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California high court strikes measure from ballot
Court Line |
2014/08/18 21:02
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The California Supreme Court on Monday blocked an advisory measure backed by Democrats from the November ballot.
By a 5-1 vote, the court ordered the removal of Proposition 49, which would have asked voters if they want a federal constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's so-called Citizens United ruling allowing unlimited corporate spending in elections.
The majority opinion said no harm will come from removing the nonbinding measure while courts determine its validity. The court said it would consider the issue in more detail in September.
Writing separately, Justice Goodwin Liu agreed with the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, an anti-tax group that filed a lawsuit seeking to remove the measure from the ballot. The group argued that advisory measures are not a proper use of the ballot.
Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said she would have allowed placing the proposition on the ballot, as a divided appeals court had ruled earlier.
The bill to place the measure on the ballot was introduced by Sen. Ted Lieu, D-Torrance, and it passed over Republicans' opposition. Brown, a Democrat, let the bill become law without his signature. Lieu's Sacramento office didn't return a phone call placed late Monday. |
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Court: Silence can be used against suspects
Court Line |
2014/08/18 21:02
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The California Supreme Court has ruled that the silence of suspects can be used against them.
Wading into a legally tangled vehicular manslaughter case, a sharply divided high court on Thursday effectively reinstated the felony conviction of a man accused in a 2007 San Francisco Bay Area crash that left an 8-year-old girl dead and her sister and mother injured.
Richard Tom was sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after authorities said he was speeding and slammed into another vehicle at a Redwood City intersection.
Prosecutors repeatedly told jurors during the trial that Tom's failure to ask about the victims immediately after the crash but before police read him his so-called Miranda rights showed his guilt.
Legal analysts said the ruling could affect future cases, allowing prosecutors to exploit a suspect's refusal to talk before invoking 5th Amendment rights against self-incrimination. |
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Court rules against group over ad slamming Horne
Legal News |
2014/08/11 17:58
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An Arizona appeals court has ruled against a political group that spent about $1.5 million during the state's 2010 attorney general race on a TV commercial that was critical of Republican candidate Tom Horne.
A three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals on Thursday reversed a lower-court judge who concluded the commercial by Committee for Justice and Fairness was issue-oriented, rather than advocating for Horne's defeat.
The group claimed its ad confronted issues of child safety, but the appeals court rejected that argument, saying the only purpose for running the TV spot just weeks before Horne's general-election showdown with Democrat Felecia Rotellini was to advocate for Horne's defeat.
"In this case, reasonable minds could not differ as to whether CJR's advertisement encouraged a vote against Horne," the appeals court wrote.The appeals court said the group, which is funded primarily by the Democratic Attorneys General Association, should have registered as a political committee and filed campaign finance reports.Horne's 2014 campaign had no immediate comment on the ruling.
Thomas Irvine, an attorney for the committee, said it's unknown whether the group will appeal the decision. |
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Court rulings add urgency to state exchange decisions
Attorney News |
2014/08/11 17:57
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As states ready their health insurance exchanges for a second open enrollment season in November, many have more to worry about than the computer glitches that plagued them last year.
Last month’s federal appeals court ruling that said language in the Affordable Care Act allows only state-run exchanges to give consumers tax credits to help pay for policy premiums is spurring several states to solidify their state-based credentials.“Until now, it was inconsequential what you were called,” said Larry Levitt, vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
“All of a sudden, it may matter.”Only the District of Columbia and 14 states — California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington — have established state exchanges and are on firm legal ground, according the decision,
Halbig v. Burwell.Consumers in the remaining 36 states that use the federal exchange ultimately could be blocked from future premium subsidies if the U.S. Supreme Court sides with Obamacare opponents.
At stake is discounted insurance coverage for more than 7 million people and access to federal subsidies amounting to $36 billion in 2016, according to a study by the Urban Institute. |
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Texas Supreme Court: Parade Crash Trial in Midland
Attorney News |
2014/08/05 22:25
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The Texas Supreme Court has ruled a negligence lawsuit stemming from the fatal collision of a train with a veterans' parade float in Midland in 2012 should be heard in Midland County.
The Midland Reporter-Telegram reports the state's highest civil court on Friday rejected a case that veterans and family members filed in Dallas. The railroad, Union Pacific, and the float provider, Smith Industries, wanted a trial in Midland because that's where the crash occurred.
Four people were killed and 13 others hurt in the 2012 crash. A federal investigating panel blamed the city and parade organizers for the accident.
Two pretrial hearings are set for Midland in September. The trial itself is set for January.
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