New Allen Superior Judge Williams’ swearing-in ceremony Friday
The Allen Superior Court will host a swearing-in ceremony for incoming Judge Andrew S. Williams this week as he succeeds retiring judge Nancy Eshcoff Boyer.
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Jackson County asks 7th Circuit to allow Christmas Nativity scene display
The legal battle over the constitutionality of a Jackson County Christmas display on public property is continuing in federal court, with advocates for a Nativity scene urging the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court injunction.
Source: US, Oregon in talks about pulling agents in Portland
The Trump administration has started talks with the Oregon governor’s office and indicated that it would begin to draw down the presence of federal agents sent to quell two months of chaotic protests in Portland if the state stepped up its own enforcement, a senior White House official said Tuesday.
Southern Indiana District sets reopening for July 6
The federal courthouses in the Southern Indiana District will reopen to the public July 6 and in-person court proceedings will begin resuming on a staggered schedule. All individuals will be required to answer screening questions to be allowed inside courthouses and to wear facemasks in all public spaces.
Marion County courts begin reopening in-person proceedings
Indianapolis courts are beginning to reopen to in-person proceedings this week, though social distancing and other public-safety measures remain in effect at the downtown City-County Building.
Southern District requiring federal courthouse visitors to wear face masks
All visitors and occupants of every Southern District of Indiana courthouse will be required to wear protective face masks, Chief Judge Jane Magnus Stinson announced in a Friday order. Those who refuse could be found in contempt of court.
Southern District to resume limited in-person criminal proceedings next week
Limited in-person criminal proceedings can resume in all divisions of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana beginning next week, the district court announced Friday.
Southern District courthouses opening to additional selected individuals
Additional individuals will now be allowed to enter federal courthouses under specific circumstances, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has announced.
Updated Southern District order extends pandemic jury trial delays
A new general order from the Southern Indiana District Court in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues jury trials until at least May 29 and enables jury staff to deter service for certain categories of jurors through June 30.
Public, press can be included in electronic federal court proceedings
Federal courts that have been forced to close courthouses to the public because of the novel coronavirus pandemic have been authorized to use technology to provide the public and press with continued access to court proceedings.
Justices find turnover provision valid, give Floyd County justice center title
After considering a dispute over ownership of a Floyd County criminal justice center, the Indiana Supreme Court on Monday concluded a turnover provision in a lease between the county and the building authority is valid and enforceable. Justices granted title to the county in a long-running dispute.
Hammond forum to focus on potential Real ID problems
Seeking to address potential problems that could arise when Real ID laws take effect Oct. 1, a Lake County judge and attorney will participate in a presentation this week aiming to resolve some of the issues lawyers and judges are seeing in court.
Justice Thomas: Judges must uphold law, even when unpopular
Judges must resist the temptation to bend their rulings to personal racial, religious or partisan preferences and instead uphold the rule of law, even when that leads to unpopular decisions, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said in a recent speech.
From a bicycle to a jet: New Marion County Justice Center to put technology first
Lawyers who have had a hearing or trial in the Indianapolis City-County Building often had to bring their own equipment, lug in the hardware, use their own applications and programs to present their material, then pack and lug everything back to the office. The situation will be dramatically different at Marion County’s new Community Justice Center under construction southeast of downtown.
Indianapolis district court to examine Booker T. Washington in Black History Month celebration
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana will celebrate Black History Month this year with the presentation of “Booker T. Washington Slept Here: African American Politics in Indiana in the Early 1900s.”
Man angered by sentence smashes 19th-century courthouse door
A man who yelled obscenities at a judge in Columbus who sentenced him on drug-dealing charges smashed an “irreplaceable” 19th-century glass doorway as he was being led from court, authorities said.
Pulaski County eyes saving 125-year-old courthouse
A northern Indiana county’s 125-year-old courthouse will be saved from demolition and renovated as part of a $6 million preservation project.
Justices agree to hear extended expungement-wait case
Indiana Supreme Court justices have agreed to hear a case that sharply divided an appellate panel concerning whether minor felonies reduced to misdemeanor convictions should trigger new five-year waiting periods for individuals seeking a criminal expungement.
Man gets 5 years for threatening to bomb Lafayette courthouse
A man who threatened to bomb a northwestern Indiana courthouse, prompting the building’s evacuation, has been sentenced to five years in prison. A special judge sentenced 48-year-old Michael Battering on Friday after detailing the lengthy criminal history he had amassed before he threatened to bomb the Tippecanoe County Courthouse in Lafayette.
Late Judge McKinney honored in anniversary celebration
In honor of the 10th anniversary of its federal courthouse in Terre Haute, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana has hung the portrait of the man who was key to getting the judicial outpost built and who devoted great effort to helping former federal inmates re-enter society: the late Judge Larry J. McKinney.