Supreme court cert

Home Daily News Supreme Court to decide if excessive fines… Constitutional Law By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted June 18, 2018, 1:41 pm CDT Radu Bercan/Shutterstock.com. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday accepted a case that could curb the use of civil forfeiture by the states in a case involving a small-time drug dealer’s forfeited Land Rover. At issue in Timbs v. Indiana is whether the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause applies to the states through the 14th Amendment, according to the cert petition and SCOTUSblog. The cert petition says the issue is more pressing now than ever, given the surge in punitive fines and forfeitures at the state level. The Indiana Supreme Court had allowed the state to proceed with plans to seize the $40,000 Land Rover LR2 in an opinion that said the Supreme Court has not applied the excessive fines clause to the states. Indiana is in the minority, according to the cert petition. At least 14 state high courts apply the clause to … [Read more...] about Supreme Court to decide if excessive fines clause applies to states in seized SUV case

Home Daily News Supreme Court vacates decision in oft-relisted… U.S. Supreme Court By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted June 4, 2018, 12:26 pm CDT Shutterstock.com. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday vacated a federal appeals court decision that allowed a 17-year-old immigrant to get an abortion while being held in a shelter for immigrants who are in the country illegally. The court accepted the case and vacated the decision, saying the issue was moot because the teen had obtained the abortion on Oct. 25, the day after the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The case, Azar v. Garza, had been relisted more than 15 times. The court relists a case when it considers a cert petition at a conference but takes no action. Not every moot case warrants vacating a lower court decision, but circumstances favored doing so in the teen’s case, the court said in its per curiam decision. The court pointed to “voluntary, unilateral action” to take the teen for an … [Read more...] about Supreme Court vacates decision in oft-relisted teen abortion case; ACLU lawyers not sanctioned

Home Daily News Supreme Court declines to hear challenge… U.S. Supreme Court By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted May 30, 2018, 11:33 am CDT Regulation of medication abortions in Arkansas will not undergo Supreme Court review in a case brought by Planned Parenthood. Angel Soler Gollonet/Shutterstock. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law that has the effect of ending medication abortions in the state. The court denied certiorari review on Tuesday. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had reversed an injunction preventing the law from taking effect, report the Washington Post, SCOTUSblog, New York Times and National Law Journal. The 8th Circuit said the trial judge should not have blocked the law without findings about the estimated number of women who would be burdened. The law requires doctors who prescribe drugs for medication abortions to have an agreement with a doctor who has hospital admission privileges. Planned Parenthood … [Read more...] about Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to law that will end medication abortions in Arkansas

Home Daily News Supreme Court justices relist abortion case… U.S. Supreme Court By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted May 21, 2018, 7:05 am CDT Shutterstock.com. Supreme Court justices have been considering whether to hear a case involving an immigrants teen’s abortion—multiple times. The court was scheduled to consider the cert petition in Azar v. Garza for the 15th time last Thursday, the National Law Journal reports. When justices consider a petition at a conference but take no action, they relist it for the next meeting, the story explains. The government is asking the Supreme Court to accept the case and vacate a federal appeals court ruling that allowed the 17-year-old girl’s abortion to proceed. The girl was being held in a shelter because she entered the country illegally, and the government had contended it did not have to facilitate her abortion. The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the government to permit the abortion in … [Read more...] about Supreme Court justices relist abortion case multiple times

Home Daily News Supreme Court to consider cy pres awards… U.S. Supreme Court By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted April 30, 2018, 11:26 am CDT The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether a class action settlement in a suit against Google met requirements of federal law when $5.3 million of the $8.5 million settlement fund was given to outside groups and $2.125 million went to attorney fees. The cy pres award was directed to groups pledging to use the money to protect internet privacy, including the alma maters of class counsel, according to the cert petition filed by objectors to the settlement. Absent class members got “no relief at all in exchange for their claims—no money, no alteration of the defendant’s allegedly injurious conduct, not even coupons,” according to the cert petition. At issue was whether the settlement met the requirement of Rule 23(e)(2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requiring proposed class action settlements to be … [Read more...] about Supreme Court to consider cy pres awards that give no money to class action plaintiffs