U.S. Seventh Circuit

Robert Pope's story is one of injustice and an uphill battle for his freedom. Convicted of murder decades ago and behind bars ever since, Pope was denied a fair appeal due to his lawyer's negligence, system failures, and the state courts being completely unsympathetic to his struggles as an…

For the second time in a week, a federal appeals court has struck down an abortion law as unconstitutional. In the latest ruling, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said an Indiana law unlawfully banned "selective" abortions. The law specifically targeted fetuses based on gender, race, or disability. In a separate case, an appeals panel voided an Ohio law that cut off funds to abortion clinics.

A local municipality can't confer a right to work on employees who opt not to join unions, a federal appeals court said. In International Union of Operating Engineers Local 399 v. Village of Lincolnshire, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said a municipality's "right-to-work" agreement violated the National Labor Relations Act. The only problem is that not everybody agrees -- including the Sixth Circuit. Sooner or later, the issue could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We called it. What probably will be one of many upsets this Supreme Court term has happened: the writ of certiorari for Madigan v. Levin was dismissed as improvidently granted. Ouch.Madigan v. Levin -- Background Harvey Levin was an Illinois Assistant Attorney General who, after he was fired and replaced by a younger, female attorney, sued Illinois, the Illinois Office of the Attorney General, and several lawyers in their individual capacity.

In what could end up being one of the most significant reproductive rights cases in recent history -- that is, if it gets to SCOTUS -- the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled that forced admitting privileges on abortion clinics by nearby hospitals was an unconstitutional undue burden on a women's rights.

The proposed class-action lawsuit against the fast-food chain alleges that fingerprint scans used to access restaurant computer systems violate the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).