Thursday, August 31, 2006
Anti-Bush Shirt OK in School, Court Says
“A middle school that censored the anti-drug, anti-Bush message on a student's T-shirt violated the boy's right to free speech, an appeals court ruled Wednesday.” According to The Seattle Post Intelligencer, “The shirt bore images of cocaine and a martini glass - in addition to messages calling President Bush a lying drunk driver who abused cocaine and marijuana, and the ‘chicken-hawk-in-chief’ who was engaged in a ‘world domination tour.’”
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Judge Blocks Florida Voter Registration Law
“A federal judge on Monday struck down a Florida law that imposes hefty fines on third parties that take too long to submit voter registration forms, saying it threatens free speech rights and unfairly exempts political parties.” According to The New York Times, “The law imposes a fine of $250 for each form submitted to election officials more than 10 days after it is collected from an individual. Penalties can reach $5,000 for each form that is collected but never submitted.”
Judge Blocks Florida Voter Registration Law
“A federal judge on Monday struck down a Florida law that imposes hefty fines on third parties that take too long to submit voter registration forms, saying it threatens free speech rights and unfairly exempts political parties.” According to The New York Times, “The law imposes a fine of $250 for each form submitted to election officials more than 10 days after it is collected from an individual. Penalties can reach $5,000 for each form that is collected but never submitted.”
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Judge Rejects Plan to Allow Tree Clearing in Monument
“A federal judge struck down a Forest Service plan on Tuesday that would have allowed a commercial lumber company to harvest trees from inside the Giant Sequoia National Monument, a soaring woods in central California,” reports The New York Times. According to the report, “The ruling, by Judge Charles R. Breyer of Federal District Court, said the Forest Service’s plan for the monument, presented as an anti-fire effort to clear trees, brush and other natural kindling, lacked ‘coherent or clear guidance.’”
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Judge Orders Justice Department Investigation of Leak to CBS
“A federal judge has ordered a Justice Department probe into how CBS News obtained a story two years ago disclosing an FBI investigation into a pro-Israel lobbying group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.” According to The New York Sun, “Judge Ellis instructed the Justice Department ‘to conduct an investigation into the identity of any government employee responsible for the August 2004 disclosure to CBS News of info. related to the investigation of defendants/whether the investigation relied on info. collected pursuant to’ the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to an entry placed on the docket of the Alexandria, Va.-based court yesterday.”
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Federal Judge Orders Halt to NSA Wiretapping
“A federal judge in Detroit ordered a halt to the National Security Agency's warrantless surveillance program, ruling for the first time that the controversial effort ordered by President Bush was unconstitutional.” According to The Washington Post, “U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor wrote in a strongly-worded 43-page opinion that the NSA wiretapping program violates privacy and free-speech rights and the constitutional separation of powers between the three branches of government.”
State High School Sports Body Vows to Appeal Circuit Court Ruling
The Detroit Free Press reports, “Sports seasons in Michigan high schools discriminate against girls, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday, confirming a decision reached by a lower court five years ago.” The decision largely rested on the fact that Michigan is the last state where girls' sports such as basketball and volleyball are played in seasons opposite from the rest of the country.
Mo. Plans Appeal in Inmate Abortion Case
The Associated Press reports that the state of Missouri plans to appeal a federal court ruling requiring that pregnant inmates be taken to abortion clinics when they request the procedure. According to the report, “U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple of Kansas City concluded last month that a Missouri policy against transporting inmates for abortions violated constitutional safeguards for due process and against cruel and unusual punishment.”
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Espionage Lite
According to this Washington Post editorial, although the United States has never had an Official Secrets Act -- a statute forbidding private citizens from disclosing and discussing information the government wants to keep quiet, last week it got one. According to the article, “The change didn't come from Congress but from a federal judge in Virginia,” at the urging of the Bush administration, and if it stands it will greatly augment governmental authority to compel Americans to keep quiet about they know.
Court: Bible Display Must Go
The Houston Chronicle reports, “A Bible must be removed from a 50-year-old monument in front of the Harris County civil courthouse because a district judge changed it from a secular to a religious use in violation of the Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.” The court determined that “Although secular in purpose when it was erected in front of the old civil courthouse in 1956, former state District Judge John Devine and his court reporter, Karen Friend, changed the character of the monument when they refurbished it in 1995.”
Judge Rules Chronicle Reporters Must Name Their BALCO Sources
The San Francisco Chronicle reports, “Two Chronicle reporters must disclose their sources of grand jury testimony by Barry Bonds and other prominent athletes about the use of performance-enhancing drugs, a federal judge in San Francisco said Tuesday in a ruling that could lead to the jailing of the reporters.” According to the report, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled, “Neither the constitutional right of freedom of the press nor federal law shields journalists from testifying to a federal grand jury about confidential sources.”
Friday, August 04, 2006
DeLay Stays on Ballot, Judges Rule
“Tom DeLay must stay on the Texas ballot for his former Congressional seat in November, despite Republican efforts to replace him with a stronger candidate, a federal appeals court panel ruled Thursday.” According to The New York Times, “The 3-to-0 decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, is a victory for Texas Democrats, who have voiced hope that Mr. DeLay’s involvement in a series of lobbying and campaign finance scandals will help elect a Democrat to the seat.”
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
N.Y. Times Must Surrender Reporters' Phone Data
“The New York Times may not withhold reporters' phone records from a federal grand jury investigating an alleged leak of a pending government raid on two Islamic charities suspected of supporting terrorism, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday,” reports The Washington Post. “A three-judge panel of the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled 2 to 1 that the Times has no First Amendment or other legal right to refuse a demand for the records from the grand jury in Chicago, which was empaneled by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald.”
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
U.S. Judge Throws Out Minnesota Video Game Law
“A federal judge on Monday shot down a Minnesota law that would fine youngsters who get their hands on the smuttiest, bloodiest and most violent video games.” The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports, “The law, which was scheduled to take effect today, would have docked youths $25 for renting or buying video games an industry board rates ‘mature’ or ‘adults only.’”
