NewsLinks is a collection of recent news items relating primarily to the California judicial branch. NewsLinks does not verify or endorse the accuracy or fairness of the news items, and the views expressed in opinions, editorials, and commentaries are those of the writers only. Some news articles linked from this page may require a subscription or be behind a paywall.

NewsLinks

  • Newsom faces final decisions on AI, social media bills

    Daily Journal
    September 3, 2026

    (Subscription required) Measures regulating children's use of AI chatbots, addictive online features and workplace surveillance are among hundreds of bills awaiting action.

  • Judicial Profile: Los Angeles County Judge Diana Tsang

    Daily Journal
    September 3, 2026

    (Subscription required) After nearly two decades as a public defender, Tsang is drawing on lessons about humanity, patience and consequences in her Long Beach family law courtroom.

  • No Duty to Find Out What Caused Juror to Lose Impartiality

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    September 3, 2026

    Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal yesterday upheld, in a divided opinion, the first-degree murder conviction of a man who argued that his right to a fair trial was undermined by a judge’s failure to adequately investigate the circumstances surrounding a juror’s dismissal from the panel after deliberations had begun.

  • Judge allows Catalina deer removal work to begin amid permit challenge

    Daily Journal
    September 3, 2026

    (Subscription required) The case challenges the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's decision to exempt the conservancy's Restoration Management Permit from California Environmental Quality Act review.

  • Lawyers and bar associations should defend judicial independence, new report says

    ABA Journal
    September 2, 2026

    Based on interviews conducted with 34 federal judges between October 2025 and July 2026, the report found that escalating threats, intimidation, harassment and disinformation targeting judges are straining the federal judiciary.

  • Non-Economic Restitution Award of $1.8 Million Is Affirmed

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    September 2, 2026

    The Fifth District Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed an order awarding a victim of childhood sexual abuse $1.8 million in restitution for non-economic losses, as well as smaller amounts to her mother and brother, rejecting the defendant’s assertion that a trial judge is obligated to provide a methodology as to how he arrived at the calculation of damages in order to allow meaningful review of whether the decree is reasonable.

  • Court of Appeal Withholds Identity of Murderer

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    September 2, 2026

    Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, in conformity with an increasing trend of according anonymity to adult parties in proceedings, yesterday employed only the initials of a man who was convicted of a Jan. 4, 1999 murder of a 14-year-old during a drive-by-shooting, even though the man’s name appeared in news reports and in an unpublished appellate opinion.

  • California lawmakers pass bill governing lawyers' use of AI

    Reuters
    September 1, 2026

    Under California's measure, a lawyer "shall not delegate the practice of law" to generative AI. Lawyers would be required to ⁠take "reasonable steps" to verify the accuracy of all materials produced using AI, including case citations, and correct any false or hallucinated output in any AI-generated material they use.