U.S. court won’t hear appeal over airport scanners
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear a man's attempt to challenge the use of full-body scanners at the country's airports.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by Jonathan Corbett, who wanted to challenge the Transportation Security Administration's use of the scanners, which show a naked image of a passenger's body, and hands-on pat-downs at airport security lines.
Federal courts in Florida refused to hear his lawsuit, saying it could only be filed with the federal appeals court in Washington. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal, and the Supreme Court refused to reopen the case.
The TSA started allowing the use of the advanced imaging technology in October 2010. The Electronic Privacy Information Center soon afterward called their use an "unreasonable search."
High court won’t hear wife’s appeal in murder case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not hear the appeal of a former toxicologist convicted of poisoning her husband in a notorious San Diego murder case.
Former lab worker Kristin Rossum said she deserves a special hearing to determine whether her trial lawyer’s performance was so bad that she was entitled to a new trial. Rossum was convicted in 2002 of the murder of her husband, Gregory deVillers, and sentenced to life in prison.
Prosecutors said Rossum, then 24, killed deVillers in November 2000 after he threatened to expose her affair with a supervisor and her methamphetamine habit unless she quit her job.
The justices on Monday rejected Rossum’s appeal.
Court won’t hear appeal from Ala. death row inmate
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal from a convicted murderer who kidnapped and fatally shot his estranged wife in 1994.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Bobby Baker Jr., who is on death row in Alabama. He was accused of kidnapping and shooting Tracy Baker four times while she sat in the back seat of his car in April 1994.
He has had his death sentence overturned once by the courts before being sentenced to death for a second time. Baker wanted the Supreme Court to rule on whether the aggravating circumstances that were used to decide to seek the death penalty were unconstitutionally vague.
Court won’t hear anti-gay marriage group appeal
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from a national anti-gay marriage group that tried to thwart Maine’s campaign disclosure law requiring it to release its donor list.
The high court on Monday turned aside an appeal from the National Organization for Marriage, which donated $1.9 million to a political action committee that helped repeal Maine’s same-sex marriage law.
Maine’s campaign disclosure law requires groups that raise or spend more than $5,000 to influence elections to register and disclose their donors. The group says that it believes that releasing the donor list would stymie free speech, but the lower court refused to throw out the law.
Maine voters repealed the state’s gay marriage law in 2009.
Court won’t hear appeal in teen’s suicide shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is refusing to hear a lawsuit over whether a police officer can be sued for fatally shooting a Texas teen-ager who was threatening to commit suicide.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from the parents of Ruddy Elizondo, who was shot by a Garland, Texas police officer after a relative called for help. Elizondo had threatened to kill himself with a knife, and when the police officer arrived, threatened him with the weapon.
The officer fatally shot the boy, and the family sued the city. Federal courts threw out the lawsuit, and justices on Monday refused to reopen it.
Court won’t hear challenge to Iowa judicial system
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal challenging the makeup of an Iowa commission that nominates the state’s Supreme Court and Court of Appeals members.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Iowa conservatives challenging the Judicial Nominating Commission’s makeup.
The Iowa Bar Association elects seven of the 15 commissioners. The chair is a member of the Iowa Supreme Court, while seven other commissioners are appointed by the governor, a system adopted by voters in 1962. The commission recommends finalists to the governor, who makes the final decision.
The lawsuit argued the commission gives too much influence to lawyers and is unconstitutional because non-lawyers have no say in those appointments.
Lower courts have said the system does not violate ordinary citizens’ rights.
High court rejects challenge to fed. roadless rule
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal challenging a federal rule that bars development on 50 million acres of roadless areas in national forests.
The justices said Monday they will leave in place a federal appeals court decision that upheld the so-called roadless rule that took effect late in the presidency of Bill Clinton.
The state of Wyoming and the Colorado Mining Association said closing so much forest land to development has had serious consequences for residents of Western states and the logging, mining and drilling industries.
The challenge centered on the contention that that U.S. Forest Service essentially declared forests to be wilderness areas, a power that rests with Congress under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The Forest Service manages more than 190 million acres of land.
Court won’t hear challenge in Neb. abortion case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t reconsider a decision stopping a Nebraska anti-abortion group from fighting for an abortion law that requires health screenings for women seeking abortions.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal by Nebraskan United for Life, which wanted the court to reconsider a lower court’s refusal to hear its appeal.
Federal courts refused to allow Nebraska’s 2010 law to go into effect and the state attorney general decided against defending the measure. The anti-abortion group, doing business as the NuLife Pregnancy Resource Center, wanted to intervene to argue for the law but was blocked by the courts.
The Supreme Court will not review that decision.
Court won’t get involved in Minn. elections fight
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t stop Minnesota from blocking its judicial candidates from endorsing candidates in other elections and soliciting campaign contributions.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal of Minnesota’s rules for judicial candidates. Gregory Wersal, who wants a seat on that state’s Supreme Court, tried to challenge the ban on judicial candidates endorsing candidates for other offices. He also wants the ban on soliciting campaign contributions thrown out. But the federal courts have refused to invalidate the Minnesota laws. And now the high court has refused to hear his appeal.
In 2002, Wersal won a case before the U.S. Supreme Court that led to the removal of most rules that had restricted judicial candidates from taking public positions on issues and seeking or accepting endorsements.
