Welcome to Justiceline, ThinkProgress Justice’s morning round-up of the latest legal news and developments. Remember to follow us on Twitter at @TPJustice.
- First off, thank you to Josh Israel for managing TP Justice while I was away at a conference.
- The Supreme Court holds that criminal defendants who receive egregious plea bargain advice from their attorneys may be able to have their sentences thrown out.
- At oral argument, the justices also appeared to have a majority prepared to say that mandatory life sentences for juveniles are unconstitutional — although non-mandatory sentences would likely be acceptable.
- A federal judge reached the unsurprising decision that laws banning flag burning are still unconstitutional.
- A Montana judge struck down a Republican ballot initiative intended to make it easier to place Republicans on the state supreme court.
- A North Carolina appeals court upheld that state’s ban on smoking in most bars.
- And, finally, the ACLU provides a neat representation of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s understanding of the Constitution:
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