Federal Courts

The US Supreme Court has smothered the last breath of life left in the third effort to reschedule marijuana out of Schedule I. But a fourth effort is already in progress.

Sens. Patrick Leahy and Rand Paul led the charge for mandatory minimum sentencing reform at a Judiciary Committee hearing last week. The adminstration and the federal judiciary are already on board; now, it's time for Congress to step up to the plate.

The ACLU of Illinois has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Chicago Housing Authority seeking to block mandatory, suspicionless drug testing of mixed-income housing residents.

The NYPD's stop-and-frisk program unconstitutionally targets racial minorities, a federal judge ruled Monday. Mayor Bloomberg isn't happy, but civil libertarians and black and brown New Yorkers are.

When the war on pain docs meets prosecutorial misconduct, watch out. A Florida case potentially headed to the Supreme Court seeks to make prosecutors pay for their misdeeds.

The third petition to reschedule marijuana is not dead yet. Although a federal appeals court upheld the DEA rejection of it, the petitioners are now asking the US Supreme Court to review that decision.

A federal medical marijuana banking bill was introduced, an Oregon bill that would allow and regulate dispensaries heads to the governor's desk, Berkeley and Oakland fight the feds.

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.