Thursday round-up
on Feb 16, 2012 at 9:15 am
Coverage of the Court yesterday focused on the latest developments in a case challenging Montana’s ban on corporate spending in state elections. The Montana Supreme Court upheld the ban in December, but three Montana corporations have asked the Supreme Court to stay the enforcement of that decision and, eventually, reverse it, on the ground that the lower court’s ruling conflicts with the Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Writing for this blog, Lyle Denniston reports on the brief filed by the state’s attorney general opposing the stay, while Mike Sacks of the Huffington Post predicts that the Justices may summarily overturn the Montana court’s decision or “at the very least” allow for full briefing and a hearing. Charles S. Johnson also has coverage in the Billings Gazette.
Briefly:
- Howard Mintz of the Silicon Valley Mercury News reports that former Brocade Communications CEO Gregory Reyes has filed a cert. petition asking the Court to review his convictions for securities fraud and other corporate misconduct.
- The Carmi (Ill.) Times reports that the Illinois Chamber of Commerce joined fifteen other business groups as signatories to an amicus brief calling for a speedy resolution to the health care cases.
- In an op-ed in the Washington Post, George Will urges the Court to grant cert. in Harmon v. Markus, a challenge to the constitutionality of New York City’s rent control laws.
- David Jackson of USA Today’s The Oval blog reports that in an interview with KLAS-TV of Las Vegas, President Obama “did not predict a Supreme Court victory on health care, but did sound very hopeful.”
- William Keampffer of the New Haven Register reports on a cert. petition filed recently by the city of New Haven, Connecticut, asking the Court to review a decision by the Second Circuit reinstating a lawsuit filed by an African-American firefighter who alleges that the city’s promotional practices have a disparate impact on minorities. The petition contends that the Second Circuit’s decision subjects the city to possible legal liability for “implementing the very remedies” required by the Court’s 2009 decision in Ricci v. DeStefano.
- The Court denied a stay of execution yesterday for Robert Brian Waterhouse, convicted of rape and murder in 1980. Later last night, Florida executed Waterhouse. Mitch Stacy of the Associated Press has coverage.
