All posts tagged "Ussupremecourt"

In a blistering rebuke of a solicitor and a now-retired judge, the S.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday defended open courts and praised a free press and a vigilant Attorney General for exposing the secret early release of a convicted killer from prison. In its 3-2 decision, the majority of justices denounced in scathing terms the secret actions by retired judge Casey Manning and 5th Circuit Solicitor Byron Gipson that led to the secret and unlawful release of killer Jeroid Price last March from prison after he served only 19 years of a 35-year mandatory sentence. “This case reminds us of the criti......

MIAMI — The fight over which voting map should be used for this year’s city of Miami elections has officially reached the U.S. Supreme Court, and a recent filing suggests the case is getting a serious review. Community groups suing the city over allegations of racial gerrymandering have asked the highest court in the land to resolve an urgent issue: Which map the should the city use to hold elections in Districts 1, 2 and 4 on Nov. 7? The community groups asked for an emergency review from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who is assigned to deal with appeals of decisions made by the......

The federal government has launched a civil rights probe into Harvard University’s use of legacy admissions, the U.S. Department of Education said Tuesday, increasing pressure on universities already grappling with intense backlash to the practice. The disclosure arrived three weeks after a Boston civil rights group filed a complaint with the Education Department over Harvard’s use of legacy admissions — the practice of advantaging the children of alumni in admissions decisions — and almost a month after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision banning affirmative action nationwide. Legacy admiss......

CHICAGO — Attorneys for gun rights supporters seeking to overturn Illinois’ sweeping gun ban faced tough questioning Thursday from a pair of federal appellate judges in Chicago. The half-dozen challenges being heard in a consolidated case before a three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals all hinge on whether the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment extends to the more than 100 types of guns that are subject to the state ban, including the popular AR-15 rifle, and to the high-capacity magazines that also are subject to the ban. For those challenging the law......

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a case over whether a deaf student deprived of a qualified sign-language interpreter for 12 years may sue his Michigan school district for damages. Several justices seemed sympathetic to the arguments by the attorney for Michigan's Miguel Luna Perez that he shouldn't have to complete the administrative process under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act when such "exhaustion" would be futile — that is, when the money damages for disability discrimination he seeks aren't available under that statute. Justice Elen......

Critics of Kansas’ newly enacted congressional maps are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Kansas Supreme Court decision upholding them. In a filing last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas, the Campaign Legal Center, Loud Light and Elias Law Group asked the high court to consider whether the 14th Amendment prohibits racial discrimination in redistricting when a minority group is not large enough to make up the majority of a district. The filing comes months after the Kansas Supreme Courtupheld the GOP-drawn maps over arguments that the map should be unconstitutional ......