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Court blocks Ala. from checking student status
Top 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
Legal 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
Top 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
Headline News |
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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High court to decide double jeopardy question
Law Firm Business |
2011/10/11 16:47
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The Supreme Court will decide whether a jury forewoman's offhand comment that the jury was unable to make a decision on a murder charge means the suspect can't be retried on that charge.
The high court on Tuesday agreed to hear an appeal from Alex Blueford, whose murder trial in Arkansas ended in a hung jury.
The jury forewoman told the judge before he declared a mistrial that the jury had voted unanimously against capital murder and first-degree murder. The jury had deadlocked on a lesser charge, manslaughter, which caused the judge to declare a mistrial.
Blueford argued the forewoman's statement, said in open court, meant that he has been acquitted of capital murder and first-degree murder.
Prosecutors decided to retry Blueford on all three charges. He contended he could not be retried on capital murder and first-degree murder because of Fifth Amendment double jeopardy protections.
Arkansas courts have disagreed. The high court will now review that decision.
Blueford was on trial for killing his girlfriend's 20-month-old son. |
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US court turns down Philly DA in cop-killing case
Court Center |
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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Scott Cole & Associates Announces Update for Class Action
Press Releases |
2011/10/07 16:39
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According to Scott Cole, within days of being hit with a class action lawsuit for failing to offer meal and rest breaks to its California workforce, Guitar Center fired the man who pioneered the lawsuit and allowed its workers to parade the named plaintiff’s final paycheck around the workplace. In immediate reaction to these events, the plaintiff’s attorneys at Scott Cole & Associates amended the Complaint today to allege a wrongful termination and invasion of privacy claim.
“If Guitar Center thinks it can send a message to its workers that standing up for their rights will cost them, this new wrongful termination claim sends a stronger message right back,” says Scott Cole, the principal lawyer on the case. “Firing our client was a big mistake.”
The lawsuit is entitled Pellanda v. Guitar Center, Inc.
Oakland-based Scott Cole & Associates, APC is one of California’s premiere class action law firms and is devoted to representing individuals in employment and consumer rights litigation. For more information about our practice and cases, visit www.scalaw.com or call (510) 891-9800. |
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