Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal has held that a defendant who filed a motion alleging racial bias after he was convicted of attempted robbery with a firearm based on statistics from the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, purportedly showing that Black defendants faced gun allegations in Alameda County more often than White suspects, may be entitled to discovery of eight years of data from the local prosecutorial office.

(Subscription required) The son of Filipino immigrants and a former gang member, Judge Bryan F. Clavecilla says his background gives him a unique perspective on prosecutorial discretion, bail decisions and helping people who feel marginalized.

A divided federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a ban covering four Los Angeles-area ​counties on the manufacture, sale and installation of various appliances that ‌emit nitrous oxides, rejecting claims by appliance makers and trade groups that the pollution control measure conflicted with federal law. 

(Subscription required) A look at how judicial independence has enabled courts to protect -- and, at times, fail to protect -- constitutional equality, from Yick Wo and Brown to Korematsu and Dred Scott.