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Supreme Court won't hear challenge to FBI fitness test
Law & Court News |
2016/11/03 15:09
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The Supreme Court won't hear a dispute over whether a physical fitness test for FBI special agents is biased against men.
The justices on Monday turned down an appeal from an Illinois man who failed the test after completing 29 out of 30 untimed pushups.
Jay Bauer said it's unfair that female trainees have to do only 14 pushups as part of the fitness test that includes situps, a 300-meter sprint and 1.5-mile run.
A federal judge ruled that the test discriminates on the basis of sex. But a federal appeals court sided with the FBI, saying it used "gender-normed" standards that require the same level of fitness for all trainees.
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Solar Advocates Ask Florida High Court to Invalidate Measure
Topics in Legal News |
2016/11/02 15:09
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Solar advocates are asking Florida's high court to invalidate Amendment 1, a ballot measure they argue is misleading, and throw out votes cast for it.
The legal challenge was filed Wednesday with the Florida Supreme Court.
It comes after a leading proponent of Amendment 1 was recorded saying that the measure was written to appear pro-solar, even though it could end up restricting solar growth in Florida by raising costs.
Solar advocates are asking the court to revisit a previous ruling which found that Amendment 1's language was not misleading.
Sarah Bascom, spokeswoman for a utility-funded group that supports the amendment, called the legal challenge "political grandstanding" and said the amendment will protect consumers.
Amendment 1 seeks to change the state constitution to say consumers shouldn't "subsidize" solar growth. |
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Kansas high court justices defend handling of capital cases
Top Court Watch |
2016/11/01 15:10
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Four Kansas Supreme Court justices facing a campaign to oust them in the Nov. 8 election say the court has decided capital murder cases on legal and constitutional issues while avoiding politics and emotion.
Past high court rulings overturning death sentences are at the center of the effort to remove Chief Justice Lawton Nuss and Justices Carol Beier, Dan Biles and Marla Luckert. They face statewide yes-or-no votes on whether they stay on the court for another six years.
The court's critics are particularly upset about July 2014 rulings overturning death sentences for Jonathan and Reginald Carr. The two brothers had faced lethal injection for shooting four people in December 2000 after forcing them to perform sex acts and robbing them. Among other things, the court concluded that fairness required the brothers to be sentenced separately. |
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Kansas court upholds death sentence in 1996 slaying
Attorney Blog News |
2016/11/01 15:08
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Kansas' highest court on Friday upheld the death sentence of a man convicted of killing a college student 20 years ago.
The Kansas Supreme Court let stand Gary Kleypas' death sentence in the 1996 rape and stabbing death of 20-year-old Pittsburg State University student Carrie Williams. Kleypas, 61, was the first person condemned in Kansas after it reinstated the death penalty in 1994. Kansas hasn't executed anyone in more than 50 years, although 10 men are on the state's death row.
In its 166-page ruling, the Topeka-based high court did throw out Kleypas' conviction of attempted rape and ordered him resentenced for aggravated burglary.
"Considering the errors we have found singularly and cumulatively, we hold that Kleypas' sentence of death was not imposed under the influence of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor," Justice Marla Luckert wrote for the court's majority.
Justice Lee Johnson dissented, reiterating his view that the death penalty is unconstitutionally cruel or unusual punishment. |
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Cook County, Illinois, lawyer who posed as judge charged
Topics in Legal News |
2016/10/30 15:07
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A Chicago-area judicial candidate who was once on the fast track to a high-salary, high-status job as a judge now faces charges of impersonating a judge when she was a court staff attorney early this year, prosecutors announced Friday.
Rhonda Crawford, 45, is accused of donning a robe in Cook County traffic court on Aug. 11, months after she won the Democratic primary for a judgeship. She is charged with misdemeanor false impersonation and felony official misconduct, which carries a maximum five-year prison term.
Crawford was a shoo-in to win the Nov. 8 until news that she briefly played a judge drew ridicule and condemnation among those who practice law in Cook County, one of the nation's largest judicial districts with its some 400 judges.
In announcing the charges, County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez said judges are "at the heart of our criminal justice system."
"Crawford's conduct in this case was offensive to the integrity of our system and cannot be excused or ignored as a mere lapse in judgment," Alvarez said in statement from her office.
Crawford, who became an attorney in 2003, appeared at an initial hearing Friday, when a judge set a personal recognizance bond at $10,000. A message left for her lawyer, Victor Henderson, wasn't returned. He has previously described the incident as, at worst, "a minor infraction."
Crawford told reporters last month she had been shadowing judges to observe how they work when Judge Valarie E. Turner asked in a spur-of-the-moment offer if she wanted to sit on the bench. Crawford did for about five minutes and didn't think anyone believed she was a real judge.
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