ACLU's Romero said Trump's stands would violate the First, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendment rights of Americans. He said ACLU must "muster all the legal arguments we can to derail and deter [Trump's] patently anti-civil liberties proposals should he become...president. Our institutions...are stronger than the will of one man. But we need to be prepared because the very freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution could come under a sustained attack by a President Trump..."   read more

The panel concluded that the fisheries service "did not give adequate protection to areas of the world's oceans flagged by its own experts as biologically important," according to a summary accompanying the court's decision. "The result is that a meaningful proportion of the world's marine mammal habitat is under-protected," according to the decision. Sonar, used to detect submarines, can injure whales, seals, dolphins and walruses and disrupt their feeding and mating.   read more

The food industry supports the legislation, which was the result of bipartisan Senate negotiations. But many advocates do not, arguing that many consumers won't be able to read electronic labels and that there aren't enough penalties for companies that don't comply. "If there is an acknowledgement about the right of a consumer to have access to information, why not give them the information in plain and simple English?" asked Welch on the House floor.   read more

Nearly 14 million requests for background checks to purchase a gun were made in the first half of this year - a 25% increase over 2015. More requests have been made in the first half of 2016 than were made in entire years from 1998 through 2008. Texas, among the top states in the nation for gun ownership, notched more than 800,000 requests so far this year. "No matter your politics, there is an overwhelming fear the world is becoming less safe," said retired FBI agent Chuck Joyner.   read more

Hawaii is a national leader in rooftop solar power, but despite the state's ambitious goal of using only renewable energy by 2045, people are being shut out of solar incentive programs because of limits set by the state. The cap likely will be reached on Oahu — the state's most populated island — by the end of summer, experts say. "Folks have gone out of business," Reed said. "There's some walking zombie companies that are barely squeaking along."   read more

Bucher said she received about 50 complaints, including threats of violence, from people who don't want to vote in a mosque. "If we are going to use places of worship as polling places, we should not discriminate," Deutch said. "People of religion need to understand that we all have a common enemy -- those who do violent acts in the name of religion," said CAIR's Omar Saleh. "...By removing the polling place you let the terrorists win. They want to instill fear and this is one way to do it."   read more

Marlow said the bill has been a model for legislation in other states. "Remember where we are right now," he said. "A private employer can say 'I want to see your Facebook account or you're fired.' It happens all the time. Google it. There are hundreds of cases; not just employees or potential employees, but students, tenants who are required by landlords to hand over their passwords. Social media has no First Amendment protection."   read more

At UT Austin, faculty have been especially vocal against the new law. Their lawsuit was filed assuming UT professors would be able to keep guns out of their offices. The professors want the right to keep them out of their classrooms, too, said attorney Renea Hicks. "The challenge...was in the ability to exercise the option to keep guns out of the classroom," she said. "The issue is...Do individual professors have a right to exclude guns from the classroom?"   read more

"FOIA has become a tool of secrecy," Cullier said. "Agencies are gaming the system, hiding information from the public, like information on unsafe drinking water, and unnecessary spending. The Obama administration has set new records on secrecy. They are stamping 'No' more frequently, even as they process requests faster. Seventy-seven percent of the time, people are told 'No,' or that the government can't find it."   read more

In a harshly worded opinion, Judge Pechman said the state is not taking "all of the steps necessary to protect the rights of some of our most vulnerable citizens." She wrote: "The people of Washington deserve to have their mental health needs and the needs of their spouses, parents, children, and friends attended to with the same urgency and dignity our society expects hospitals to respond with when presented with a broken bone or a cancerous tumor."   read more

The lawsuit, according to industry and legal experts, is the first of its kind to go to trial in the U.S., and its outcome could help shape future fights over coal ash ponds and the extent to which certain federal regulations apply. Whichever way he rules, experts said, Gibney's decision is likely to be appealed. But the case could lead to a definitive ruling that affects coal ash disposal around the country. "This has Supreme Court written all over it," said Professor Patrick Parenteau.   read more

Eight inmates were attacked by gang members who jumped out of a closet and beat and stabbed them, some of them as many as 18 times. They claim that CCA hid its "cruel and unusual punishments" from the state, despite repeated lawsuits against CCA over the year. The Associated Press reported in 2013 that CCA had falsified reports to hide understaffing, in violation of a court order and its $29 million annual contract with the state.   read more

Among the protesters were many who showed up with AR-15 rifles. Because they ran in the middle of the shooting, police viewed them as suspects. “There should be some way to say I shouldn’t be bringing my shotgun to a Mavericks game or to a protest because something crazy should happen,” said Mayor Rawlings. “I just want to come back to common sense.” The state’s open-carry culture, he said, had imperiled people on the streets of Dallas.   read more

Robot designer William Cohen said that robot was built to save lives instead of ending them. Although he was relieved the killing of the armed suspect in Dallas assured that no other officers or bystanders would be harmed, Cohen says he's worried about what might happen next: "It opens a whole new set of questions of how to deal with these kinds of situations. "Where are the police going to draw the line when trying to decide between continuing to negotiate and doing something like this?"   read more

Prof. Glass saw a student display animosity toward her assistant. If the gun law had been in effect, Glass says, it "would have left her hesitant to confront the student." Prof. Carter has been threatened by students with mental health issues. "All this would be made even worse were guns allowed into the classroom," she says. The professors say their right to self-defense is infringed by being "forced to allow handguns in their classroom."   read more

Hornung said that he suffered concussions and subconcussive brain traumas while wearing Riddell's plastic helmets, "supposedly to better protect his head and brain." The helmets provided no brain protection at all, but players "were led to believe that the innovative helmets would do so," Hornung adds. Riddell "knew of the long-term effects of brain traumas sustained by football players while wearing [its] supposed protective equipment," but never warned players that they were in danger.   read more