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Court says nothing about health care appeal
U.S. Legal News |
2011/11/11 12:32
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The Supreme Court is not immediately saying whether it will make an election-year determination on the constitutionality of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Justices met in private conference Thursday to consider new cases to hear next year. Appeals surrounding the health care overhaul were on the list to be discussed, but there was no announcement as to whether the hot-button issue had even been discussed.
The next opportunity justices have to reveal when or if they will hear a health care overhaul appeal is on Monday.
Lower courts have ruled in conflicting ways on the new law and its requirement that individuals buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty.
If the court decides to take the case, oral arguments could come as early as March. |
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Pensions the latest political risk for RI governor
U.S. Legal News |
2011/10/30 15:51
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In 10 months in office, Gov. Lincoln Chafee has managed to anger an impressive assortment of constituencies: business leaders and organized labor, medical marijuana advocates and critics of illegal immigration.
It's been a bumpy ride for the nation's only independent governor, who insists he's only doing what is necessary to stabilize government finances and heal the state's frail economy. But so far Chafee is winning criticism faster than compliments, a risky move for a politician without a party elected by less than half of Rhode Island's voters.
"This is a tough year — there are no surprises there," Chafee told the Associated Press during a recent interview. "This year's budget was one of the worst. ... We're facing a very difficult economy. My belief is the status quo is unacceptable here in Rhode Island. Changes have to be made."
There's no question Chafee took office during one of the most challenging times in Ocean State history. The state's jobless rate remains stubbornly high at 10 percent. The financially troubled city of Central Falls was forced to seek bankruptcy protection. A state budget deficit that once stood at $300 million led to difficult spending cuts even as the state's long-looming pension crisis further destabilized government coffers. |
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GOP candidates would cut federal judges' power
U.S. Legal News |
2011/10/24 16:56
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Most of the Republican presidential candidates want to wipe away lifetime tenure for federal judges, cut the budgets of courts that displease them or allow Congress to override Supreme Court rulings on constitutional issues.
Any one of those proposals would significantly undercut the independence and authority of federal judges. Many of the ideas have been advanced before in campaigns to court conservative voters.
This time, though, six of the eight GOP candidates are backing some or all of those limits on judges, even though judges appointed by Republican presidents hold a majority on the Supreme Court and throughout the federal system.
A group that works for judicial independence says the proposals would make judges "accountable to politicians, not the Constitution."
Bert Brandenburg, executive director of the Justice at Stake Campaign, said, "Debates like these could threaten to lead to a new cycle of attempts to politicize the courts."
Only the former governors in the race, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Jon Huntsman of Utah, have not attacked federal judges in their campaigns.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has been the most outspoken critic of the courts. He would summon judges before Congress to explain their decisions and consider impeaching judges over their rulings. |
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Senate rejects GOP effort on terrorist trials
U.S. Legal News |
2011/10/21 16:09
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The Senate voted early Friday to reject a Republican effort to prohibit the United States from prosecuting foreign terrorist suspects in civilian courts, handing a victory to President Barack Obama.
By 52-47, senators turned aside a proposal by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (AY-aht), R-N.H., that would have forced such trials to occur before military tribunals or commissions. The Obama administration has fought to continue bringing such cases in federal courts, with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Attorney General Eric Holder writing Senate leaders on Thursday that the measure would deprive them of a potent weapon against terrorism and increase the risk of terrorists escaping justice.
Obama has had numerous clashes with Congress over the handling of war on terror detainees. Congress has voted to prevent the transfer of detainees from the naval prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the U.S. Obama has sought to close that detention facility but has been opposed by Republicans and some Democratic lawmakers.
Ayotte said it would be dangerous to let terrorists exercise the protections against self-incrimination and other rights of civilian courts that they might use to avoid surrendering critical information to investigators. Republicans cited last November's acquittal by a federal jury in New York of all but one of hundreds of charges brought against Ahmed Ghailani for his role in destroying two U.S. embassies in Africa, in which 224 people were killed. |
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Obama sells jobs plan in Silicon Valley
U.S. Legal News |
2011/09/26 16:29
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President Barack Obama is on the road selling his jobs plan — and his re-election hopes — to plugged-in networkers in Silicon Valley and around the country.
He was to appear Monday at a town hall-style event hosted by the career-focused social networking site LinkedIn to pitch his nearly $450 billion jobs proposal as he travels through California scooping up campaign cash.
The town hall, the White House's latest attempt to meld old-school campaigning with new media capabilities, will allow Obama to take questions from LinkedIn users online as well as a live audience at the Computer History Museum near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif.
It comes midway through a three-day West Coast swing that includes seven fundraisers. Obama is racing to collect cash ahead of an important Friday quarterly fundraising deadline that will provide a snapshot of the president's strength against the gelling GOP field.
Obama has been using the events to try out his newly aggressive tone with supporters who have been disappointed with the president's compromises with the GOP. The president is mixing frontal attacks on Republicans with words of encouragement intended to buck up the faithful as the 2012 campaign revs up. |
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Congressional debt reduction panel kicks off work
U.S. Legal News |
2011/09/08 16:16
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Republicans and Democrats on the special supercommittee warned of a financial crisis threatening future generations as the congressional debt reduction panel kicked off its work Thursday with an imperative to slash the deficit and lift the sluggish economy.
In a series of speeches, the six Republicans and six Democrats stressed the importance of compromise, shrugging off the bitter rhetoric of the summer's partisan brawl over raising the federal debt limit. That fight ended with a hard-fought deal between President Barack Obama and lawmakers that created the supercommittee.
"I approach our task with a profound sense of urgency, high hopes and realistic expectations," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a panel co-chair. "Our task to achieve $1.5 trillion of bipartisan deficit reduction will not be easy but it is essential."
The Texas Republican said he will not "sit idly by and watch the American dream disappear for my 9-year-old daughter and my 7-year-old son."
Members of the committee insisted that all elements of the federal budget will be part of any final product. Democrats want a mix of spending cuts and revenue increases while Republicans say entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare should be in any deficit-cutting plan. |
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