U.S. Supreme Court 2002
Below are archived
updates on important cases at the Supreme Court affecting individual
rights.
Government�s
Hand in IOLTA Cookie Jar
Four
years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court established that interest generated
on client funds deposited in lawyers� trust accounts is the private
property of the clients.� But in arguments heard December 9, several
justices seemed skeptical of following that decision to its logical
conclusion by declaring that the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment
constitutionally prohibits states from siphoning off the interest
accrued on client funds in order to support legal aid programs for
the poor...[more]
Judge
Reinhardt�s Ricochet
Having
ruled the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids the words
�under God� in the Pledge of Allegiance, the San Francisco-based
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week focused its
sights on the Second Amendment, declaring there is no individual
right to keep and bear arms...[more]
Time
to Close the Door on �Plused� Admissions
Race
may finally be declared constitutionally off-limits when it comes
to college admissions, nearly a quarter century after the U.S. Supreme
Court struck down an affirmative action program that admitted students
to the University of California-Davis medical school based upon
the color of their skin...[more]
High
Court to Review at Least One Campaign Finance Case this Term
In
what might be considered an appetizer before the much anticipated
main course is served up by the constitutional challenge to the
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday
to decide whether a law banning corporate contributions to federal
candidates goes too far and violates the free speech rights of advocacy
groups organized as nonprofit corporations...[more]
Suing
Government: Courts Part the Skirts of Qualified Immunity
Government entities and their insurance carriers should take note
of a sea change in qualified immunity jurisprudence. The defense
of qualified immunity to constitutional rights violations is increasingly
and, in many instances, appropriately coming under attack since
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against defendant officials last June
in a case involving a prisoner punished by being lashed to a hitching
post. Just last week, the First, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth and Eleventh
Circuits each decided cases involving constitutional rights claims,
and in each such case where the affirmative defense of qualified
immunity was raised, the "state actor" was not entitled to its protection
[more]
Nike
Seeks Supreme Court Review of Free Speech Abomination
Center for Individual Freedom to File Brief
In
a significant first step toward re-establishing sanity in the First
Amendment universe, Nike has asked the Supreme Court to review a
decision by the California Supreme Court holding that Nikes
statements defending itself against public criticism regarding its
labor practices were merely commercial speech entitled to minimal
First Amendment protection...[more]
"Take
Me Out to the Courthouse":
Opening
Day of the Supreme Courts October Term, 2002
The United States Supreme Court opened its new term on Monday with
the traditional call of "Oyez, Oyez, Oyez" as all the spectators rose.
But for more than 1,000 cases with certiorari petitions pending, it
was a day of plunges as the Court announced its first list of cases
turned down for appeal following its three-month summer break...[more]
The
U.S. Supreme Court: A Preview of the October Term, 2002
On
the first Monday in October, the marshal will call the Supreme Court
of the United States into session to formally begin the Courts
October Term, 2002. The Courts work for the upcoming term
started back in January when the Court began the ongoing process
of filling its docket by granting petitions for certiorari in the
cases to be heard this fall, winter, and spring...[more]
Supreme
Court Issues Four Narrow Rulings to End 2001 Term
The Supreme
Court ended its 2001 term with divisiveness, issuing its four final
rulings with three cases being decided 5-4 and the fourth at 6-3.
In a term filled with many distractions, the greatest of which involved
anthrax-related scares that moved hearings and complicated court
filings, the disunion of the current Supreme Court is punctuated
by the statistic that almost half of the 76 cases decided this term
were either 6-3, 5-3 (with one abstention) or 5-4...[more]
High
Court Sides with Police on Bus Searches
The U.S.
Supreme Court ruled this week that police may ask passengers aboard
public buses to submit to searches without informing them of their
legal rights to refuse the request...[more]
Dairy
Farmers File Motion for Summary Judgment in Dairy Checkoff Case
On June 6,
2002, dairy farmers Joseph and Brenda Cochran, in conjunction with
the Center for Individual Freedom, filed a motion requesting summary
judgment in the case challenging the constitutionality of the mandatory
dairy promotion program...[more]
Supreme
Court Issues New Guidelines In Patent Infringement Cases
"The
patent laws [reward] innovation with a temporary monopoly . . ..
The monopoly is a property right; and like any property right, its
boundaries should be clear. This clarity is essential to promote
progress, because it enables efficient investment in innovation.
A patent holder should know what he owns, and the public should
know what he does not. For this reason, the patent laws require
investors to describe their work in full, clear, concise,
and exact terms,
as part of the delicate balance the
law attempts to maintain between investors, who rely on the promise
of the law to bring the invention forth, and the public, which should
be encouraged to pursue innovations, creations, and new ideas beyond
the inventors exclusive rights."...[more]
High
Court Pares Scope of ADA
Seniority Has its Privileges
Imagine
youve spent most of your working life with your nose pressed
to a 15-inch computer monitor. Each day your fingers trudge across
a keyboard, entering an endless stream of data into intricate spreadsheets.
Mental escapes come in oscillatory glances at the Britney Spears
cutout taped to the wall of your cubicle. And then the promotion
for which youve endured the last decade is on the horizon.
Your escape from "cube row" to the corner office with
the comfy couch and view of the river. But wait
[more]
Supreme
Court Fills Free Speech Rx for Corner Drugstores
In
Thompson v. Western States Medical Center, the Supreme Court has
narrowly struck down a federal law that bans pharmacies from advertising
"compounded drugs," holding that the ban violates the
First Amendment right to free speech...[more]
Supreme
Court Hears Arguments on Constitutionality of School Voucher Program
On
February 20, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in
the closely watched Cleveland, Ohio school voucher case, Zelman
v. Simmons-Harris. The Center for Individual Freedom in conjunction
with the Cato Institute, Friedman Foundation and Goldwater Institute
filed an amicus brief in the case arguing that the school voucher
program does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment
as opponents argue...[more]
An
"A+" for Supreme Court Decision in Peer
Grading Case
The
United States Supreme Court issued its opinion Tuesday, February
19, 2002, in the peer grading case of Owasso Independent School
District v. Falvo (No. 00-1073). Ruling for the school district,
the Supreme Court held that allowing students to score each others
tests and call out the grades does not violate the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA)...[more]
Supreme
Court Agrees to Hear Another Case involving
Federal Privacy Law
Since
its passage 27 years ago, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Act (the "Buckley Amendment") has essentially escaped
Supreme Court review. This term, however, the Supreme Court has
agreed, not once, but twice, to review the law...[more]
Supreme
Court Round-Up
On
April 16, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a much-anticipated
decision in Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, the contentious "virtual"
child pornography case. The 6-3 opinion, striking down portions
of the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA), has free speech
advocates cheering, including those challenging the federal campaign
finance legislation on First Amendment grounds...[more]
Peer
Grading: An Issue for the Schools Not the Courts
As teachers
and students return to schools following the holiday break, many
school districts will begin reviewing their in-classroom grading
procedures. This comes after oral arguments heard last month in
a case before the US Supreme Court involving the legality under
federal law of students grading one anothers papers...[more]
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