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Supreme Court scuffle triggers constitutional clash
Legal Topics |
2016/02/14 17:17
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It only took one man's death to give Congress an opening to permeate its dysfunction throughout the rest of government.
Republican opposition to letting President Barack Obama replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia quickly sparked a constitutional clash over the president's right to fill Supreme Court vacancies. Democrats, who have their own history of boxing out Republicans over court nominees, are up in arms, but begrudgingly concede that Obama's pick is unlikely to be confirmed.
So as both parties prepare for political brawling, the eight remaining justices could spend the next year hearing critical cases alongside an empty seat, unable to break a tie in the event of a 4-4 split.
The standoff raises a scenario that Washington long has dreaded: that bitter partisanship in Congress, mixed with the tactics of obstruction such as the filibuster, would eventually jeopardize another branch's basic ability to function.
"If Republicans do what they suggest, I think we're headed not only for a constitutional crisis but also for big problems for the legislative process," said Jim Manley, a former aide to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "This is the natural reaction to the continued Senate breakdown we've seen for years."
Supreme Court nominees have been rejected before. Yet Democrats accuse Republicans of taking obstructionism to a new level by insisting Obama not even name a nominee with 11 months left in his term — and refusing to hold a confirmation vote if he does. Though the Constitution is clear that it is the president who nominates, Republicans say the Founding Fathers never required the Senate to give a vote.
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Court to weigh practice of Christian prayers at meetings
Legal Topics |
2016/01/28 00:40
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A federal appeals court is grappling with the constitutionality of prayers at local council meetings for the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar case in 2014.
Oral arguments were held Wednesday before a three-judge panel of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in the challenge of a North Carolina county commission's practice of starting meetings with prayers that almost always referred to Christianity.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the Rowan County Commission in 2013 on behalf of people who said the prayers were coercive and discriminatory.
The Supreme Court recently upheld Christian prayers at local town council meetings in New York, but the ACLU says the latest case is different.
An attorney for the Commission says the "whole nation will be looking at this case."
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Court overturns tobacco company victory over FDA on menthols
Legal Topics |
2016/01/19 07:29
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A federal appeals court has ruled that tobacco companies had no basis to challenge a Food and Drug Administration report on menthol cigarettes, which the industry alleged was written by experts with conflicts of interest.
The decision by a three-judge panel overturns a lower court ruling that barred the FDA from using the report and ordered the agency to reform its committee of tobacco advisers.
The 2011 report from the agency's Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee concluded that menthol flavoring leads to increased smoking rates, particularly among teens, African Americans and those with low incomes. The report said removing the flavoring would make it easier for some smokers to quit.
Cigarette makers Lorillard Inc. and Reynolds American Inc. sued the agency, alleging conflicts of interest by several members who had previously testified against tobacco companies in court.
But Judge Stephen Williams, writing for the court, states that the companies had no legal basis to challenge the makeup of the committee. Williams rejected company arguments that they could be damaged by the apparent conflicts as "too remote and uncertain." The opinion was issued Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Despite the victory for the federal government, the ruling may have limited impact on the FDA or its panel. Last year the FDA announced that four members of its tobacco products advisory panel had either resigned or were removed, following the previous court ruling against the agency.
In 2013, the FDA conducted its own review of menthol cigarettes, concluding they pose a greater public health risk than regular cigarettes. But it did not make a recommendation on whether to limit or ban them.
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High Court rules against Northern Ireland's abortion law
Legal Topics |
2015/11/30 06:11
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A Belfast High Court ruling is expected to ease Northern Ireland's strict anti-abortion laws to make it easier for women to terminate pregnancies in some cases.
Abortions are illegal in Northern Ireland except in extreme cases when a woman's life is deemed at risk from her pregnancy. Judge Mark Horner said Monday that certain prohibitions violate the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights — cases where a fetus has fatal abnormalities or when a woman became pregnant as a result of sexual crimes like rape or incest.
John Larkin, attorney general for Northern Ireland, said he was "profoundly disappointed" by the court's ruling and said he is studying grounds for a possible appeal.
Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom, but it has much more restrictive abortion laws than the other regions.
