Supreme Court

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Supremes to Weigh On-Air Swearing

Fox battles the FCC in next big court case

(Newser) - The Supreme Court might take up a gavel in one hand and a bar of soap in the other next term, when it considers a case challenging the FCC’s “fleeting utterances” standards, it announced today. The FCC is appealing a lower-court ruling—which arose when Cher dropped an...

DC's Handgun Ban Heads to Supreme Court

Justices get unprecedented crack at Second Amendment

(Newser) - John Roberts' Supreme Court will get a rare crack at an undefined piece of the Bill of Rights this week when it examines whether Washington, DC's handgun ban violates the Second Amendment. Though Americans' right to bear arms has been debated for 200 years, reports the Washington Post, the court...

Justices' Stock Portfolios Cripple Cases

Supreme Court left deadlocked by recusals amid calls to divest

(Newser) - The stock portfolios of Supreme Court justices have become a flash point this term, in which six cases could be affected by justices recusing themselves because they own financial stakes in companies involved. Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and Justice Stephen Bryer have bowed out of cases involving...

EBay Finally Settles Patent Suit
EBay Finally Settles Patent Suit

EBay Finally Settles Patent Suit

Will buy three patents as part of agreement with MercExchange

(Newser) - After years of legal battling that escalated to the Supreme Court, eBay has settled a patent-infringement lawsuit by e-commerce technology company MercExchange. The companies aren’t revealing the financial terms, but eBay will buy the three patents that led to the suit. The auction giant said the agreement won’t...

Exxon Asks Court to Toss $2.5B Payout

Supreme's justices appear to be split in Valdez case

(Newser) - Nearly 20 years after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound, the company asked the Supreme Court to reject a ruling that it pay $2.5 billion in punitive damages. Judges appeared split in today's arguments, USA Today reports, making a tie possible...

Supreme Court Declines to Rule in Ageism Case

District court to hear ex-Sprint employee's 'me too' evidence

(Newser) - The Supreme Court bounced an age-discrimination case back to district court for clarification today without making a ruling, the New York Times reports. The district court had ruled that other Sprint employees could not testify in the case of Ellen Mendelsohn, who alleges Sprint fired her because of her age....

Supreme Court Denies Tobacco Industry Appeal

Justices won't intervene in W. Va. case involving hundreds of lawsuits

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today handed the tobacco industry a setback, rejecting without comment an appeal contending that West Virginia’s two-tiered system of consolidating cases is unconstitutional. In their appeal, industry lawyers called the process “deeply and fundamentally flawed,” the Wall Street Journal reports, but the plaintiffs' lawyers...

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Case Bound for Supreme Court

Exxon has paid $3.5 billion over years, but claimants want 'closure'

(Newser) - Almost two decades after the Exxon Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of oil off the Alaskan coast, legal clashes continue—and will reach the Supreme Court this week, the Washington Post reports. At issue is whether Exxon's $3.5 billion payout is enough or should increase to $5 billion, as...

Supreme Court Ruling Boosts Medical Tech

Decision restricts suits under state law over devices OK'd by feds

(Newser) - A Supreme Court ruling today makes it nearly impossible for patients and their families to sue makers of federally approved medical devices under state law. The court ruled 8-1 in favor of cardiovascular device company Medtronic, dismissing a suit brought by a patient injured after one of the company's balloon...

Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out
Turn On,
Tune In,
Cop Out
OPINION

Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out

Obama embodies paradox of candidates who did inhale

(Newser) - The days when drug use could derail a Supreme Court nomination or make a hairsplitting presidential candidate look ridiculous are long gone, Hendrik Hertzberg writes in the New Yorker, and Barack Obama has broken yet another barrier: He is apparently "marginally less of a pothead than he has made...

Supreme Court Won't Hear Wiretapping Case

Panel dismisses ACLU's legal challenge with one-line order

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has dismissed the ACLU's legal challenge of President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, reports the Los Angeles Times. The ACLU had said that by issuing a secret order that allowed wiretapping without abiding by a 1978 law, the president was directly disobeying US law. The court today issued...

Alito Whacks Sopranos' Themes
Alito Whacks Sopranos' Themes

Alito Whacks Sopranos' Themes

Italian-Americans' real story overshadowed, complains justice

(Newser) - US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito isn't going to fuhgeddabout all the negative stereotypes concerning Italian-Americans spread by shows like The Sopranos. "You have a trifecta—gangsters, Italian-Americans, New Jersey—wedded in the popular American imagination" and overshadowing the true stories, the New Jersey native complained yesterday to an...

Justice Is Blind, Not Disenfranchised
Justice Is Blind, Not Disenfranchised

Justice Is Blind, Not Disenfranchised

Most Supremes go to polls today; Roberts votes only in general elections

(Newser) - Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia always exercise their right to vote, and John Roberts goes to the polls only for general elections, the Washington Post reports. Six of the nine Supreme Court justices—five in Virginia, one in DC—are eligible to participate in today’s primaries, and the...

Court Rejects $40B Suit from Enron Investors

Plaintiffs claimed banks abetted fraudulent deals

(Newser) - The Supreme Court yesterday turned away an appeal from Enron investors seeking to sue banks that loaned the company money, Bloomberg reports. A lower court ruling had blocked the investors from organizing a $40 billion class-action suit against Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse and other banks. The investors accused the banks...

At 35, Roe v. Wade Still Divides
At 35, Roe v. Wade Still Divides

At 35, Roe v. Wade Still Divides

Protesters on both sides will mark today's anniversary

(Newser) - Protesters on both sides of the abortion debate today mark the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that frames the debate. The anniversary of Roe v. Wade arrives with surveys showing US views on abortion largely unchanged over the past 15 years and with abortions at their lowest level...

Capitol Police Arrest Man Carrying Gun

Suspect also wore samurai sword, was headed for Supreme Court, police say

(Newser) - Police in Washington arrested a man today who was carrying a loaded shotgun and had a samurai sword strapped to his back just blocks from the US Capitol building, WUSA-TV reports. Michael Gorbey also wore a combat-style bulletproof vest and had a tactical bow and arrow in his backpack when...

Court Limits Investors' Suits Over Fraud

Justices side with big business in important securities case

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today made it harder for defrauded investors to sue to get their money back. The court limited the ability of investors to sue third parties—accountants, bankers, and lawyers, for example—who help a company commit securities fraud. The 5-3 ruling, considered one of the most important...

No Right to Drugs for Dying
No Right to Drugs for Dying

No Right to Drugs for Dying

Supreme Court declines to hear plea for experimental drugs

(Newser) - The Supreme Court has declined to hear what could have been a landmark case on whether terminally ill patients should be given access to experimental drugs not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The decision lets stand a lower court ruling that the terminally ill have no special...

Supreme Court Examining Voter ID Laws

Obtaining correct documents is undue burden, detractors say

(Newser) - The Supreme Court heard arguments today on the legality of voter ID requirements, which have sprung up in 24 states since the 2000 election. The laws are designed to guard against polling-place fraud, which studies show is non-existent. Proponents say requiring ID preempts potential fraud and builds voter confidence, NPR...

Court Skeptical of Challenge to Lethal Injection

Justices cite low chance of painful death, lack of better option

(Newser) - As the Supreme Court opened its hearing on lethal injection today, justices expressed serious doubts that the method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the LA Times reports. Most of the panel, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed unconvinced that the three-chemical cocktail results in a painful death, or that...

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