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Supreme Court stays execution of Alabama inmate
Court Watch |
2016/11/04 15:10
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The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday night stayed the execution of an Alabama man convicted of the 1982 shooting death of a woman's husband in a murder-for-hire arrangement.
Five justices voted to stay the execution of Tommy Arthur as the high court considers whether to take up his challenge to Alabama's death penalty procedure. Arthur, 74, was scheduled to be executed Thursday by lethal injection at a south Alabama prison.
"We are greatly relieved by the Supreme Court's decision granting a stay and now hope for the opportunity to present the merits of Mr. Arthur's claims to the Court," Arthur's attorney Suhana Han said in a statement.
This is the seventh time that Arthur, who has waged a lengthy legal battle over his conviction and the constitutionality of the death penalty, has received a reprieve from an execution date, a track record that has frustrated the state attorney general's office and victims' advocacy groups.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote Thursday that he did not think the case merited a stay, but voted to grant it as a courtesy to the four justices who wanted to "more fully consider the suitability of this case for review." The execution stay will expire if the court does not take up Arthur's case.
The attorney general's office had unsuccessfully urged the court to let the execution go forward and expressed disappointment at the decision.
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Kansas high court justices defend handling of capital cases
Headline Legal News |
2016/11/03 15:11
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Four Kansas Supreme Court justices facing a campaign to oust them in the Nov. 8 election say the court has decided capital murder cases on legal and constitutional issues while avoiding politics and emotion.
Past high court rulings overturning death sentences are at the center of the effort to remove Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles and Marla Luckert. They face statewide yes-or-no votes on whether they stay on the court for another six years.
The court's critics are particularly upset about July 2014 rulings overturning death sentences for Jonathan and Reginald Carr. The two brothers had faced lethal injection for shooting four people in December 2000 after forcing them to perform sex acts and robbing them. Among other things, the court concluded that fairness required the brothers to be sentenced separately.
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Solar Advocates Ask Florida High Court to Invalidate Measure
Court Watch |
2016/11/02 15:11
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Solar advocates are asking Florida's high court to invalidate Amendment 1, a ballot measure they argue is misleading, and throw out votes cast for it.
The legal challenge was filed Wednesday with the Florida Supreme Court.
It comes after a leading proponent of Amendment 1 was recorded saying that the measure was written to appear pro-solar, even though it could end up restricting solar growth in Florida by raising costs.
Solar advocates are asking the court to revisit a previous ruling which found that Amendment 1's language was not misleading.
Sarah Bascom, spokeswoman for a utility-funded group that supports the amendment, called the legal challenge "political grandstanding" and said the amendment will protect consumers.
Amendment 1 seeks to change the state constitution to say consumers shouldn't "subsidize" solar growth. |
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Supreme Court won't hear challenge to FBI fitness test
Legal Interview |
2016/11/01 15:11
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The Supreme Court won't hear a dispute over whether a physical fitness test for FBI special agents is biased against men.
The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from an Illinois man who failed the test after completing 29 out of 30 untimed pushups.
Jay Bauer said it's unfair that female trainees have to do only 14 pushups as part of the fitness test that includes situps, a 300-meter sprint and 1.5-mile run.
A federal judge ruled that the test discriminates on the basis of sex. But a federal appeals court sided with the FBI, saying it used "gender-normed" standards that require the same level of fitness for all trainees. |
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Short-handed Supreme Court delays action in 3 cases
Opinions |
2016/11/01 15:11
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The Supreme Court is offering new evidence that the short-handed court is having trouble getting its work done.
The justices have yet to schedule three cases for arguments that were granted full review in January, about a month before Justice Antonin Scalia died. The cases involve separation of church and state, class-action lawsuits and property rights, issues that often split liberal and conservative justices.
Their absence from the calendar of cases that are being argued this fall suggests that the justices believe they may divide 4 to 4, and are waiting for a ninth justice to join them.
“The court doesn’t like to do a lot of work and have a 4-4 result. There may be a desire of the court to try to wait for the full complement of justices,” said Todd Gaziano of the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is taking part in the property rights case.
The court on Friday released its argument calendar for late November and early December. It includes redistricting disputes from North Carolina and Virginia, and a Texas death row inmate’s appeal.
Senate Republicans have refused to act on Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to fill Scalia’s seat.
Even if Garland were to get a Senate hearing and vote after the election, if Hillary Clinton wins the presidency, the earliest he could join the court would be for its January arguments. If the Senate does not act on Garland’s nomination in its post-election “lame duck” session, the vacancy could last into the spring, meaning almost all of the court’s term would go by with eight justices.
In the meantime, several justices have commented on the challenges posed by the absence of one justice.
“It’s much more difficult for us to do our job if we are not what we’re intended to be — a court of nine,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday at the University of Minnesota.
The justices divided evenly in four cases following Scalia’s death last term. A tie vote keeps in place the lower court decision that is being reviewed, without setting any nationwide law on the question at issue. It’s as if the high court hadn’t taken on the case in the first place
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