SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK

Court won't hear home-school case WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal from a German family seeking asylum in the United States because their home country does not allow home-schooling. The justices rejected an appeal from Uwe and Hannelore Romeike who claim the German government is persecuting them because they want to raise their children in accordance with their Christian beliefs. The family moved to the U.S. in 2008 after facing fines and threats for refusing to send their children to a state-approved school, as required by Germany's compulsory attendance law. They say German laws violate international human rights standards. Last year, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that claim. The court found that U.S. law does not grant asylum to every victim of unfair treatment. Justices decline immigration debate WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has ended two local governments' efforts to prevent some immigrants from renting apartments. The justices on Monday declined to take up appeals from the Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, Texas, or the city of Hazleton, Pa., of lower court rulings that blocked local ordinances regulating rental housing. Both were intended to keep people who are in the country illegally from finding housing in those jurisdictions. The Supreme Court held in 2012 that immigration is primarily a matter for the federal government, ruling out most local and state laws targeting illegal immigration. The Hazleton case also involved an ordinance that would have denied permits to businesses that hired people who are in the U.S. illegally. Published: Wed, Mar 5, 2014