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Brazil's Supreme Court elects new president
Breaking Legal News |
2014/08/18 13:42
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Brazil's Supreme Court has elected a new president to replace the body's first black justice, who announced his early retirement in June.
Nine of the court's 10 judges elected Ricardo Lewandowski as the new chief justice Wednesday to succeed Joaquim Barbosa. The choice was not a surprise because the Supreme Court's presidency always goes to the justice who has sat on the bench the longest.
Barbosa is the only black to ever serve on Brazil's top court. He presided over a high-profile corruption trial in 2012 that sent more than 20 people to jail in a congressional payoff scheme. The case made him a household name and he was frequently mentioned as a potential presidential candidate, but he has said he has no desire to run for elective office. |
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Appellate court overturns high-speed rail rulings
Breaking Legal News |
2014/08/05 15:04
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A state appellate court on Thursday overturned two lower court rulings that had stalled funding for California's $68 billion bullet train, handing a big win to Gov. Jerry Brown's signature project and allowing the state to resume selling bonds to pay for it.
The court overturned rulings by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny last year in which he said the high-speed rail project no longer complies with the promises made to voters in 2008 when they approved selling nearly $10 billion in bonds. In siding with Kings County and Central Valley landowners, Kenny invalidated the sale of $8.6 billion in state bonds and ordered the California High-Speed Rail Authority to write a new funding plan.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs had argued that the state failed to identify all the funding for the first full segment of the rail line in the Central Valley, a cost of about $26 billion, and instead had found just $6 billion to pay for construction. They also argued the state did not have all the necessary environmental clearances as voters were promised. |
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Appeals court to take up Missouri execution case
Breaking Legal News |
2014/07/17 11:17
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A last-minute stay from a federal judge has put a Missouri inmate's execution temporarily on hold.
John Middleton was scheduled to die one minute after midnight Wednesday for killing three people in rural northern Missouri in 1995. With less than two hours to go before the execution, U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry granted a stay, ruling there was enough evidence of mental illness that a new hearing should be held.
Courts have established that executing the mentally ill is unconstitutional.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, but that court adjourned for the night without a ruling.
It was a confusing end to a day that saw a flurry of court actions. Perry first granted a stay early Tuesday, but that was overturned by the appeals court. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to overturn the appeals court ruling and declined to halt the execution on several other grounds, including the contention by Middleton's attorneys that he was innocent of the crimes.
Middleton's attorneys then went back to Perry, who once again granted a stay.
However the appeals court eventually rules, the case is likely to end up again in the U.S. Supreme Court.
If the stay is lifted, the state could execute Middleton at any time Wednesday. The death warrant expires at midnight Thursday and if Middleton is not executed by then, the Missouri Supreme Court would have to set a new date. State witnesses and media were told to report back to the prison by 10:30 a.m.
Middleton, 54, would be the sixth man put to death in Missouri this year — only Florida and Texas have performed more executions in 2014 with seven each. |
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California high court to decide defibrillator case
Breaking Legal News |
2014/06/23 12:14
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The California Supreme Court will decide whether large retailers in the state are required to have defibrillators on hand to help treat customers and workers who suffer sudden cardiac arrest.
The high court said it will issue an opinion Monday morning. The devices deliver a jolt of electricity to a stalled heart and help victims recover.
For two decades, an increasing number of public places in the U.S. have been required to have automated external defibrillators on hand, including government buildings, airports and many other public places. A Los Angeles-area family who lost a relative to sudden cardiac arrest while shopping in Target filed a lawsuit to require large retailers to join the list.
During oral arguments in May, a majority of the seven-judge court appeared cool to the idea. |
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Court sides with EPA on not setting new standard
Breaking Legal News |
2014/05/27 13:18
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A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency was justified in not establishing a new air quality standard for acid rain.
The EPA decided in 2012 after a lengthy rulemaking proceeding that it needed further scientific study before it could set a new air quality standard for oxides of nitrogen and oxides of sulfur.
Environmental groups claimed that EPA's failure to issue a new multi-pollutant rule violated the Clean Air Act.
In a 3-0 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said it was turning aside the environmental groups' petition for judicial review because the EPA could not form a reasoned judgment as the Clean Air Act requires.
"EPA did not simply leave in place the old standard," said appeals judge A. William Randolph. "Although it did not promulgate a new standard, it identified the data gaps that prevented it from doing so and initiated a data-collection program designed precisely to fill those gaps and facilitate future regulation."
Once EPA found that the two current standards were inadequate with respect to acid rain, the agency sought to determine what new multi-pollutant standard would be appropriate, the judges said. EPA recognized that a new national ambient air quality standard would necessarily be more complex than those set historically for just one pollutant, the court wrote. |
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Supreme Court takes up case of fired air marshal
Breaking Legal News |
2014/05/20 11:18
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The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider the case of a federal air marshal who was fired after leaking information to the press about aviation security plans.
The justices will hear an appeal from the Obama administration, which claims Robert MacLean is not entitled to whistleblower protection for disclosing that the Transportation Security Administration planned to save money by cutting back on overnight trips for undercover air marshals.
MacLean was fired in 2006, three years after he told a reporter the cuts were being made despite a briefing days earlier about an imminent terrorist threat focusing on long-distance flights. MacLean said he leaked the information after his boss ignored his safety concerns.
When news of the planned became public, congressional leaders expressed their concerns and the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged that the plan was a mistake. No flight assignments requiring overnight hotel stays were canceled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled last year that MacLean should be allowed to present a defense under federal whistleblower laws. But the government argues that the law does not protect employees who reveal "sensitive" security information.
MacLean asserts that no law specifically prohibited him from revealing the information because it wasn't considered sensitive when it was shared with him. The agency's decision to curb the overnight trips was sent as a text to MacLean's cellphone without using more secure methods. He says the law protects government employees who report violations of the law or specific danger to public safety. |
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California court charging for online access
Breaking Legal News |
2014/05/16 14:22
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A Northern California county has begun charging people to look at civil court records online — part of a trend at cash-strapped courthouses around the state that is raising concerns among some lawyers and public access groups, a newspaper reported.
As of April 23, Alameda County Superior Court charges $1 for each of the first five pages of a civil court record downloaded online, the Oakland Tribune reported on Monday.
The per-page viewing cost drops to 50 cents after the fifth page, and there is a $40 maximum charge for any single document.
Sacramento County Superior Court is implementing a similar fee structure this summer, the Tribune reported. Fees in the Los Angeles County Superior Court system start at $4.75 for each record search. Santa Clara County plans to begin charging in two to four years, according to the Tribune.
Court officials say the fees help make up for cuts in state aid.
"There's a budget crisis in the courts," said Teresa Ruano, spokeswoman for the state's Administrative Office of the Courts. "Revenue is part of the solution, a small part of the solution."
Each court decides whether it wants to charge a fee for records, though the state sets the maximum amount that can be charged for both paper and online records. Some counties don't put records online, forcing people to come in and visit the clerk's office. |
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