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Wednesday, December 24, 2008 "Court denies Coleman request on duplicate ballots; The justices said the Coleman claim that some ballots may have been double-counted would be better resolved in a separate court action than by the state Canvassing Board": The Minneapolis Star Tribune provides this news update. And The St. Paul Pioneer Press provides a news update headlined "Court says alleged duplicate ballots can be counted." You can access today's ruling of the Supreme Court of Minnesota at this link. On today's broadcast of NPR's "Morning Edition": The broadcast contained audio segments entitled "Is Bush Planning Pardons For His Administration?"; "Wal-Mart To Settle Class Action Lawsuits"; and "Successful Madoff Investors Worry About Lawsuits." RealPlayer is required to launch these audio segments. Sixth Circuit affirms federal district court ruling that held unconstitutional certain provisions of Kentucky's laws regulating shipments into Kentucky from small out-of-state farm wineries: You can access today's ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link. According to today's ruling, the objectionable aspect of the regulation in question required a customer who resides in Kentucky to appear in person at the out-of-state small farm winery to make a purchase before that winery could ship the purchase to the customer in Kentucky. Update: The Associated Press reports that "Court upholds allowing wine shipments into Ky." By a vote of 9 to 6, the en banc Sixth Circuit holds that a federal district court may enhance a convicted criminal defendant's offense level under the federal Sentencing Guidelines based on conduct underlying offenses for which the defendant was acquitted: You can access today's ruling at this link. The central holding of the majority opinion is that "[s]o long as the defendant receives a sentence at or below the statutory ceiling set by the jury's verdict, the district court does not abridge the defendant's right to a jury trial by looking to other facts, including acquitted conduct, when selecting a sentence within that statutory range." The majority opinion explains that "[the defendant] thus is not being 'sentenced for acquitted conduct' when [the defendant's] sentencing judge takes that conduct into account in determining a sentence for the crime of which [the defendant] was convicted, as long as the sentence imposed falls within the range prescribed by law for that convicted conduct." "Wal-Mart settles dozens of worker class-action lawsuits; The retail giant will pay as much as $640 million to settle dozens of wage-and-hour class-action suits across the U.S.; The agreement excludes a California case under appeal": The Los Angeles Times contains this article today. And The New York Times reports today that "Wal-Mart Settles 63 Lawsuits Over Wages." "Is the Bush administration criminally liable for its lawlessness? The culpability for flouting national and international conventions against torture and spying is shared and is being addressed by the proper institutions." This editorial appears today in The Los Angeles Times. Posted at 09:34 AM by Howard Bashman "The Right to a Day in Court": The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, "The Supreme Court has made it more likely that four former Guantanamo detainees will at last be given a fair hearing of their charges that they were tortured and denied their religious rights." Posted at 09:33 AM by Howard Bashman "Parents sue zoo, city in fatal tiger attack": Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, "The parents of a San Jose teenager who was mauled to death by a Siberian tiger at the San Francisco Zoo last Christmas Day sued the city and the zoo Tuesday, saying zoo officials ignored warnings that the walls of the tiger's enclosure were dangerously low." Posted at 09:32 AM by Howard Bashman "In Reversal, Court Allows a Bush Plan on Pollution": This article appears today in The New York Times. My earlier coverage of yesterday's D.C. Circuit ruling appears at this link. "Brown's stand on Prop. 8 raises new questions; Despite his support for gay marriage, some believe his full 111-page opinion could aid its opponents": The Los Angeles Times contains this article today. And today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article headlined "Brown first in decades to go against voters" that begins, "Attorney General Jerry Brown's legal challenge to California's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage marks the first time that the state's top lawyer has refused to defend a newly enacted ballot measure since 1964 - another epic discrimination case that eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court." "Untie the hands of good Samaritans: The Legislature should come to the rescue after a state Supreme Court ruling restricts what people can do to help in an emergency." This editorial appears today in The Los Angeles Times. Posted at 09:22 AM by Howard Bashman "Air travelers' bill of rights still grounded; Advocates pin their hopes on the next Congress to pass airline rules that would give passengers guarantees against long waits on the tarmac": Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times. Posted at 09:15 AM by Howard Bashman "China's Capital Cases Still Secret, Arbitrary": This front page article appears today in The Washington Post. Posted at 09:05 AM by Howard Bashman "Panel recommends pay raises for state judges": The Baltimore Sun today contains an article that begins, "At a time when state workers are being furloughed and face possible layoffs, Maryland judges would get a pay raise of nearly $40,000 over the next four years under a plan hatched by an influential commission that recommends salaries for those on the bench." Posted at 09:03 AM by Howard Bashman "Give him back his right to bear arms, highest court rules": This article appears today in The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger. You can access yesterday's ruling of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at this link. "Hire-a-judge law may come to life": The Providence (R.I.) Journal today contains an article that begins, "The ACLU is opposing a state Supreme Court proposal that would allow litigants in civil cases to hire retired judges to hear cases in secret, charging the process would create a 'two-tiered system of justice' that 'allows for swift resolution of cases only for those wealthy enough to afford it.'" Posted at 08:24 AM by Howard Bashman  
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