U.S. Supreme Court Roundup

Justices let Texas man remain free following a long wait for trial

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is allowing a Texas man - who was imprisoned for 35 years while waiting for a second murder trial - to remain free.

The justices on Monday rejected the state's appeal in the case of Jerry Hartfield.

Hartfield was twice convicted of killing a bus ticket saleswoman in Bay City, about 100 miles southwest of Houston. The first conviction and death sentence were overturned in 1980. Hartfield was not tried a second time until 2015.

But a Texas appeals court ruled that the long wait violated Hartfield's constitutional right to a speedy trial and ordered his case dismissed.

High court declines ­Oklahoma case where ­resentencing ordered

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court won't get involved in a case from Oklahoma in which a federal appeals court set aside the life prison sentence of an inmate who committed violent crimes as a juvenile.

The Supreme Court said Monday it won't take up the case of Keighton Budder. Budder was convicted of rape and other charges and received three consecutive life sentences plus 20 years. Under Oklahoma law he'd have had to serve almost 132 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit said earlier this year that the sentence violates a Supreme Court ruling that forbids life-without-parole sentences for juvenile non-homicide offenders.

The appeals court sent the case back to Oklahoma courts for Budder to be resentenced.

Supreme Court leaves in place Nebraska funeral protest law

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is leaving in place a Nebraska law that bars protests around funerals.

Nebraska enacted the law in 2006. It prohibits protests near a cemetery, mortuary or church from one hour before the beginning of a funeral to two hours after.

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church challenged the law but have lost in lower courts. Members of the church routinely conduct anti-gay protests outside military funerals. The protests have been a way of drawing attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would not take up the church's challenge to Nebraska's law.

Supreme Court won't take Texas case over student-led prayer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is leaving in place a court ruling that a Texas school board can open its meetings with student-led public prayers without running afoul of the Constitution's prohibition against government-established religion.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take a case challenging the ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans.

A three-judge panel of that court earlier this year said a lower court was correct to dismiss a lawsuit against the Birdville Independent School District over its practice of beginning meetings with a statement from a student that is usually a prayer.

The suit was filed by the American Humanist Association and a graduate of Birdville High School.Justices reject 2 gun rights appeals

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has turned away an appeal from Maryland gun owners who challenged the state's assault weapons ban.

The justices left in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the Maryland law that does not permit the sale of a range of semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines. The banned guns include those that were used in recent mass shootings in a south Texas church and at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas.

The high court has not re-entered the debate over guns since rulings in 2008 and 2010 that held that Americans have a constitutional right to have guns for self-defense in their homes and that local governments could not ban handguns.

The justices also declined an appeal asserting a constitutional right to carry firearms openly in public.

Supreme Court declines to take up drone strike lawsuit

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is declining to revive a lawsuit over a drone strike in Yemen that killed five people.

The court said Monday it would not take up the case. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled earlier this year that the case had been properly dismissed. The appeals court said taking up the case would require it to second-guess the wisdom of a military action, which it said courts could not review.

The case arose out of a 2012 drone strike in eastern Yemen. The relatives of two people killed in the strike sued the United States, saying it was a U.S. drone strike that had killed their relatives who were innocent civilians.

Published: Tue, Nov 28, 2017