Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that the conversion of biological materials recovered from a crime scene, which did not return any DNA matches when run through the FBI’s national DNA database, into a different type of profile useful for genetic genealogical testing via private ancestry-services websites does not violate the constitutional prohibitions on unreasonable searches and seizures.

(Subscription required) Rejecting arguments from the U.S. Department of Justice, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has held fast to its procedural rule automatically halting the deportation of noncitizens pending appellate review of removal orders.

A U.S. District Court ruling issued Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore signage at national parks that was taken down last year. That includes a sign at Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County that documented the contributions of women and Indigenous people to the founding of the park. 

The Third District Court of Appeal has held that a suspect’s history of relapsing after attending a residential drug-and-alcohol treatment program may be considered in deciding whether to grant him diversion on the condition that he receive rehabilitation services by the same provider under a law designed to give certain defendants with “mental disorders” the opportunity to seek help in lieu of facing criminal sanctions.