On 1st Day of New Term Justices Refuse Cases on Warrantless Wiretaps, Religious Songs in School, and Who Owns "SC"
The 1st Monday in October brought a flurry of decisions by the Supreme Court, most of which were refusals to consider cases.
The High Court announced this morning that it has turned down hundreds of appeals, in matters ranging from warrantless wiretapping and the remains of 9/11 victims in landfills, to death penalty cases, the performance of religious songs in schools, and whether the University of South Carolina or the University of Southern California can claim trademark on the initials "SC."
Today marked the 1st day of the Supereme Court's new term, with Justice Elena Kagan on the bench. Kagan replaced Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired after more than 34 years. For the 1st time 3 women are serving on the 9-justice court.
The Court said today it wants to what the Obama administration thinks before deciding whether to hear an appeal from former detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq over claims of abuse by defense contractors.
The justices on Monday called on acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal to offer his views on whether t2firms, CACI International Inc. and Titan Corp., can be sued over alleged abuses by interrogators they employed at the notorious Baghdad prison.
A divided federal appeals court in Washington dismissed the lawsuits filed by Iraqis who said they or their relatives were subjected to harsh interrogations.
The court imposed no deadline on the administration.
Among the cases rejected today by the justices:
• An appeal by Georgia death row inmate Jamie Ryan Weis, who was convicted of killing a 73-year-old woman. Weis said he went without a lawyer from Georgia's public defender program for 2 years because the state couldn't pay his legal bills. (Weis v. Georgia, 09-10715).
• Another appeal from a Fort Hood Army private, Dwight J. Loving, who was convicted in military court and sentenced to death for killing 2 Texas taxi drivers during separate robberies on Dec. 11, 1988 in Killeen, Texas. His death sentence was upheld by appeals courts and by the Supreme Court in 1996. (Loving v. United States, 09-989)
Source: USA Today, October 5, 2010
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