SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK

High court backs foreign campaign contribution ban WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal seeking to expand the ability of foreigners to contribute to American political campaigns. The justices on Monday upheld a federal court ruling in favor of the ban on foreign contributions from all but immigrants who permanently live in the United States. Washington lawyer Michael Carvin wanted the justices to extend their 2010 decision in the Citizens United case allowing greater political participation by corporations and labor unions. Carvin sued on behalf of two people with visas to work in the United States. A three-judge court in Washington said Congress was well within its powers when it prohibited most foreigners from making campaign contributions. California appeal in Skid Row killings rejected WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected California's plea to reinstate murder convictions in the 1970s-era Skid Row Stabber case in Los Angeles. Two justices dissented from the court's decision to leave in place a federal appeals court ruling that overturned two murder convictions and a life sentence for Bobby Jo Maxwell. The appeals court said Maxwell was convicted based on a jailhouse informant's lies. The informant was Sidney Storch, who was at the center of a scandal involving false testimony that defense lawyers said helped convict 225 defendants. Justices Samuel Alito and Antonin Scalia said they would have reversed the appeals court ruling. Justice Sonia Sotomayor defended the ruling in a separate opinion. The state must give Maxwell a new trial or release him. Los Angeles County prosecutors did not immediately announce how they would proceed in light of the ruling. "The district attorney's office will evaluate it and announce a decision in the future," said spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. Shortly after the convictions were voided by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November 2010, District Attorney Steve Cooley did say that he and his staff had begun analyzing the decision and "we think we would retry it." He said there was corroborating evidence, and he suggested there could be some DNA available. Maxwell was accused of 10 killings of transients that took place from 1978-79 in Los Angeles. Jurors convicted him of two, acquitted him of three and deadlocked on five of the charges. The 9th Circuit said the two convictions were obtained through Storch by prosecutors who had little physical evidence and had failed to get usable eyewitness identifications in lineups. One murder witness who viewed a lineup with Maxwell in it was quoted as saying, "You've got everyone up there that doesn't look like him." The 9th Circuit focused on the false testimony of Storch and the prosecution's failure to disclose that the witness had made a secret deal with the prosecutor to win early release from his own prison sentence in return for his testimony. The appeals court said Storch would glean information about inmates' cases from news stories and then claim they had confessed the details to him. Storch has since died. Justices won't hear Mississippi inmate's appeal JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a Mississippi death row inmate's claim that his attorney should have done a better job at his trial. The nation's high court on Monday let stand a 2011 ruling from a panel of the 5th U.S. Court of Appeals. Edwin Hart Turner sought approval from the federal courts for a new round of appeals centering on the issue of ineffective counsel. In such post-conviction claims, an inmate argues he has found new evidence -- or a possible constitutional issue -- that could persuade a court to order a new trial. The Mississippi Supreme Court denied Turner's petition in 2007. A federal judge did the same in 2010. Turner was sentenced to death for the 1995 deaths of Eddie Brooks and Everett Curry. State and federal courts upheld his conviction. Turner and another man were indicted for the slayings. The other defendant got two life sentences without parole and testified against Turner. Brooks, a clerk at Mims Auto Truck Village on U.S. Highway 82 east of Greenwood, was killed on the job on Dec. 13, 1995. Shortly thereafter, Curry, a prison guard, was shot to death while pumping gasoline at Mims One Stop on U.S. 82, according to the court record. Turner's claims were that his attorneys should have investigated his case more thoroughly, put on more witnesses and erred in moving the trial from Carroll County. Turner's trial was held in Forrest County. The Mississippi and federal courts said moving the trial was part of the defense strategy and Turner's arguments were hypothetical. Published: Wed, Jan 11, 2012