An appeals court on Tuesday upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2024 decision to designate some "forever chemicals" as hazardous substances, keeping the companies that make or transport the chemicals on the hook for ‌potential cleanup costs in the future.

As California marks the nation’s 250th anniversary, judges from the Humboldt County Superior Court are getting ready for an outreach challenge sponsored by Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero’s Power of Democracy Civic Learning Initiative. The Superior Court for Humboldt County has pledged to connect with at least 250 K–12 public school students beginning in August through the end of 2026.

A divided California Supreme Court held yesterday that an order altering a defendant’s sentence in habeas proceedings does not automatically trigger a right to a full resentencing hearing such that a defendant is entitled to have a judge consider all applicable laws that have the potential to reduce his penalty, including those that were adopted after his sentence became final.

The California Supreme Court yesterday upended the conviction of a death row inmate accused of fatally stabbing a 76-year-old man 42 times during a 1993 Bakersfield home-invasion robbery, ruling for the second time that botched competency proceedings in the trial court undermined the judgment.