Supreme Court Notebook

Court to decide if Michigan tribe’s casino closes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether the Bay Mills Indian Community’s casino in Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula can be ordered closed by a judge.
The high court on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from state officials, who say they can order the casino to be closed because it is not on the tribe’s lands. A federal judge agreed and issued an injunction ordering the casino closed in 2011. The Vanderbilt casino opened in November 2010 and is located about 125 miles south of the Bay Mills reservation in the Upper Peninsula.
The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday threw out the judge’s injunction last year.
Justices will hear arguments in the fall.

Challenge over added ethanol in gas is turned away

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected challenges to Environmental Protection Agency decisions allowing an increase in ethanol content in gasoline.
The justices on Monday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that dismissed challenges by trade associations representing the oil industry, food producers, restaurants and others to EPA decisions allowing a gasoline blend of up to 15 percent ethanol. The national gasoline supply is largely a blend with 10 percent ethanol.

High court will review dispute over immigration 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is wading into a complicated immigration dispute about the status of children who have become adults during their parents’ years-long wait to become legal permanent residents of the United States.
The justices said Monday they will hear an appeal from the Obama administration arguing that those children in most cases should go to the back of the line in their own wait for visas to live in this country.
The case concerns how to treat a prospective immigrant who turns 21, under a provision of the Child Status Protection Act intended to keep immigrant families together.
Proposed immigration legislation before the Senate includes a provision that would favor children who turn 21 during their parents’ lengthy wait to win approval to live in the United States.

Court to hear appeal of abortion buffer zone law
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will reconsider the constitutionality of a 2007 Massachusetts law that bars protests in 35-foot “buffer zones” around abortion clinic entrances, exits and driveways.
The justices on Monday agreed to hear an appeal from abortion opponents, who wanted the law thrown out. The law allows individuals to enter the buffer zone only to enter or leave the clinic or reach a destination other than the clinic.
Abortion opponents who regularly stand outside clinics in Boston, Worcester and Springfield claimed the law unfairly keeps them from engaging patients in conversations at a closer distance.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the law, saying it protects rights of prospective patients and clinic employees “without offending the First Amendment rights of others.”
Justices will reconsider that decision.

Court to referee union-company joint agreement

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will decide whether a business and a union’s agreement is valid after the business helped the union organize in return for help with a ballot initiative.
The high court on Monday agreed to hear appeals from UNITE HERE Local 355, which wants to challenge a ruling saying its deal with Hollywood Greyhound Track, Inc., known as Mardi Gras Gaming, may be illegal.
The union agreed to help the company win a gambling ballot initiative legalizing slot machines at racetracks and said it would not picket, boycott, or strike. Mardi Gras officials agreed to give the union employee addresses, access to the facility and not ask for a secret ballot election on unionizing.
Labor law says companies cannot give unions that want to represent employees something of value.

Schad’s death sentence can go forth, says court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has reinstated a death sentence for an Arizona man who was convicted of killing a man 35 years ago.
The justices’ action on Monday is the court’s latest skirmish with the federal appeals court in San Francisco over delays in Arizona’s efforts to execute Edward Schad.
The court says in an unsigned opinion that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must step away from Schad’s case and allow the state to proceed. The high court had once before thrown out a 9th Circuit ruling in Schad’s favor.?