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Supreme Court says tribes must be fully reimbursed
Areas of Focus |
2012/06/18 20:05
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The Supreme Court says the government must fully reimburse Native American tribes for money they spent on federal programs.
The federal government had agreed to fully reimburse money tribes spent on programs like law enforcement, environmental protection and agricultural assistance, but Congress capped the amount of money earmarked for that reimbursement. The tribes sued, and the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the money must be fully reimbursed.
The high court on Monday said the Ramah Navajo Chapter and other Native American tribes must get their money back.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion for Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Samuel Alito dissented. |
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Penn State: Court should dismiss Spanier's lawsuit
Headline Legal News |
2012/06/15 18:32
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Penn State is asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the university by its former president.
Graham Spanier sued May 25 to obtain old emails that he says are necessary to respond to Penn State's child sex-abuse probe.
Documents filed by Penn State on Thursday in Centre County court also argue that Spanier should have first requested the emails under the state's Right-to-Know law.
Penn State is conducting an internal investigation of how the university handled child molestation allegations against former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is currently on trial and has denied wrongdoing. |
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UK top court rejects Assange bid to reopen case
Legal Topics |
2012/06/14 17:27
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Britain's Supreme Court rejected WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange's bid to reopen his extradition case on Thursday, meaning the controversial anti-secrecy campaigner could be sent to Sweden by the end of the month.
Assange is wanted for questioning in Sweden after two women accused him of sexual misconduct during a visit to the country in mid-2010. The women's lawyer, Claes Borgstrom, told The Associated Press the ruling Thursday was "an obvious and expected decision that has been delayed for too long."
In a brief, five-point judgment, the court rejected arguments that Assange's legal team hadn't been given the chance to properly cross-examine the evidence that justices relied on to deny the Australian's appeal against extradition.
The development effectively exhausts Assange's legal options in Britain, where he has been fighting the extradition demand since late 2010. Assange could still apply to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, but legal experts say the 40-year-old stands little chance there. |
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Senate confirms Arizona jurist to 9th Circuit
Areas of Focus |
2012/06/13 16:17
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An Arizona Supreme Court justice was confirmed as a U.S. appellate judge Tuesday, despite complaints from conservatives that he influenced the Roe v. Wade ruling while a law clerk four decades ago.
The Senate confirmed Andrew David Hurwitz by voice vote, elevating him to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals serving Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, California and, Arizona.
The decision to confirm Hurwitz without a roll call angered Sen. Charles Grassley, ranking GOP member on the Judiciary Committee who opposed the nomination. A Democratic leadership official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said a deal to avoid a roll call was worked out between Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Republican leaders. .
Grassley, speaking on the Senate floor, said, "I was shocked and disappointed" with the decision to bypass a roll call. "I was not so informed, and I'm ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. It seems to me that all the business of the Senate is based upon trust between one senator and another. It seems to me that that trust has been violated. "
Grassley did not name anyone. However the deputy Republican leader, John Kyl of Arizona, supported the nomination. Kyl bristled at the suggestion that he cut a backroom deal to confirm the judge by voice vote. |
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Feds and Florida headed to court over voter purge
Legal Topics |
2012/06/12 15:55
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The administration of Florida Gov. Rick Scott is headed to a legal showdown with two different federal agencies over a contentious voter purge.
Florida filed a lawsuit in a federal court in Washington D.C., demanding that the state be given the right to check the names of its registered voters against an immigration database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
The lawsuit came the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice announced its plan to ask a federal court to block the state from pushing ahead with removing potential non-U.S. citizens from the voter rolls. Authorities contend that the state's effort violates federal voting laws.
"Please immediately cease this unlawful conduct," wrote Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez to Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner.
But Scott himself went on national television to defend the purge and the need to sue the federal government. |
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Ohio man found guilty in septic tank body case
Areas of Focus |
2012/06/11 15:55
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A jury has convicted a man of aggravated murder and other charges in the death of his estranged wife, who was found strangled in a septic tank in southeast Ohio last year.
Hocking County jurors in Logan deliberated for about four hours before returning a verdict Tuesday in the trial of 27-year-old William Inman II. He could face the death penalty when he's sentenced.
His parents also are charged. They are being tried separately in the slaying of his 25-year-old wife, Summer.
Authorities say she was abducted in Logan, strangled with a zip tie and dumped in an underground septic tank behind a church in March of last year.
Inman's parents have pleaded not guilty. They'll be tried later this year. |
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NY court limits disclosure in old communist probe
Headline Legal News |
2012/06/09 06:50
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New York's top court on Tuesday ordered the release of more names and records to a writer whose parents were targeted by anti-communist investigators in the New York City school system 57 years ago.
The Court of Appeals, however, is still excluding informants who were promised confidentiality. The seven judges unanimously said history may at some point overtake those promises and more completely peel back the veil of secrecy from that chapter in America's Red Scare.
"The story of the Anti-Communist Investigations, like any other that is a significant part of our past, should be told as fully and as accurately as possible, and historians are better equipped to do so when they can work from uncensored records," Judge Robert Smith wrote. "Perhaps there will be a time when the promise made ... is so ancient that its enforcement would be pointless, but that time is not yet."
Lisa Harbatkin's parents were among more than 1,100 teachers investigated from the 1930s to the 1960s. She has seen interview transcripts with names and personal information blacked out and is seeking complete documents under New York's Freedom of Information Law.
City officials opposed complete disclosure for privacy reasons, offering redacted documents unless those in question or their legal heirs agreed to disclosure. As an alternative, they offered Harbatkin complete accounts if she agreed not to publish the names, a condition she rejected. |
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