U.S. Supreme Court Notebook

High court won't hear lawsuit over art seized during WWII

WASHINGTON (AP) - Heirs of a renowned Jewish art collector won't be able use U.S courts to sue Hungary's government for the return of paintings seized during World War II that are worth millions.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it wouldn't take the case. That means an appeals court ruling that Hungary is immune from being sued in U.S. courts over the paintings stands.

The family of Baron Mor Lipot Herzog is still pursuing a case in the United States against three museums and a university all run by Hungary. The family says those institutions together hold about 40 pieces that were Herzog's but confiscated by Hungary, a wartime ally of Nazi Germany.

The family unsuccessfully tried suing in Hungary before suing in the U.S. in 2010.

Supreme Court sides with Ohio over death row inmate

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is ordering a federal appeals court to re-examine the case of a convicted killer in Ohio whose death sentence was thrown out after he was found to be mentally disabled.

The justices said in an unsigned opinion Monday that the federal appeals court in Cincinnati applied the wrong standard when it concluded that inmate Danny Hill was ineligible to be executed.

The high court said the appellate judges wrongly relied on a recent Supreme Court decision, but should have instead based their decision on rulings that were in effect at the time that state courts judged Hill not to be mentally disabled.

The Supreme Court banned the execution of mentally disabled people in 2002, but states still retain significant discretion in assessing mental disability.

Published: Tue, Jan 08, 2019