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Speak Truth To Power is a timely collection of insightful commentaries, news items, and interviews brought to you by The Rutherford Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to the defense of civil liberties and human rights.
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Friday, February 22, 2008
Top Court Allows Suit Over 401(k)
According to The New York Times, "Participants in 401(k) retirement plans can sue to recover losses when their investment instructions are ignored or the account is otherwise mishandled, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday." "With 70 million people holding about $3 trillion in 401(k) investments," the report explains, "the 9-to-0 decision was one of the most important rulings in years on the meaning of the federal pension law known as Erisa."
Supreme Court Shields Medical-Device Makers
The Washington Post reports, "The Supreme Court yesterday protected the makers of medical devices that have passed the most rigorous federal review standards from lawsuits by consumers who allege that the devices caused them harm." According to the report, "The court ruled 8 to 1 against the estate of a New York man who was seriously injured when a balloon catheter manufactured by Medtronic burst during an angioplasty in 1996."
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Muslim Inmate Loses Court Case Over Lost Quran
According to USA Today, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that federal prison officials who allegedly lost the belongings of a Muslim inmate, including two copies of the Quran and a prayer rug, are shielded from a lawsuit seeking compensation. "The 5-4 decision," the report explains, "clears up conflicting rulings by lower courts over whether the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) allows prisoners to sue for the negligent handling of property."
Appeals Court: State Must Provide Transport for Inmate Abortions
"A federal appeals court has upheld the right of female inmates to be transported at state expense for elective abortions," reports CNN. According to the report, "The ruling Tuesday from the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit came on the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide."
Supreme Court Denies Review of Enron Case
Tony Mauro of Law.com reports, "The Supreme Court on Tuesday dashed the hopes of defrauded Enron investors who sought to recover billions of dollars from investment banks connected to the collapsed energy firm." "Without comment," the report explains, "the justices denied review in Regents of the University of California v. Merrill Lynch, in which stockholders claimed that a range of banks participated in "contrived, deceptive deals" that helped Enron show profits that were not real."
Friday, January 18, 2008
Federal Judge Criticizes C.I.A. Handling of Interrogation Tapes
The New York Times reports, "A federal judge in New York said Thursday that he was 'disappointed' in how investigators from the Central Intelligence Agency had handled videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of detainees from Al Qaeda." The article also notes that the judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan, went on to add that he was considering questioning agency officials who had watched the tapes about why they had made no record of them in their files.
Death Sentence Commuted In Va. Case
"More than five years after his case made legal history with a U.S. Supreme Court ban on executions of the mentally retarded, Daryl Atkins was spared his own long-held place on Virginia's death row when a judge commuted his sentence to life in prison Thursday," reports The Washington Post. According to the report, "The reprieve came for reasons that few would have guessed during the ever twisting, nearly 12-year course of the case, which had focused largely on Atkins's mental limitations. Instead, it came because of a Hampton lawyer's allegation of evidence suppression by prosecutors as they prepared for Atkins's murder trial in 1998."
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