Justices question $500-a-year contribution limit
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is raising doubts about Alaska's $500-a-year limit on contributions to political candidates. The justices are ordering a lower court to take a new look at the issue.
The court says in an unsigned opinion Monday that federal judges who had rejected a challenge to the contribution cap did not take account of a 2006 high court ruling invalidating low-dollar limits on political contributions in Vermont.
The Alaska challengers argue that the state is alone in imposing such low limits even on gubernatorial candidates "who must campaign across Alaska's vast expanse and widely dispersed media markets."
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in a short separate opinion that Alaska's reliance on the energy industry may make the state unusually vulnerable to political corruption and justify low limits.
Court won't revive lawsuit against gun site over spa shooting
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court won't revive a lawsuit against a firearms website over a suburban Milwaukee spa shooting.
The justices rejected an appeal Monday from the daughter of one of three people shot to death by a man who illegally bought a semi-automatic pistol and ammunition from someone he met through Armslist.com.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court dismissed the suit, ruling that federal law protects website operators from liability for posting content from a third party. The state court rejected arguments that websites that enable gun deals must take reasonable care to prevent sales to people prohibited from purchasing firearms. The Wisconsin shooter was under a court order that prohibited him from possessing guns.
A similar lawsuit filed by a Boston police officer is pending in state court in Massachusetts.
Justices reject call for new trial in 'Serial' podcast case
By Mark Sherman
and Regina Garcia Cano
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a Maryland man's bid for a new trial based on information uncovered by the hit podcast "Serial."
The justices did not comment in leaving in place a 4-3 ruling by Maryland's highest court that denied a new trial to Adnan Syed, who was convicted of strangling a high school classmate he had once dated.
Syed is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2000 of killing 17-year-old Hae Min Lee and burying her body in a Baltimore park. Prosecutors said during his trial that Syed killed her after she broke off their relationship.
Syed's lawyers had argued that his trial lawyer's failure to investigate an alibi witness violated his right to competent legal representation.
"We are deeply disappointed by the Supreme Court but by no means is this the end of Adnan Syed," defense attorney C. Justin Brown told The Associated Press. "There are other legal options and we are exploring each and every one of them."
Millions of people learned about Syed when the hit podcast "Serial" dedicated its entire first season to the case in 2014. The show shattered podcast-streaming and downloading records, shining a spotlight that led to renewed court proceedings.
Two Maryland courts found that Syed deserved a new trial. His lawyer during his first trial, Cristina Gutierrez, failed to contact a woman who said she saw Syed at a library at the time prosecutors say he strangled his ex-girlfriend in 1999. Gutierrez has since died.
But in 2018, the Maryland Court of Appeals denied Syed a new trial, even though it agreed his trial lawyer's work was lacking. The state high court said there was little chance the outcome would have been different had Gutierrez done what she should have.
Rabia Chaudry, an attorney and friend of Syed's family who first brought his case to the attention of "This American Life," which developed the podcast, said Monday that the Supreme Court's decision "was fully expected." She said his defense team has been preparing to file either a habeas petition in federal court or go back to the state court.
"We were just waiting. It was just a technicality. Now it's done, so we can move forward," she said of the high court's move. "He is doing fine. He is hanging in there. He knows that none of us are basically giving up. He has a great legal team. He has a lot of public support and walking away is not an option."
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Garcia Cano reported from Baltimore.
Published: Wed, Nov 27, 2019
