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Top Ecuador court upholds $9 billion ruling against Chevron
State Law Issues |
2018/07/09 15:55
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Ecuador's highest court has upheld a $9.5 billion judgment against oil giant Chevron for decades of rainforest damage that harmed indigenous people.
Plaintiffs celebrated the constitutional court's decision announced Tuesday night by saying it leaves no doubt about their right to receive compensation for oil spills that contaminated groundwater in indigenous communities in the Amazon.
But the ruling is largely symbolic as Chevron no longer operates in the South American country. That means Ecuador's government will have to pursue assets owned by the San Ramon, California-based company in foreign courts, where it so far has had little luck.
Chevron had long argued that a 1998 agreement Texaco signed with Ecuador after a $40 million cleanup absolves it of liability. Chevron bought Texaco in 2001. |
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Supreme Court allows Arkansas to enforce abortion restrictions
State Law Issues |
2018/06/11 00:26
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The Supreme Court is allowing Arkansas to put into effect restrictions on how abortion pills are administered. Critics of a challenged state law say it could effectively end medication abortions in the state.
The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting an appeal from the Planned Parenthood affiliate in Arkansas that asked the court to review an appeals court ruling and reinstate a lower court order that had blocked the law from taking effect. The law says doctors who provide abortion pills must hold a contract with another physician who has admitting privileges at a hospital and who would agree to handle complications.
The law is similar to a provision in Texas law that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016. The U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the court order barring enforcement of the law, but put its ruling on hold while Planned Parenthood appealed to the Supreme Court.
The legal fight over the law is not over, but the state is now free to enforce it, at least for the time being. Planned Parenthood has said that if the law stands, Arkansas would be the only state where women would not have access to a pair of drugs that end pregnancies: mifepristone, which makes it difficult for a fetus to attach to the uterine wall, and misoprostol, which causes the body to expel it, similar to a miscarriage.
The organization offers pills to end pregnancies at clinics in Fayetteville and Little Rock but says it cannot find any Arkansas obstetrician willing to handle hospital admissions. Preventing women from obtaining medication abortions would create an undue burden on their right to an abortion, Planned Parenthood says. Undue burden is the standard set by the Supreme Court to measure whether restrictions go too far in limiting women who want an abortion.
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Supreme Court limits warrantless vehicle searches near homes
State Law Issues |
2018/06/06 00:25
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The Supreme Court is putting limits on the ability of police to search vehicles when they do not have a search warrant.
The court sided 8-1 Tuesday with a Virginia man who complained that police walked onto his driveway and pulled back a tarp covering his motorcycle, which turned out to be stolen. They acted without a warrant, relying on a line of Supreme Court cases generally allowing police to search a vehicle without a warrant.
The justices said the automobile exception does not apply when searching vehicles parked adjacent to a home.
The court ruled in the case of Ryan Collins, who was arrested at the home of his girlfriend in Charlottesville, Virginia. Collins had twice eluded police in high-speed chases in which he rode an orange and black motorcycle.
The authorities used Collins' Facebook page to eventually track the motorcycle to his girlfriend's home.
Collins argued that police improperly entered private property uninvited and without a warrant.
Virginia's Supreme Court said the case involved what the Supreme Court has called the "automobile exception," which generally allows police to search a vehicle without a warrant if they believe the vehicle contains contraband.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said for the court Tuesday that the state court was wrong. Sotomayor said that constitutional protections for a person's home and the area surrounding it, the curtilage, outweigh the police interest in conducting a vehicle search without a warrant.
Dutch court says time ripe for law to recognize 3rd gender
A court in the Netherlands says that lawmakers should recognize a neutral, third gender, in a groundbreaking ruling for a person who does not identify as male or female.
The court in the southern city of Roermond said Monday that the person's gender could not be definitively determined at birth. The person was registered as male but later had treatment to become a woman and successfully applied to have her gender officially changed to female.
However the applicant later sought to be listed as a "third gender" — neither male nor female.
The court said in a statement that "the time is ripe for recognition of a third gender," adding that "it is now up to lawmakers."
Transgender activists hailed the ruling as a revolutionary step in Dutch law. |
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Ohio court's visitor center adds plaster cast of Harding
State Law Issues |
2018/06/02 00:25
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A plaster cast used to create a sculpture of President Warren G. Harding found at the Ohio Supreme Court is on display in the building's visitor education center.
The likeness was donated by the former president's family.
It was used to create the sculpture of Harding, a Marion native. It has hung in the building that now houses the state's highest court since its construction more than 80 years ago.
The fragile plaster cast is housed in an elevated glass enclosure.
Harding was the 29th president and one of eight born in Ohio, earning the state the nickname "Mother of Presidents."
Driver in deadly New Jersey school bus crash due in court
The driver of a school bus that collided with a dump truck on a New Jersey highway last week, killing a student and a teacher and injuring more than 40 others, is due in court.
Hudy Muldrow Sr. faces two charges of vehicular homicide. He's scheduled for an initial court appearance in Morristown on Friday.
A criminal affidavit released Thursday alleges Muldrow missed a turn and tried to make a U-turn on Interstate 80 westbound on May 17 while carrying a group of fifth-graders and chaperones on a field trip.
Ten-year-old Miranda Vargas and 51-year-old teacher Jennifer Williamson died in the crash. Muldrow's son told CBS this week that his father said he didn't make a U-turn.
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