Government

Tax Ruling Rejects Administration View

The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed with the Bush administration’s views on sovereign immunity when it ruled yesterday that that the courts may hear a suit against the nations of India and Mongolia for unpaid property taxes. The Bush administration had urged the U.S. Supreme Court to support immunity, saying such…

Jun 15, 2007 2:07 PM CDT

Diplomatic Property-Tax Case Allowed

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that foreign governments are not immune to suits for payment of local property taxes. “Property ownership is not an inherently sovereign function,” said the majority opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas. The court ruled 7-2 for New York City, which is seeking back property taxes…

Jun 14, 2007 4:06 PM CDT

Toxic Tap Water for Years at Marine Base

At least twenty-five years after toxins were found to have seeped into the water supply at a North Carolina marine base, the situation is still being studied. A report released Tuesday, as emotional testimony began at a hearing by the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee by individuals who say they…

Jun 13, 2007 11:05 PM CDT

Wisconsin Supreme Court: Officials Must Specify Subject of Public Meetings

Government officials must specify the subject of public meetings, particularly when they know the subject is likely to be controversial, the Wisconsin Supreme Court says. Ruling today on a parent’s protest that the state’s 30-year-old open meetings law had not been followed when the Tomah Area School District noticed an…

Jun 13, 2007 8:56 PM CDT

Seizure of Unproductive Land Blocked

The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that local governments may not seize land merely because it is unproductive and could be put to better use. The court said the state constitution permits seizure of land for redevelopment only if it is blighted, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Supreme Court Chief…

Jun 13, 2007 7:17 PM CDT

Nuremberg Attorney: Gitmo Trials Unfair

An 88-year-old American lawyer who helped try war criminals at Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II says today’s Guantanamo Bay cases fly in the face of the prosecutorial precedent he helped set there. “I think Robert Jackson, who’s the architect of Nuremberg, would turn over in his grave if he…

Jun 12, 2007 12:27 AM CDT

10-Year Teen Oral Sex Sentence Axed

A controversial 10-year mandatory prison sentence has been thrown out, in a case involving what has been described as consensual oral sex between a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old Georgia youth at a New Year’s Eve party three years ago. A habeas corpus petition was granted today by a Georgia…

Jun 11, 2007 11:41 PM CDT

Gonzales Unfazed, Still “Sprinting” on Job

Embattled U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales appeared unfazed at a lunchtime lecture in Miami, despite a pending Senate no-confidence vote scheduled for later in the day. The vote would have no binding effect, even if it passes, but is considered an unusual historical black mark. However, many lawmakers’ expressed doubts about…

Jun 11, 2007 9:32 PM CDT

White House Counsel Hires 10 Attorneys

Ongoing investigations of the Bush administration by the Democrat-controlled Congress are good news for attorneys seeking work in the White House. White House Counsel Fred Fielding announced today that his office has hired nine lawyers, five of them for newly created positions, reports the Washington Post. A source says a…

Jun 9, 2007 4:35 AM CDT

Hard Time for Others, But Not Hilton

There’s one obvious reason why Paris Hilton was released from a California prison, after serving only three days of a 45-day sentence for violating her probation for an alcohol-related driving offense, many believe. Celebrity clout. An undisclosed medical condition reportedly prompted the Los Angeles County Sheriff to release the 26-year-old…

Jun 8, 2007 6:37 PM CDT

Report: CIA Ran Secret Prisons in Europe

The Central Intelligence Agency reportedly ran secret prisons in Poland and Romania from 2003 to 2005, with the collaboration of U.S. allies, in violation of European human rights treaties. However, officials in all of the countries involved said the claim of secret prisons used to interrogate al-Quaida suspects is untrue…

Jun 8, 2007 5:17 PM CDT

10-Year Court Battle Continues Over Historic CA Home

After a decade of litigation, a historic California home was about to be demolished. But a last-minute stay of the demolition order means an epic legal battle over the future of the Juana Briones house in Palo Alto isn’t yet over. Preservationists hope that there may still be a way…

Jun 8, 2007 12:07 AM CDT

More American Officials in Laos Plot?

It isn’t just the California National Guard that may have had at least a peripheral involvement in an alleged California-based plot to overthrow the communist government of Laos.” “Officials said their probe may extend to a former Wisconsin state senator, an unnamed congressman and the California Highway Patrol,” an AP…

Jun 7, 2007 5:37 PM CDT

Potential Libby Pardon is Talk of Town

A day after former top vice presidential aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby was sentenced to 30 months in prison and a $250,000 fine for his role in obstructing a federal investigation into how a CIA agent’s identity was leaked, one topic is being discussed all over Washington, D.C.. That is…

Jun 7, 2007 12:18 AM CDT

Libby Letters Mainly Sought Leniency

From former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to a neighbor helped by I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby with her septic tank, some 200 people wrote letters to the federal court judge about to sentence him for perjury and obstruction of justice. Most sought leniency for the former top aide to Vice…

Jun 6, 2007 10:21 PM CDT