Court to Consider Cocaine Sentences

The U.S Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether federal judges may depart from guidelines to correct disparities in sentencing for crack and powder cocaine.

Many federal judges have been ignoring guidelines that impose heavier sentences for possession of crack cocaine, Linda Greenhouse of the New York Times reports. Federal appeals courts are divided on the issue.

The justices selected an appeal by prosecutors seeking a higher sentence for Derrick Kimbrough, a veteran from Norfolk, Va. The federal sentencing guidelines called for a sentence of 19 to 22 years in prison for Kimbrough’s crime, possessing and distributing more than 50 grams of crack.

A federal judge called that sentence “ridiculous” and refused to impose it.

Jun 12, 2007 3:15 PM CDT

Court Strengthens Superfund

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the federal Superfund law permits companies to sue to recover costs of voluntarily cleaning up hazardous material.

The ruling helps strengthen the Superfund cleanup program, the Associated Press reports.

Jun 11, 2007 9:02 PM CDT

Tobacco Maker Loses Removal Bid

A cigarette company may not transfer a class-action lawsuit to federal court based on the federal government’s regulation of light cigarettes.

The suit against Philip Morris targeted the marketing of Marlboro Lights and Cambridge Lights, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).

The tobacco maker sought to transfer the action out of the Arkansas state courts under a law allowing removal to federal court when a private person acts under a federal officer.

Philip Morris had argued the Federal Trade Commission was a federal officer because it oversaw a voluntary agreement setting standards for light cigarettes.

Jun 11, 2007 8:24 PM CDT

Home-Care Workers Not Entitled to OT

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that home health-care workers are not entitled to overtime pay under federal law.

The opinion today by Justice Stephen Breyer upheld a Labor Department regulation that exempted the workers from the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“The court’s ruling is another blow to struggling, low-wage women,” says Nancy Duff Campbell, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center.

Jun 11, 2007 8:00 PM CDT

Loving Celebrates Husband, Not Case

The black woman whose marriage to a white man resulted in a landmark ruling says she still thinks about her husband every day, more than 30 years after his death.

The case that overturned a ban on interracial marriage 40 years ago isn’t as important to Mildred Loving, the Associated Press recounts in a profile.

“He was my support, he was my rock,” she says of her husband.

Jun 11, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

Bill Would Boost Pay-Bias Claims

A former chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is leading an effort to introduce legislation that will overturn a recent Supreme Court ruling on pay discrimination.

The court ruled on May 29 in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that Title VII pay disparity complaints must be filed with the EEOC within 180 days of the original pay discrimination.

D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat who oversaw the EEOC in the late 1970s, has met with House and Senate staffers about drafting a new law to change the 180-day limit, Legal Times reports.

Jun 11, 2007 12:33 PM CDT

S.C. Files High Court Suit in Water Dispute

In the midst of a drought, South Carolina has filed an original lawsuit in the U.S. Supreme Court over a water dispute with North Carolina.

The dispute is over North Carolina’s plans to pump millions of gallons of water each day from the Catawba River for two Charlotte suburbs, according to Associated Press.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster says he will ask Congress to intervene if the Supreme Court declines the case.

Jun 8, 2007 5:29 PM CDT

Getting ‘Borked’ Gets New Meaning

Failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork is seeking $1 million in damages for injuries suffered when he fell at the Yale Club in Manhattan. The New York Post carried news of the suit under the headline “$1 Mil Bork Chop.” The suit claims Bork fell backward when trying to climb…

Jun 8, 2007 5:08 PM CDT

Death-Row Inmates Look to Kennedy

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued eight decisions in death penalty cases this term, ruling against inmates in half.

The liberal wing of the court sided with inmates in all eight cases, Associated Press reports. The swing vote is Justice Anthony M. Kennedy.

“In the late ’80s and early ’90s, you were a rare defendant who won a death penalty case at the Supreme Court,” Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told AP reporter Mark Sherman. “Now there’s a fair chance that if you can get Justice Kennedy, you’ll win.”

Jun 7, 2007 3:53 PM CDT

‘Hold Five’ Is Supreme Court Mantra

Surfers long to “hang five” and justices seek to “hold five.” The latter term refers to the need to keep five justices in a majority, Joan Biskupic writes in USA Today. Justices vote on a case within days of oral arguments. But they sometimes waiver after majority and minority opinions…

Jun 6, 2007 4:25 PM CDT

Blockbuster Rulings Still to Come

The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to issue rulings in 23 cases in its final month of the term. By the time the court breaks for the summer, its final tally of decisions is expected to stand at 71, a modern record-low, the National Law Journal reports. The low numbers…

Jun 6, 2007 12:52 PM CDT

Credit Ruling Could Benefit Retailers

A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday favoring two insurers on an interpretation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act could help businesses in related lawsuits. The court ruled in favor of Geico General Insurance Co. and Safeco Corp., saying they can’t be liable for violating the law without a…

Jun 5, 2007 3:09 PM CDT

Kennedy Overturns Former Clerk

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy overturned his former law clerk in a decision yesterday saying that state courts are in the best position to make decisions on potential jurors. Kennedy wrote for the majority in a 5-4 ruling that said federal courts should defer to a state judge’s judgment that the…

Jun 5, 2007 12:51 PM CDT

The High Court’s Danish Prince

Whether to be or not to be a liberal or conservative majority, Kennedy decides

Jun 5, 2007 8:55 AM CDT

An Outside Shot at Securities Fraud

It’s too late for Enron defendants, as plaintiffs pursue ‘scheme liability’

Jun 5, 2007 8:50 AM CDT