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Court blocks Ala. from checking student status
Legal News |
2011/10/16 17:09
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Armando Cardenas says he has thought about leaving Alabama because of the possibility of being arrested as an illegal immigrant and the hostility he feels from residents.
But now that a federal appeals court has sided with the Obama administration and dealt a blow to the state's toughest-in-the-nation immigration law, Cardenas said he will stay for at least a while longer.
"It's not easy to leave everything you have worked so hard for," Cardenas said after the appeals court blocked public schools from checking the immigration status of students.
The decision from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also said police can't charge immigrants who are unable to prove their citizenship, but it let some parts of the law stand, giving supporters a partial victory. The decision was only temporary and a final ruling isn't expected for months, after judges can review more arguments.
Unlike in other states where immigration crackdowns have been challenged in the courts, Alabama's law was left largely in effect for about three weeks, long enough to frighten Hispanics and drive them away from the state. Construction businesses said Hispanic workers had quit showing up for jobs and schools reported that Latino students stopped coming to classes. |
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Court won't hear NH presidential ballot question
Court Watch |
2011/10/11 16:48
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The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from the Libertarian Party over whether New Hampshire officials should have let 2008 Libertarian candidate Bob Barr be the party's sole candidate on the presidential ballot.
The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from the party, which wanted Barr as the only candidate carrying its brand on the 2008 ballot.
A second candidate, George Phillies, also petitioned his way onto the New Hampshire ballot under the Libertarian banner. Barr and the party sued, saying Barr should have been the only Libertarian candidate on that ballot.
But the federal courts threw out the party's claim that Phillies' affiliation should have been removed because the national party didn't want his name on the ballot. |
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Court won't hear appeal from Alamo followers
Legal News |
2011/10/11 16:47
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The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from followers of evangelist Tony Alamo (uh-LAHM'-oh) who had their children taken away when they wouldn't agree not to expose them to the controversial ministry.
The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from several Alamo followers, who sued the Arkansas Department of Human Services after their children were taken away in 2008.
Prosecutors won sexual abuse convictions against Alamo in 2009. Social workers feared the children might someday be abused, and told the parents to break their financial dependence on Alamo's ministry. The parents refused.
The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the taking of the children was not a barrier to the parents' constitutional rights to practice religion. |
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Ex-Justice Stevens optimistic about court's future
Legal PR |
2011/10/11 16:47
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Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens spent much of his 35 years on the court disagreeing with the majority, but he's bullish about the institution.
At a talk Monday at Princeton University, his biggest applause line was for his shortest answer. The question: Are you optimistic about the future of the court and the Constitution?
His answer: "Yes."
The 91-year-old retired justice had a public conversation with Princeton Provost Christopher Eisgruber, who served as a clerk for him in the 1989-1990 court session.
His talk came a week after the publication of his book "Five Chiefs," about the three chief justices he served under and the two others he got to know earlier in his legal career as a clerk and a lawyer.
Stevens, famous for his bow ties, donned one in Princeton black and orange for the occasion. During a tenure that was the third-longest in court history, he also became famous for disagreeing with the court's majority. Stevens was appointed by Republican President Gerald Ford, and by the time he left last year, he was perhaps the most reliably liberal member of the court. About half his 1,400 opinions were dissents
For some Princeton students, that made him a hero. One woman wore a T-shirt that said, "I (heart) JPS."
Stevens has regrets about upholding a Texas capital punishment law and wishes the court would change positions on sovereign immunity and allow lawsuits against the government.
Yet he's happy with the way the court works.
He appeared a bit taken aback when one student asked him if the court should have a way to enforce its own rulings. "It's true that the court has to rely on the executive branch," he said. "But I don't think that's ever been a problem."
He also that by the time he joined the court in 1975, it was a congenial place — something he said wasn't the case when he was a clerk there himself in 1947. |
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US court turns down Philly DA in cop-killing case
Court Line |
2011/10/11 16:47
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The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a request from prosecutors who want to re-impose a death sentence on former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted of killing a white Philadelphia police officer 30 years ago.
The justices on Tuesday refused to get involved in the racially charged case. A federal appeals court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Abu-Jamal after finding that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at Abu-Jamal's 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
Courts have upheld Abu-Jamal's conviction for killing Officer Daniel Faulkner over objections that African-Americans were improperly excluded from the jury.
The federal appeals court in Philadelphia said prosecutors could agree to a life sentence for Abu-Jamal or try again to sentence him to death. |
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