TChris wrote last week about the case of a Missouri inmate who had been denied her right to an abortion while incarcerated until a federal court ruled in her behalf. Days later, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, acting alone, issued a stay of the order.

Today, the Supreme Court, without comment, lifted the stay. The state had relied on a a law that banned taxpayer funds from being used obtain an abortion.

Chief Justice Roberts participated in the decision. Scotus Blog reports:

Great news. In the first opinion issued by the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Court ruled for the defendant in a murder case. Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy has the details. Berman quips:

So, when playing the "law nerd" version of Trivial Pursuit, remember that the question "Who prevailed in the first written decision of the Roberts Court?," should be answered "convicted murderer Paul Allen Dye."

The case is Dye v. Hofbauer, No. 04-8384 (S. Ct. Oct. 11, 2005) (available here). More analysis is at Objective Justice.

Via NPR:

A federal court in New York has ruled that the Salvation Army may hire and fire employees according to their religious beliefs -- even though it receives most of its money for social services from the government. The ruling earlier this week is considered a major court victory for the Bush administration.

[Hat tip to The Heretik]

by TChris

An Ithaca judge dismissed "resisting arrest" charges against five Cornell protestors, in part because she found it "difficult to understand" a prosecutor's assertion that was contradicted by documentary evidence. In other words, she thinks the prosecutor lied to her.

by TChris

The Bush administration's effort to suppress disturbing images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib has been rejected (once again) by Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who ruled in favor of the ACLU's request for disclosure of the photographs and videos. Freedom of information trumped the government's claim that the nation's image would be tarnished, and that terrorism would be fueled, if the pictures were made public.

[I]n his 50-page ruling, the judge said: "My task is not to defer to our worst fears, but to interpret and apply the law, in this case, the Freedom of Information Act, which advances values important to our society, transparency and accountability in government.

"Our struggle to prevail must be without sacrificing the transparency and accountability of government and military officials," he added.

by TChris

The Legal Information Institute at Cornell has started producing its always-helpful previews of cases that will be soon be argued before the Supreme Court. This is the preview of a case scheduled for argument on October 5 that raises fascinating questions (once again) about the federal government's power to trump state law.

Oregon's Death With Dignity Act permits a doctor to prescribe a lethal dose of a drug to a patient who is both terminally ill and competent to make a rational decision to commit suicide. In 1997, the DEA, relying on a federal law that requires doctors to prescribe medications only for a legitimate medical purpose, decided that it had the authority to arrest physicians who dispense drugs to assist suicide (a purpose DEA deems illegitimate).

Janet Reno declined to prosecute Oregon doctors who acted in accordance with state law, but John Ashcroft quickly changed course when he became Attorney General. He issued the Ashcroft Directive, concluding that "assisting suicide is not a legitimate medical purpose."

Sharon Bush, ex-wife of President Bush's brother Neil, got a big court victory today. The slander suit against her alleging she falsely claiming Neil fathered his current wife's child (while they were having an affair but still married) has been dismissed.

"Mrs. Bush obviously feels vindicated and feels as though the entire matter was in bad faith," her attorney, David Berg, said Monday. The lawsuit by Robert Andrews of Houston had accused Sharon Bush of spreading rumors that his son, Thomas Alexander Andrews, then 3, was fathered by Bush while he was having an affair with Andrews' then-wife, Maria Andrews. She later divorced Andrews and married Bush.

Background here.

by TChris

The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did the Constitution no favors today by upholding presidential power to detain Jose Padilla indefinitely. TalkLeft background on Padilla is collected here.

A federal appeals court ruled today Jose Padilla, the so-called "dirty bomber," can be held forever in jail as an enemy combatant and never allowed to defend himself at trial, although he is an American citizen and was arrested in this country.

The decision was authored by Judge Michael Luttig, widely feared to be the president’s choice to replace Justice O’Connor. If the president hasn’t yet decided on a nominee, he may be tempted to reward Luttig for this unprecedented and dangerous expansion of presidential power.

From Law Prof Doug Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy: The 8th Circuit upholds a sentence of 8-plus years for two ounces of pot:

I will leave it to readers to decide for themselves which judges on the Eighth Circuit seem to have their judgment clouded by the wicked weed in US v. Chauncey, No. 04-1529 (8th Cir. Aug. 25, 2005) (available here (pdf)). The defendant in Chauncey, as a result of a criminal history leading to his classification as a career offender, received a sentence of 100 months after being convicted of possessing with intent to distribute less than two ounces of marijuana. According to Judge Lay's dissent, "Chauncey's undisputed purpose was to help [his friend] obtain marijuana to alleviate the painful effects of her multiple sclerosis."

Go read the rest.

Talk about snake eyes: Jose Luis Betancourt got 24 years for drug trafficking. Then, he lost his lottery winnings, because the court found he bought the ticket with drug proceeds.

The text of the opinion is here (pdf). [link via How Appealing.]

MADD must be having seizures. A judge in Virginia ruled the state's DUI law unconsitutional because it presumes anyone with an 0.8 blood alchohol level or higher is intoxicated.

The state law presumes that someone with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is intoxicated, denying their right to a presumption of innocence, Judge Ian O'Flaherty ruled in dismissing charges against at least two alleged drunken drivers last month.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals today reversed the convictions of five Cuban spies on venue grounds.

A federal appellate court has overturned the convictions of five accused Cuban spies Tuesday, ruling they could not get a fair trial in Miami because of extensive pretrial publicity.

The ruling means that the defendants' life sentences are overturned. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ordered a new trial after agreeing with defense attorneys who argued that prejudice against Fidel Castro and his communist government in Miami impeded them from getting a fair trial, which resulted in convictions in 2001.

The decision will be very unpopular in Miami's Cuban exile community. The Southern District of Florida blog has more on the decision. The full text of the 93 page opinion is available here.