Constitutional Law

Integration Plan B Uses Income

More school districts are likely to consider income as a race neutral way to achieve school diversity in the wake of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision striking down two school integration plans. The 5-4 decision struck down programs used in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., area schools that used race as a…

Jun 29, 2007 5:48 PM CDT

Kennedy Holds Powell’s Position

The justice who holds the seat once occupied by Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. wrote the controlling opinion in yesterday’s Supreme Court decision striking down two school integration plans. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy joined the five-justice majority in striking down programs used in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., area schools. Seattle…

Jun 29, 2007 2:19 PM CDT

Body Language Conveys Divisions

Updated: As Justice Stephen G. Breyer read aloud his dissent yesterday from the Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision striking down two school-integration plans, the justices’ discomfort was on display. Breyer argued that public schools should be able to consider race in response to the nation’s history of slavery and discrimination. Breyer…

Jun 29, 2007 1:50 PM CDT

Judge: Roberts Misused My Quote

A federal judge who argued the landmark school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education says Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is taking his words out of context. Roberts cited Brown and the arguments of Robert Carter in his majority opinion yesterday striking down school integration plans at two…

Jun 29, 2007 1:42 PM CDT

Lawyers Advise, Clients Strategize on New ‘Issue’ Political Advertising

Lawyers who advise advocacy groups are busy this week, following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday opening the door to more “issue”-oriented political advertising. The question: How far can these groups go in pre-election advertising that discusses issues but at least arguably also promotes political candidates? The Federal Election Commission,…

Jun 28, 2007 6:18 PM CDT

Court Strikes Down Integration Plans

Updated: In perhaps the most-anticipated ruling of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped back into the debate over affirmative action, ruling in a 5-4 decision that two public schools improperly used race as a factor in school assignments, SCOTUSblog reports. The schools have “failed to provide the necessary support…

Jun 28, 2007 5:12 PM CDT

Bush Asserts Executive Privilege

The White House has asserted executive privilege and refused to turn over documents regarding the firing of at least eight U.S. attorneys. The administration will withhold documents from former White House counsel Harriet Miers and former political director Sara Taylor, and the officials will not testify, the Associated Press reports.…

Jun 28, 2007 3:57 PM CDT

Cheney Argument Moot

Is Dick Cheney a member of the legislative branch, or isn’t he? The White House says the answer is moot, the New York Times reports. The vice president has refused to comply with a presidential order permitting the National Archives to oversee classified data, saying his legislative role as Senate…

Jun 28, 2007 3:47 PM CDT

Scalia’s Barbs Hook Chief Justice

In two opinions on Monday, Justice Antonin Scalia took pointed aim at the chief justice for failing to overturn precedent. Scalia’s missives have “served to lift the curtain a bit on the differences within the powerful five-justice conservative bloc that has marched in lock step through much of the term,”…

Jun 28, 2007 3:03 PM CDT

No Bond for GA Youth in Child Sex Case

There will be no bond for a young Georgia man sentenced to a 10-year term in a controversial child sex case, despite an offer by 11 entrepreneurs to pay $1 million on his behalf. Although Genarlow Wilson’s habeas petition was recently granted by a federal judge who said the prison…

Jun 28, 2007 1:16 AM CDT

Rancher Loses Quest for Damages

A Wyoming rancher who sought damages from employees at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management had the support of a conservative public interest group, the Pacific Legal Foundation. But only two liberal judges agreed that Harvey Frank Robbins should be allowed to pursue his claim for damages under the 1971…

Jun 26, 2007 8:46 PM CDT

Did Missouri Execute an Innocent Man?

A dozen years after Larry Griffin was executed, despite his continuing proclaimations of innocence, by the state of Missouri, there are major unanswered questions about whether he was actually guilty of the 1980 drive-by shooting he was convicted of committing. After a University of Michigan law professor brought to light…

Jun 26, 2007 8:35 PM CDT

11th Circuit OKs Search of Football Fans

“Voluntary” pat-down searches of fans entering football stadiums do not violate the 4th Amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizes, the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decided today. Ruling in a case brought by a Tampa Bay Buccaneers season-ticket holder Gordon Johnston, a civics teacher, the appeals court said…

Jun 26, 2007 7:24 PM CDT

A Conservative Juggernaut (Updated)

Conservatives are on a roll at the U.S. Supreme Court. Four of five rulings yesterday were decided 5-4 by conservative majorities, according to the Washington Post. The majority: –Limited student speech advocating drug use. –Refused to allow a taxpayer challenge to an executive branch program promoting federal funding for faith-based…

Jun 26, 2007 4:01 PM CDT

KPMG Prosecutors Concede Key Point

Government lawyers have acknowledged that dismissal of charges is the appropriate remedy for 12 former KPMG employees—if prosecutors indeed violated the Constitution by pressuring their employer to cut off legal fees. In legal papers filed Friday, the government says it continues to maintain that a judge’s finding of a constitutional…

Jun 26, 2007 1:01 PM CDT