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NY court hears arguments on town fracking bans
Court Watch |
2013/03/25 22:04
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Backers of natural gas drilling and environmental advocates wrangled Thursday over whether New York's towns have the legal right to ban oil and gas development in a fight that could ultimately be decided by the state's highest court.
A four-judge appellate panel heard arguments over the local bans in Dryden and Middlefield, two central New York towns among dozens in the state that have passed zoning laws prohibiting drilling. Opponents argue state rules supersede such local restrictions.
The Dryden law is being challenged by drilling company Norse Energy and the Middlefield ban by a dairy farmer who said the town's action prevents her from making money from gas wells that had been planned for her land.
The cases are being closely watched by other towns across the state as a test of their constitutional right of "home rule." They're also of keen interest to the industry, which has claimed it can't operate profitably in a state with a patchwork of local regulation that may shift with each town board election. |
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Man pleads not guilty in Oakland bank bomb case
Court Watch |
2013/03/15 06:46
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A 28-year-old former Marine has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to blow up an Oakland bank with a car bomb.
The Oakland Tribune reports Matthew Aaron Llaneza of San Jose entered the plea Friday in federal court. If convicted, he could face life in prison for attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction.
LLaneza's attorney says his client was found to suffer from significant mental illness but was competent to stand trial.
Authorites say Llaneza tried to blow up a Bank of America branch last month and ignite a civil war by blaming the bombing on anti-government militias.
LLaneza has been held in jail since he was caught in an FBI sting operation involving an agent posing as a member of the Taliban. |
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Former Chicago Bear pleads guilty to tax charges
Court Line |
2013/03/11 22:18
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Former Chicago Bears player Chris Zorich pleaded guilty Thursday to federal tax charges, admitting to the judge that he didn't file "in a timely fashion."
The 43-year-old faced four misdemeanor counts of not filing federal income tax returns from 2006 to 2009. Over that time, he allegedly made more than $1 million, including income from a charity he founded.
The judge asked Zorich if he knew he was wrong not to file the returns.
"Yes, your honor," Zorich said, wearing a black suit and tie.
His attorney previously said Zorich was looking forward to putting the case behind him.
The Chicago native was on the 1988 Notre Dame team that won a national championship. He played for the Bears from 1991 to 1996 and ended his career with the Washington Redskins in 1997. |
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Court says Guam man can sue gov't over surgery
Court Watch |
2013/03/04 20:39
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The Supreme Court says a Guam man can sue the government for a Navy surgeon's unsuccessful cataract surgery.
A unanimous court ruled on Monday for Steven Alan Levin, who was operated on in March 2003 at the United States Naval Hospital in Guam, a U.S. territory. Levin said he withdrew his consent before the operation began but doctors proceeded anyway. Levin suffered complications, which require ongoing treatment.
Levin sued for medical malpractice and battery. The courts threw out the medical malpractice complaint and kept the battery charge. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the government is also immune from being sued for battery.
The Supreme Court reversed that decision, with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg writing for the court that Levin's battery lawsuit against the government can move forward. |
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Court won't allow challenge to surveillance law
Legal News |
2013/02/27 08:24
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A sharply-divided Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out an attempt by U.S. citizens to challenge the expansion of a surveillance law used to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects.
With a 5-4 vote, the high court ruled that a group of American lawyers, journalists and organizations can't sue to challenge the 2008 expansion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) because they can't prove that the government will monitor their conversations along with those of potential foreign terrorist and intelligence targets.
Justices "have been reluctant to endorse standing theories that require guesswork," said Justice Samuel Alito, who wrote for the court's majority.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was enacted in 1978. It allows the government to monitor conversations of foreign spies and terrorist suspects abroad for intelligence purposes. The 2008 FISA amendments allow the government to obtain from a secret court broad, yearlong intercept orders, raising the prospect that phone calls and emails between those foreign targets and innocent Americans in this country would be swept under the umbrella of surveillance.
Without proof that the law would directly affect them, Americans can't sue, Alito said in the ruling.
Despite their documented fears and the expense of activities that some Americans have taken to be sure they don't get caught up in government monitoring, they "have set forth no specific facts demonstrating that the communications of their foreign contacts will be targeted," he added. |
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