52
votes
A man killed my son and married one of the witnesses. Can the witness's statements still be used in court against him?
Short Answer
SIMPLIFIED AND UPDATED BASED ON ADDITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE QUESTION:
The marriage is valid, but their marriage will not allow the girlfriend to refuse to testify as a witness in the ...
- 195k
37
votes
Accepted
In the US, can the courts intervene if an extremely destructive (but constitutional) law is passed?
Generally, the legislature is not restricted to passing laws that are a good idea. This has been remarked on by the Supreme Court (in Justice Stevens's concurrence, emphasis added):
But as I recall ...
- 10.2k
37
votes
Accepted
Why the obscure but specific description of Jane Doe II in the original complaint for Westenbroek v. Kappa Kappa Gamma Fraternity?
This case was filed in federal court under diversity jurisdiction, meaning that it’s a lawsuit between citizens of different states. In most cases, diversity jurisdiction requires “complete” diversity:...
- 23.6k
36
votes
Accepted
Why are there two case numbers for United States v. Trump?
Court Listener explained by email:
This is unfortunately a bug we have in multi-defendant criminal cases. Sorry!
See a more technical description of the problem here: https://github.com/...
- 43.9k
31
votes
Do Federal courts have the authority to dismiss charges brought in a Georgia Court?
Meadows is first trying to remove the case to federal court
Meadows has filed a notice of removal to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1442.
§ 1442 provides that a "criminal prosecution that is ...
- 43.9k
29
votes
Why is the federal judiciary of the United States divided into circuits?
While the answer by Jen does a good job explaining why some possible alternative structures for US courts of appeal (circuit courts) would be unworkable, the real reason why we have such courts is ...
- 113k
25
votes
Accepted
What if an American state ratified an article to its constitution that blocked judicial review?
Under Article VI of the US Constitution, the federal constitution and valid federal laws are the supreme law of the land, and judges in every state are bound to apply them regardless of anything in ...
- 23.6k
24
votes
Government's standing in criminal trials
So what relevance if any does standing have in criminal trials? E.g.,
are there any examples of criminal cases/charges dismissed for lack of
standing, by which I mean that the court decided the ...
- 195k
22
votes
Accepted
Can prosecutors change or add additional charges once you plead guilty?
Under the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure (Rule 11(b)(1)), a federal court may not accept a guilty plea without first addressing the defendant personally in open court. During this address, there ...
- 23.6k
17
votes
Can defendants arraigned in federal court sometimes be "out on bail" secretly with no way for the public to know about or verify the bail?
Here is one of the three Trump appearance bonds. As you can see, it is a personal recognizance bond, and not a dollar amount bond. He promises to appear, as required, and there is no money involved. ...
- 210k
17
votes
Accepted
Can federal courts overturn state court decisions on matters of state law?
No.
Federal courts, when sitting in diversity jurisdiction,* are obligated to follow state law as articulated by state courts, as the Supreme Court ruled in Erie Railroad Company v. Tompkins. If there ...
- 3,513
15
votes
Ahmaud Arbery defendants invoke Georgia State Law as a Defense in Federal Court
Be careful: from the Wikipedia article, it appears that there is a state criminal trial and there will be a federal criminal trial. In addition, there is a federal civil suit which incorporates some ...
- 35.1k
15
votes
Accepted
Could Congress create a court higher than the Supreme Court?
No
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.
Any courts the Congress ...
- 198k
15
votes
Accepted
Does Trump have the right to waive a jury trial and request a bench trial in the classified documents case?
While the right to a jury trial is waiveable, in order to have a bench trial in a federal district court, the court and prosecutor generally must agree.
before any waiver can become effective, the ...
- 43.9k
15
votes
Why are there two case numbers for United States v. Trump?
The extra number is typically added to the end of a case number when there are multiple defendants.
Trump's case number ends with -1 because he is the first named defendant. I suspect you'd be able to ...
- 57.2k
14
votes
In the United States, must state courts follow rulings by federal courts of appeals?
Widely accepted answer: no, state courts are not bound by circuit precedent
The near-consensus is that state courts need not follow the rulings by federal courts of appeal.1 State courts are ...
- 43.9k
13
votes
Accepted
Can lawyers ask about, and discriminate based on, iPhone ownership during a case involving Apple?
The question of whether they can ask these questions will be left to the trial judge. If the parties can make any kind of reasonable argument that consumers of one product or the other are likely to ...
- 57.2k
13
votes
Gorilla glue, when does a court decide to permit a trial
If a plaintiff brings a civil suit against another party (aka say the
Gorilla glue hair suit), what role does the court play in whether to
permit a trial, how has that role changed over the decades, ...
- 195k
13
votes
Government's standing in criminal trials
The Answer in Question
The answer on politics.se supported its claims by citations and links to the Wikipedia article on Standing and the LII page. But the Wikipedia article while not specifically ...
- 113k
13
votes
Why is Oklahoma divided into three districts?
Oklahoma Territory and The Indian Territories were set on the road to statehood by the Oklahoma Enabling Act: §13 of that act stipulated that two judicial districts would be created, where The Indian ...
- 210k
12
votes
Accepted
Why is the federal judiciary of the United States divided into circuits?
Since you don't present alternatives to the division of the federal judiciary into circuits, I will consider the options that I can envision and which are undoubtably within the power of Congress to ...
- 43.9k
11
votes
In the US, can the courts intervene if an extremely destructive (but constitutional) law is passed?
I am not convinced that all of the examples are indeed valid laws. There are also conceivable grounds to invalidate a law (at least as applied to particular circumstances) beyond the law being ...
- 195k
10
votes
A man killed my son and married one of the witnesses. Can the witness's statements still be used in court against him?
According to https://www.baezlawfirm.com/can-your-spouse-be-forced-to-testify-against-you/ Section 90.504 of Florida’s Evidence Code includes the privilege to exclude "marital communications" from the ...
- 113k
10
votes
Accepted
Gorilla glue, when does a court decide to permit a trial
American courts generally go through two main stages of pretrial review.
First, the parties file their initial pleadings. The plaintiff files a complaint laying out his allegations and identifying the ...
- 57.2k
10
votes
What if an American state ratified an article to its constitution that blocked judicial review?
A US state could prevent its own courts from overturning laws for violations of the state constitution. But the supremacy clause in Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the U.S. Constitution reads:
This ...
- 113k
9
votes
Accepted
What law grants life tenure to federal judges in the US?
Your interpretation is correct. The constitution says that judges stay in office "until and unless they are impeached." That means that congress cannot impose a time limit on any judge's term of ...
- 35.1k
9
votes
Government's standing in criminal trials
Governments have automatic standing as the sovereign to enforce its laws, be it criminal or civil.
One of those background principles is the concept that a sovereign
government must have standing to ...
- 5,786
9
votes
Government's standing in criminal trials
Standing is critical in criminal cases, but the government always has it.
Article III gives federal courts jurisdiction only over "cases or controversies." The Supreme Court has interpreted ...
- 57.2k
9
votes
Can defendants arraigned in federal court sometimes be "out on bail" secretly with no way for the public to know about or verify the bail?
It would be an extraordinary circumstance for a defendant to be out on bail or bond without that fact being part of the public record.
In general, the public has access to court records under both the ...
- 57.2k
8
votes
Accepted
How should I prepare in terms of dress and language to testify at a bail hearing?
What are the things that I should prepare for this session, in terms
of order of dress, language, content?
Dress
In an actual court room, suit and tie is preferred for men and formal dress for ...
- 195k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible