide are mixed on whether voters are allowed to take pictures of themselves in the act or of their ballots — "ballot selfies".
Veteran jurist and now Senior Judge Sarah Evans Barker will be honored Thursday when Courtroom 216 is named in her honor at the Birch Bayh Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Indianapolis. A ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. in the courtroom.
In recognition of District Judge Sarah Evans Barker’s more than 30 years of service on the federal bench, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has named a courtroom in her honor.
A ruling in favor of Emmis Communications in a federal lawsuit brought by owners of preferred shares in the company was affirmed Thursday by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The impact of the filibuster rule change on the role politics plays in the confirmation process remains to be seen.