Court Rulings

In a decision that should cut back on prison time for some drug offenders, the Supreme Court has held that facts used to impose mandatory minimum sentences must be proven before a jury -- not a judge with a lower standard of proof.

A US district court judge has lambasted federal meth sentencing guidelines as harsh, unfair, based on politics instead of science, and "fundamentally flawed." He's not the only one.

A panel of the 6th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has held that the Fair Sentencing Act's reduction in sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine offenses should be extended to all federal crack prisoners, regardless of when their offense took place.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that cities and counties can indeed ban medical marijuana dispensaries. That means your access to medical marijuana depends on where you live in the state. A fix could be coming from the legislature, but it's not here yet.

Lots of action in California this past week, including more raids and more threat letters, plus action in various state legislatures.

Employers can fire workers who test positive for marijuana even if their use is legal in the state, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled.

The US Supreme Court has held that an immigration judge went too far when he ordered the automatic deportation of a Jamaican man who resided in the US for most of his life over the possession of 1.3 grams of marijuana.

A federal appeals court has upheld the DEA's decision to not allow UMass-Amherst Professor Lyle Craker to grow marijuana for medicinal research purposes, capping a 12-year odyssey.

Meet Stingray, law enforcement's newest high-tech weapon in its fight against crime. Civil libertarians and privacy advocates have some concerns, and they're starting to make their way into the federal courts.

A Missouri technical college wanted to drug test all incoming students, but for a second time, a federal district court judge has said no, and she is likely to make it permanent when the case goes to trial in July.