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Court won't hear NH presidential ballot question
Top Court Watch |
2011/10/11 09:48
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The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from the Libertarian Party over whether New Hampshire officials should have let 2008 Libertarian candidate Bob Barr be the party's sole candidate on the presidential ballot.
The high court on Tuesday refused to hear an appeal from the party, which wanted Barr as the only candidate carrying its brand on the 2008 ballot.
A second candidate, George Phillies, also petitioned his way onto the New Hampshire ballot under the Libertarian banner. Barr and the party sued, saying Barr should have been the only Libertarian candidate on that ballot.
But the federal courts threw out the party's claim that Phillies' affiliation should have been removed because the national party didn't want his name on the ballot. |
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Hogan to be new courts administrative officer
Top Court Watch |
2011/10/06 09:40
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Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan is the new director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.
Hogan, a former chief U.S. District Court judge in Washington, will serve a one-year term as the chief administrative officer for the federal court system. He will oversee the federal judiciary's 35,000 employees and its almost $7 billion annual budget.
The Judicial Conference of the United States is the principal policymaking body for the federal court system. As its presiding officer, Chief Justice John Roberts selected Hogan for the position.
Hogan will begin Oct. 17. He plans to resume work as a senior federal judge after his term ends.
The previous director, James Duff, left this summer to become president of the Freedom Forum. |
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Swiss sports court overturns Olympic doping rule
Top Court Watch |
2011/10/05 09:39
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Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt was cleared to defend his 400-meter title in London next year after the American won his appeal Thursday against an IOC rule banning doping offenders from the games.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport annulled the International Olympic Committee rule that bars any athlete who has received a doping suspension of more than six months from competing in the next summer or winter games.
The three-man CAS panel said the rule, adopted in 2008, was invalid and unenforceable because it amounted to a second sanction and did not comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency code. It said the rule amounted to a disciplinary sanction rather than a matter of eligibility.
Merritt, the American 400-meter gold medalist in Beijing, had been ineligible under the IOC rule to compete in London even though he completed his doping ban this year after testing positive for a banned substance found in a male-enhancement product. |
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Wis. Supreme Court takes payday loan case
Top Court Watch |
2011/09/26 09:48
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The state Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether Wisconsin law permits judges to determine when payday loan interest rates are too high.
The court will consider whether state statutes block judges from determining if a particular interest rate is unconscionable and, if they don't, what evidence would prove rates are too high.
The case stems from loans Jesica Mount of Onalaska secured from Payday Loan Stores of Wisconsin Inc. in 2008. According to court documents, annual interest rates on the loans varied from 446 percent to 1,338 percent.
The loan company filed a lawsuit against Mount after she failed to make her payments. Mount filed a counterclaim alleging the loans violated the Wisconsin Consumer Act because the rates were unconscionable. |
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Appeals court hears challenge to health care law
Top Court Watch |
2011/09/24 09:48
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A conservative-leaning panel of federal appellate judges raised concerns about President Barack Obama's health care overhaul Friday, but suggested the challenge to it may be premature.
The arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington over a lawsuit against Obama's signature domestic legislative achievement focused on whether Congress overstepped its authority in requiring people to buy health insurance or pay a penalty on their taxes, beginning in 2014.
But Judge Brett Kavanaugh, a former top aide to President George W. Bush who appointed him to the bench, said that he has a major concern that courts might not be able to rule on the law's constitutionality until 2015. That's because a federal law bars most challenges to tax-related legislation before the tax or penalty is paid.
A federal appeals court in Richmond cited that law in throwing out another challenge to the overhaul. Two other appeals courts have reached differing conclusions — one declaring the law unconstitutional and the other upholding it. The Supreme Court is expected to weigh in and could possibly even decide to review the law before the Washington circuit issues an opinion. |
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