Supreme Court

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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
Feb 19, 2008 3:57 PM CST

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
Feb 14, 2008 11:19 AM CST

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
Feb 12, 2008 11:35 AM CST

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
Jan 22, 2008 11:19 AM CST

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
Jan 15, 2008 3:30 AM CST

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...

Death Penalty Details Withheld
Death Penalty Details Withheld
Jan 7, 2008 8:56 AM CST

Death Penalty Details Withheld

As high court weighs lethal injection, actual methods are shrouded in secrecy

(Newser) - With a landmark case coming before the Supreme Court today on lethal injection, the Los Angeles Times examines the unusual secrecy that shrouds the execution method. Defense lawyers who argue that it inflicts unnecessary pain are routinely blocked from information about executioners and the drugs injected. States say such information...

Bill's Next Job: Supreme Court?
Bill's Next Job: Supreme Court?
Jan 4, 2008 5:50 PM CST

Bill's Next Job: Supreme Court?

Hillary could try to appoint Bill if elected, some believe

(Newser) - She may not have gotten off to a great start in Iowa, but a Hillary Clinton victory in November could give the family access to the only branch of federal government it hasn't cracked yet, CNN's Bill Mears writes—the judicial branch. Indeed, Bill Clinton as Supreme Court justice has...

Supreme Court to Hear Child Rapist's Death Penalty Appeal

Executions limited to murderers since 1964

(Newser) - The Supreme Court today agreed to hear the case of a Louisiana man sentenced to death in the brutal rape of his 8-year-old stepdaughter. His attorneys say Patrick Kennedy is "the only person in the United States who is on death row for a non-homicide offense." A 1977...

States Drag Feet on 'Humane' Lethal Injections

Supreme Court ruling may

(Newser) - With the Supreme Court scrutinizing whether lethal injections constitute "cruel and unusual punishment," the New York Times wonders why none of the 38 states who use it have taken a simple step that could solve the problem: trade the three-drug sequence that's said to risk intense pain for...

Public Defender Gets Case to Supreme Court

Lethal-injection appeal filed by 29-year-old on docket next week

(Newser) - When the Supreme Court hears a case on the legality of a method of capital punishment next week—for the first time in over a century—it will be largely thanks to the toils of a 29-year-old assistant public defender, AP reports. David Barron filed the appeal on behalf of...

Texas Tallies 60% of Executions
Texas Tallies 60% of Executions
Dec 26, 2007 4:47 AM CST

Texas Tallies 60% of Executions

Capital punishment in decline elsewhere

(Newser) - As the rest of the country backed away from applying the death penalty in 2007, Texas kept up its customary pace, making the state responsible for an astounding 60% of all executions in the US. Of last year's 42 executions, 26 were in Texas, the New York Times reports. In...

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