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Benefits fight brings lesbian couple to high court
Court Watch |
2012/12/21 00:08
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Like a lot of newlyweds, Karen Golinski was eager to enjoy the financial fruits of marriage. Within weeks of her wedding, she applied to add her spouse to her employer-sponsored health care plan, a move that would save the couple thousands of dollars a year.
Her ordinarily routine request still is being debated more than four years later, and by the likes of former attorneys general, a slew of senators, the Obama administration and possibly this week, the U.S. Supreme Court.
Because Golinski is married to another woman and works for the U.S. government, her claim for benefits has morphed into a multi-layered legal challenge to a 1996 law that prohibits the federal government from recognizing unions like hers.
The high court has scheduled a closed-door conference for Friday to review Golinski's case and four others that also seek to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act overwhelmingly approved by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton.
The purpose of the meeting is to decide which, if any, to put on the court's schedule for arguments next year.
The outcome carries economic and social consequences for gay, lesbian and bisexual couples, who now are unable to access Social Security survivor benefits, file joint income taxes, inherit a deceased spouse's pension or obtain family health insurance.
The other plaintiffs in the cases pending before the court include the state of Massachusetts, 13 couples and five widows and widowers. |
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Bernard Madoff brother to face victims in NY court
Legal Interview |
2012/12/20 15:11
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The suspense surrounding the sentencing of the brother of Ponzi king Bernard Madoff will largely be absent because a plea agreement makes a 10-year prison term all but certain.
But drama will likely fill the courtroom Thursday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan anyway as 67-year-old Peter Madoff faces some of the heartbroken investors who lost their savings when the unprecedented fraud was revealed four years ago this month.
When he pleaded guilty to conspiracy and falsifying books and records of an investment adviser, the former senior compliance officer at the Madoff private investment business said he was "shocked and devastated" when his brother revealed several days before he surrendered that thousands of accounts supposedly worth $65 billion were worthless. Investigators say Bernard Madoff had distributed most of the $20 billion he took in over several decades to other investors while investing none of it in the markets as he had promised to do.
A court-appointed monitor has so far recovered nearly $9.3 billion that was lost, mostly by clawing back money from investors who received large payouts along the way. Most of the money has not yet been distributed. A small part of the recovery has resulted from the sale of numerous Madoff family assets, including the toys of the wealthy — multi-million dollar homes, fancy cars, yachts and art.
In a pre-sentence brief, attorney John Wing said his client was subject to a "draconian forfeiture order that in one stroke stripped him of all existing assets, his home, his pension, his savings, his personal property, etc. and of all future assets and income should he even have the opportunity to earn any income after serving his prison sentence." He said Peter Madoff will be left a "jobless pariah" when he gets out of prison. |
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Lawyer questions handling of terror suspect
Headline Legal News |
2012/12/10 15:05
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The attorney of a Southern California terror suspect is questioning authorities' handling of his client, who had injuries to his face and head when he was turned over to the FBI by U.S. military officials in Afghanistan.
When Sohiel Omar Kabir arrived in California last week he had a broken facial bone, lacerations and was suffering from memory loss, according to Deputy Federal Public Defender Jeffrey Aaron.
"We think a lot of the injuries occurred during his arrest," Aaron told the Long Beach Press Telegram. "We're investigating what happened and why he wasn't hospitalized."
Kabir, 34, was captured Nov. 17 by U.S. special forces in Kabul, where he was staying with family members, and held for two weeks by the military before being turned over to the FBI.
FBI spokesman Laura Eimiller said Kabir suffered "combat-related injuries" during his capture. The injuries were treated by American medical personnel and he was cleared to be taken back to the U.S.
Kabir, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is the suspected ringleader of a plot to kill Americans and bomb military bases overseas. |
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Court rejects Verizon challenge to roaming rule
Opinions |
2012/12/04 09:22
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A federal appeals court has rejected a Verizon challenge to a Federal Communications Commission rule aimed at increasing competition in wireless broadband service. The three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that the FCC had the legal authority to issue the "data roaming rule." The rule requires big wireless carriers to open their data networks to smaller regional operators in places where they don't have their own systems. The large carriers must offer network access at reasonable prices. Verizon has called the rule "unwarranted government intervention," and challenged it on several grounds — including that the FCC lacked the statutory authority to issue it. But appeals court judges Thomas Griffith, David S. Tatel and Merrick B. Garland disagreed. Griffith was appointed by President George W. Bush; the other two by President Bill Clinton. |
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Court won't hear appeal in witness tampering case
Court News |
2012/11/15 14:09
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The Supreme Court won't review a decision to throw out sanctions and a $600,000 award against Miami prosecutors in a witness-tampering investigation where members of the defense team had allegedly been secretly recorded.
The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from Dr. Ali Shaygan, who has been acquitted of 141 counts of illegally prescribing painkillers. A federal judge said publicly that three prosecutors and a Drug Enforcement Administration agent acted "vexatiously and in bad faith" for failing to obtain permission before authorizing two witnesses to record conversations with Shaygan's attorney and his investigator.
But a federal appeals court threw out the sanction and award, saying the judge violated the prosecutors' due process rights in 2009 when he issued a public reprimand for their alleged misconduct. |
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