Paul Elias Posts

A judge has tossed out an effort to win class-action status for a lawsuit accusing Google of violating the privacy terms of email users. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh ruled late Tuesday that too many users have too many dissimilar claims to pursue a single class-action lawsuit that could expose the search engine giant to billions of dollars in potential losses.

A judge ruled that the freedom of expression of kids protesting Cinco de Mayo celebrations at a Northern California school by wearing American flag t-shirts was not violated by teachers forcing the teens to turn the shirts inside out. Concerns over violence trumped their first amendment rights, the ruling stated.

For decades, California's criminal justice policies ensured that murderers and others sentenced to life, with the possibility of parole, could expect to die in prison. And most of the time, they did. Since Gov. Jerry Brown assumed office in January 2011, a record number of inmates with life sentences are winning parole. Brown has allowed the release of nearly 1,400 lifers, while going along with the parole board about 82 percent of the time. His predecessors released 559 such inmates over a nine-year span.

During an hour of arguments in San Francisco on Wednesday, a panel of three 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal judges left unclear whether they would give gays the same status race and gender play in jury selection. Lawyers are allowed to remove prospective jurors without any legal reason, but are barred from removing potential jurors based on race and gender. Now, the court must decide whether sexual orientation deserves the same protection.

Potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton kicked off a series of speeches on Monday with a call to combat what she called an "assault on voting rights." She assailed a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a significant part of the Voting Rights Act and discussing what she sees as "deep flaws in our electoral system" as it relates to racial discrimination at the polls.