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Thomas, Kagan asked to sit out health care case
Headline Legal News |
2011/11/29 09:13
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Conservative interest groups and Republican lawmakers want Justice Elena Kagan off the health care case. Liberals and Democrats in Congress say it's Justice Clarence Thomas who should sit it out.
Neither justice is budging — the right decision, according to many ethicists and legal experts.
None of the parties in the case has asked the justices to excuse themselves. But underlying the calls on both sides is their belief that the conservative Thomas is a sure vote to strike down President Barack Obama's health care law and that the liberal Kagan is certain to uphold the main domestic achievement of the man who appointed her.
The stakes are high in the court's election-year review of a law aimed at extending coverage to more than 30 million people. Both sides have engaged in broad legal and political maneuvering for the most favorable conditions surrounding the court's consideration of the case.
Taking away just one vote potentially could tip the outcome on the nine-justice court.
Republican lawmakers recently have stepped up their effort against Kagan, complaining that the Justice Department has not fully revealed Kagan's involvement in planning the response to challenges to the law. Kagan was Obama's solicitor general, the administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, until he nominated her to the high court last year. |
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Court will decide question on crack sentencing
Headline Legal News |
2011/11/28 09:12
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The Supreme Court will decide whether a law meant to reduce the disparity between crack and powder cocaine prison sentences can apply those who were convicted — but not sentenced — before its enactment.
The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from Edward Dorsey and Corey Hill, who were both convicted of crack cocaine crimes.
However, the men were not sentenced until after The Fair Sentencing Act went into effect. That law reduces the difference between sentences for crimes committed by crack cocaine and powder cocaine users.
The two men argue that because their sentences came after the law's effective date, they should get its lesser prison time. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, and the high court will review that decision. |
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Company pleads guilty to dumping wastewater in Harvey Canal
Headline Legal News |
2011/11/14 01:11
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A Louisiana company has pleaded guilty to a charge it illegally discharged more than 1 million gallons of oily wastewater into the Harvey Canal.
Oakmont Environmental Inc. of Harvey faces a $500,000 fine following its guilty plea Wednesday to violating the Clean Water Act.
Clifton Carr, a 62-year-old Amite resident who was the operator of the company's waste treatment facility, also pleaded guilty Wednesday to a related charge.
Federal prosecutors say Oakmont had a permit to discharge wastewater into a Jefferson Parish sewerage treatment plant after it had been pretreated.
But the company allegedly discharged the wastewater directly into the canal without separating the oil from the water.
Prosecutors said 1.2 million gallons of oily wastewater was discharged into the canal between September 2007 and March 2008. |
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Fifth guilty plea entered in Philly abortion case
Headline Legal News |
2011/11/13 11:10
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A woman initially hired to clean instruments at a Philadelphia abortion clinic has pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree murder in the deaths of a newborn baby and a woman who died after an anesthesia overdose.
As part of her plea agreement with prosecutors, Lynda Williams also agreed on Wednesday to testify against the operator of the clinic, Dr. Kermit Gosnell.
Williams was one of 10 people charged in a shocking grand jury report that alleged viable, live-born babies were routinely killed at Gosnell's clinic by having their spinal cords severed with scissors.
At the end of the hearing, a prosecutor told the teary-eyed Williams she "did the right thing" by pleading guilty, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
The grand jury report described filthy, inhumane conditions at the clinic, which served many poor and immigrant women.
According to the grand jury report, Gosnell hired Williams, 43, in 2008 to clean instruments at his Women's Medical Center in West Philadelphia. But her duties soon increased to include performing ultrasounds and administering anesthesia. Authorities said it was Williams who administered a lethal mix of drugs that killed Karnamaya Mongar in November 2009. |
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Ala. county files for largest municipal bankruptcy
Headline Legal News |
2011/11/10 09:38
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Alabama’s most populous county filed what became the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history in an effort to retake control of its beleaguered sewer system and wipe away as much of its whopping $4.15 billion in debt as possible.
Jefferson County’s Chapter 9 filing on Wednesday gives it protection from creditors while it develops and negotiates a plan for adjusting its debts. It could accomplish that by extending debt maturities, reducing the amount of principal or interest, or refinancing the debt by obtaining a new loan.
Perhaps the biggest is the potential impact on the county’s 658,000 residents, who could be asked to pay higher sewer rates. Officials say it’s too early to assess the full impact, though bankruptcy filings can lead to layoffs, tax increases, pension reductions for public workers, and spending cuts on things like schools and roads. |
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