SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK

Court rejects appeal from subcontractor freed from Cuba

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from a former government subcontractor seeking to sue the U.S. government for negligence over his five-year imprisonment in Cuba.

The justices on Monday let stand a federal appeals court ruling that threw out Alan Gross' $60 million lawsuit blaming the federal government for failing to prepare him for the risks of working in Cuba.

Gross was freed in December as the U.S. announced it would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba. He was working as a U.S. Agency for International Development subcontractor in Cuba when he was arrested in 2009.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled last year that the U.S. government is immune from claims arising in a foreign country.

In a separate case, Gross received $3.2 million in December from the federal government as part of a settlement with the Maryland-based company he worked for at the time of his arrest.

The USAID said it paid Gross to settle claims pending before the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals for unanticipated claims under a cost-reimbursement contract with Development Alternatives Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland.

The USAID said the settlement was not an admission of liability, but was intended to avoid the costs and risks of further legal proceedings.

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Justices turn down North Carolina appeal on election law

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court has passed up an early chance to review a contested North Carolina election law that opponents say limits the ability of African-Americans to cast ballots.

The high court intervened in October to order that the law remain in effect for the fall elections after a lower court ruling blocking part of the law.

But the justices on Monday wiped away their earlier order by rejecting the state's appeal of that lower court ruling. The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia had blocked a part of the law that eliminated same-day registration during early voting in North Carolina.

A trial is set for July in the lawsuit filed by civil rights groups, and the issue of voting restrictions could return to the Supreme Court before the 2016 elections.

North Carolina is among several Republican-led states that have passed election laws imposing photo identification requirements and reducing the number of days set aside for early voting, among other provisions. Officials have said the measures are needed to prevent voter fraud. But critics have called the laws thinly veiled efforts to make it harder for Democratic-leaning minorities to vote.

The next elections in North Carolina are in September at the local level. The next statewide contest is the presidential primary in early 2016.

Published: Wed, Apr 08, 2015