Judge Horner said the present law making it illegal for a mother to terminate her pregnancy where her fetus cannot survive independently once it leaves the womb constitutes a "gross interference with her personal autonomy." He said in such cases "there is no life to protect."
Horner also said the existing law is unfair to victims of sexual crimes who become pregnant.
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Appeals court: EPA chief doesn't have to give deposition
Legal Topics |
2015/11/26 08:41
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A federal appeals court says U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy doesn't have to give a deposition in a coal company's lawsuit over the impact of regulations on jobs.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond on Wednesday overturned a decision by U.S. District Judge John Preston Bailey in Wheeling, West Virginia.
Bailey had ruled there's no viable alternative to deposing McCarthy in coal producer Murray Energy's lawsuit alleging the EPA has shirked its obligation to conduct job-loss analyses on the Clean Air Act regulations.
The appeals court's one-page order did not explain why it ruled in McCarthy's favor.
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Detroit-area ex-officer found guilty in videotaped beating
Legal Topics |
2015/11/21 04:41
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A white, former Detroit-area police officer was found guilty Thursday of assault and misconduct in the bloody beating of a black driver during a traffic stop that was captured on video.
Wayne County jurors handed down the verdict in the case against William Melendez, who was charged in the January beating of Floyd Dent. Police stopped Dent, 58, in the Detroit suburb of Inkster for disregarding a stop sign, and dashcam video from a police vehicle shows Melendez punching him 16 times in the head.
It wasn't until after WDIV-TV aired the footage in March that Melendez was fired. Inkster later agreed to pay $1.4 million to Dent, who suffered broken ribs, blood on his brain and other injuries.
The jurors found Melendez guilty of assault with intent to do great bodily harm and of misconduct in office. They cleared him of a charge of assault by strangulation.
The packed courtroom was largely quiet after the verdict was read, following Judge Vonda Evans' orders to neither "cry out" nor "applaud" out of respect for the jury. Melendez's wife rushed out of the courtroom, invoking Evans' ire and a demand that she return and "sit down."
Evans ordered Melendez to jail pending his Dec. 3 sentencing. Beforehand, defense attorney James Thomas argued that Melendez "is not a danger to the community" and posed "no risk of flight."
Thomas told reporters after the verdict that despite his disappointment, Melendez "remains upbeat" and "resolved." Thomas said he plans to appeal the verdict after sentencing.
Melendez did not testify during the eight-day trial, but his attorney said the officer was justified in the assault because Dent was aggressive and resisting police. Other officers and a criminal justice professor testified that the beating was reasonable because Dent was resisting arrest.
But Vicki Yost, who was chief of police at the time of the beating, said Melendez's actions were unnecessary, based on the video.
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Perry's indictment in hands of top Texas criminal court
Legal Topics |
2015/11/20 05:55
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Attorneys for former Texas Gov. Rick Perry urged the state's highest criminal court Wednesday to dismiss felony abuse-of-power charges that the Republican blames in part for foiling his short-lived 2016 presidential run.
After two hours of arguments, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gave no timetable for ruling whether Perry should face trial in the case that has dragged on since August 2014 — about five times longer than his second unsuccessful White House bid.
Perry didn't attend the crowded hearing in a courtroom behind his old Texas Capitol office, but his high-powered lawyers told judges that enough was enough.
"The danger of allowing a prosecutor to do this is mind-boggling," Perry attorney David Botsford said.
Perry is accused of misusing his power in 2013 when he vetoed funding for local prosecutors after Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg, an elected Democrat, refused calls to resign following a drunken driving arrest. He was indicted a year later by a grand jury in liberal Austin and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Perry has denounced the charges as a partisan attack. But in a lively back-and-forth with an eight-judge panel, all but one of whom is an elected Republican, Perry's legal team didn't raise claims of political retribution and instead framed the veto as a rightful constitutional power.
Special prosecutors say that's for a trial to determine — and not for the court to settle now. Judges met that with a tone of skepticism, with Republican Judge Kevin Yeary pressing at one point whether going through with a trial would be "wasting everyone's time."
Perry was originally indicted on two counts, but a lower court has already thrown out the other charge of coercion of a public servant. Prosecutors are asking the court to not only order a trial on the remaining charge but also reinstate the other one.
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