RACHAEL ROLLINS wasn’t sending out text messages into the void. City Councilor Ricardo Arroyo was answering. Two scathing reports on Rollins’s conduct as US attorney showed that she crossed all sorts […]
Courts
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice, Media
Rollins wheeled and dealed with the Globe, Herald
SIPPING CHABLIS WITH Jill Biden, it turns out, was the least of Rachael Rollins’s transgressions. Ever since reports last summer that Rollins attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at an […]
Posted inCourts, Government, State Government
SJC punts on individual contributions to super PACs
THE STATE’S HIGHEST COURT decided on Tuesday not to rule on whether limits can be placed on individual campaign contributions to political action committees, putting those who favor limits in […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
AG Andrea Campbell picks her targets
ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell has waded into some politically thorny topics so far, trying to balance an advocacy lens as “the people’s lawyer” with the practical demands of being “top […]
Posted inCourts, Government
SJC wades into face-off over online stock trading
IT’S A NICE THOUGHT that “broker-dealers” who handle transactions in the ever-changing world of online securities trading platforms should show a basic standard of care to clients, but that may not […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion, Politics, State Government
Isn’t winning by 1 vote enough?
IN LAST NOVEMBER’S election, Kristin Kassner, a candidate for state representative on the North Shore, flipped a seat from red to blue by a one-vote margin. But it didn’t come […]
Posted inCourts, Government
SJC says it’s OK to be ‘rude’ at public meetings
SPEAKERS AT public meetings can feel free to channel their inner revolutionaries now that the state’s highest court has ruled that Massachusetts law protects the right to be “rude, personal, […]
Posted inCourts
SJC to weigh wrongful death restrictions in cigarette suits
IT’S THE nightmare scenario. After years of long-term cigarette addiction, a loved one is diagnosed with cancer. Years of chemotherapy, surgeries, attempts at quitting and relapses, and bone-deep exhaustion follow. Meanwhile, […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion, State Government
The state child welfare system needs an overhaul, not more Band-Aids
THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES is broken, and as public defenders faced with the deficiencies of this system every day, we hope Gov. Maura Healey will make it a […]
Posted inCourts, State House News Service
Budd urges more increases in state legal aid
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE TOP STATE judge in Massachusetts wants lawmakers to make more funding available for low-income Bay Staters to get legal representation in civil matters, warning that recent […]
Posted inCourts, Government
Prohibition on ARPA ‘tax cuts’ declared unconstitutional
TWO RECENT COURT decisions indicate even the US government has limited influence over how states spend their money. The traditional way the federal government gains leverage over state policies is […]
Posted inThe Download
Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination in tenant screening tool
Two Black women from Massachusetts are at the center of what could become a landmark federal case about whether software that screens potential tenants is illegally biased against Black and […]
Posted inCourts, Housing
Lawsuit alleges racial discrimination in tenant screening tool
TWO BLACK WOMEN from Massachusetts are at the center of what could become a landmark federal case about whether software that screens potential tenants is illegally biased against Black and […]
Posted inCourts, Opinion
SJC backslides on racial disparities in policing
IN A DECISION issued last week, the Supreme Judicial Court acquiesced in the disproportionate stopping and frisking of young people of color in the Commonwealth by upholding a police officer’s […]
Posted inCourts
SJC rejects Galvin interpretation in DiMasi lobbying case
THE LAW MEANS what it says. That’s the gist of a Supreme Judicial Court ruling Thursday that a law barring anyone convicted of a set of state corruption charges from working […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Healey’s office asks SJC to reinstate charges in Soldiers’ Home deaths
MISMANAGEMENT AT THE Holyoke Soldiers’ Home undoubtedly contributed to the high COVID-19 death toll there in the first days of the pandemic. The question before the state’s highest court is […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Berkshire County study tracks use of plea deals
AN UNPRECEDENTED look into how criminal cases get disposed of in Berkshire County reveals a trove of data, shedding a light on racial disparities, disparities based on lawyer type, and […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Governor’s councilors seem supportive of Jubinville nomination
THE GOVERNOR’S COUNCIL on Wednesday considered one of their own – Councilor Robert Jubinville – as a nominee for a clerk magistrate’s job. The half-hour hearing was mainly a lovefest, although […]
Posted inCourts, Health, Health Care
SJC rules physician-assisted suicide is illegal
THE MASSACHUSETTS CONSTITUTION does not protect a right to physician-assisted suicide, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday, leaving it up to the Legislature to decide a controversial end-of-life issue that […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Baker withdraws Amirault pardon recommendations
IN A STUNNING REVERSAL of a controversial policy recommendation, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday withdrew his recommendation to pardon Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault LeFave, who were convicted in a […]
Posted inCourts, Criminal Justice
Breathalyzer scandal could reopen 27,000 drunk driving cases
IN A CASE that has echoes of the notorious drug lab scandals, the state’s highest court will consider whether to make up to 27,000 defendants in drunk driving cases eligible for […]
Posted inCriminal Justice
Urine trouble, said prosecutors. SJC flushes charges.
YOU DON’T NEED a good-manners manual to know that relieving yourself all over the floor is a breach of basic decorum, decency, and hygiene. But it’s apparently not criminal. At […]
Posted inCourts
Baker pardons Amiraults in controversial daycare sex abuse case
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Friday pardoned Gerald Amirault and Cheryl Amirault Lefave, who were convicted of sexually abusing children in a day care center in the 1980s, in a famous […]
Posted inCourts, State Government
Lawsuit seeks to recoup stolen food benefits
PUBLIC ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS who have had their food benefits stolen filed a lawsuit Friday seeking to require the state to repay the lost aid money. The suit filed by the Massachusetts […]
