SUPREME COURT NOTEBOOK

Justices spurn Georgia inmate, despite juror's racial slurs

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Supreme Court is rejecting a new appeal from a Georgia death row inmate, despite evidence that a juror in his capital case used racial slurs.

The high court had previously blocked the execution of Georgia inmate Keith Leroy Tharpe. But the justices on Monday refused to take up his case after a lower court ruled against him.

The 59-year-old Tharpe is trying to get his death sentence thrown out because of comments the juror made to defense investigators several years after Tharpe's trial. The juror signed an affidavit, though he later testified that he voted for Tharpe's death sentence because of the evidence against him. The juror has since died.

Lower courts have ruled Tharpe can't use the juror's statement.

Tharpe was convicted of killing his sister in law.


Court declines hearing Ron Paul 2012 aides' appeal

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of the felony convictions of three top staffers on Ron Paul's 2012 presidential campaign.

Campaign chairman Jesse Benton, campaign manager John Tate and deputy campaign manager Dimitri Kesari were convicted in 2016 of causing false records and campaign expenditure reports to be filed to the Federal Election Commission.

Prosecutors say the trio tried to hide $73,000 in payments to former Iowa Sen. Kent Sorenson for his endorsement of Paul.

They argue that they broke no laws when they concealed the payments through a third-party campaign vendor.

They have served their sentences but sought to clear their names of felony convictions.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld the convictions in May 2018.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied their request to hear the case with no comment.


Appeal on tossed juror turned down

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court won't hear an appeal by former U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah that involves a juror removed from his 2016 racketeering trial.

The Philadelphia Democrat is serving a 10-year sentence after he was convicted of laundering federal grants and nonprofit funds to repay an illegal $1 million campaign loan and help friends and family.

A U.S. district judge removed the juror hours into deliberations after other jurors complained he had "an ax to grind" with the government and a court employee heard him say he would deadlock the jury.

Fattah's lawyers say the complaints could have stemmed from the dismissed juror's view of the case and therefore his removal was potentially improper. The court did not comment Monday.

Calls seeking comment were placed to lawyers for the 62-year-old Fattah.


Court won't intervene in oldest U.S. synagogue dispute

By Michelle R. Smith
Associated Press

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene Monday in a fight over control of the nation's oldest synagogue and its religious bells worth millions, leaving in place a ruling that the Rhode Island synagogue will remain the property of a New York congregation.

The Congregation Jeshuat Israel in Newport, Rhode Island, had asked a judge to declare that it owned the more than 250-year-old Touro Synagogue and a set of Colonial-era Torah bells, called rimonim. It had a plan to sell the bells to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston for $7.4 million as a way to shore up its finances.

Manhattan's Congregation Shearith Israel, the nation's oldest Jewish congregation, became trustee of Touro after Jews left Newport in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It fought the plan to sell the bells.

Congregation Jeshuat Israel has worshipped at Touro since the late 1800s, and the two sides have periodically fought since then over who controls it.

Lou Solomon, a lawyer for Congregation Shearith Israel, struck a conciliatory tone, saying he looked forward to "a return of harmonious relations" between them and Touro's congregation.

"It's a national treasure, it's going to remain open for all Jews," Solomon said.

But he added a caveat.

"We're going to go forward with or without them. It is my hope that there will not be any more hostile acts," he said.

A trial judge awarded control of the property and the bells to the Newport group, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals went the other way, giving them to the group from Manhattan.

Gary Naftalis, a lawyer for the Newport congregants, said they were disappointed.

"Our petition raised significant constitutional issues affecting the survival of Touro Synagogue and the rights of religious organizations in America," he said, adding that they hope the congregation's "right to continue to pray in the historic Touro Synagogue, as it has for over a century, will be respected."

Solomon said the New York congregation plans to reach out to the one in Newport soon with an offer to meet and plan for ways to move forward together.

"We don't want to be the imperialists that are coming there and kicking people out. What matters is that the synagogue remain a house of worship for all Jews, open to all Jews," he said.

Touro Synagogue was dedicated in 1763 and is a national historic site. The synagogue was visited by George Washington in 1790, and he later sent its congregants a letter declaring that the government of the United States "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." It attracts tens of thousands of visitors annually.


Justices reject B&B owner who denied room to gay couple

By Jennifer Sinco Kelleher
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left in place Hawaii court rulings that found a bed and breakfast owner violated the state's anti-discrimination law by refusing to rent a room to a lesbian couple.

The justices rejected an appeal from Aloha Bed & Breakfast owner Phyllis Young, who argued that she should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of her religious beliefs.

"Mrs. Young will rent a bedroom in her home to anyone, including those who are LGBT, but will not rent to any romantic partners other than a husband and wife," her attorney, James Hochberg, said in a statement. "This kind of governmental coercion should disturb every freedom-loving American no matter where you stand on marriage."

The case involved an effort by Diane Cervelli and Taeko Bufford of Long Beach, California, to book a room at Aloha Bed & Breakfast in 2007 while they were visiting a friend nearby.

When they specified they would need just one bed, Young told them she was uncomfortable reserving a room for lesbians and canceled the reservation.

Cervelli and Bufford filed complaints with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission.

Young told the commission she is Catholic and believes that homosexuality is wrong, according to the appeals court ruling.

The commission found the business illegally discriminated against the couple and issued Cervelli and Bufford "right to sue" notices.

They filed their lawsuit in 2011.

"The freedom of religion does not give businesses a right to violate nondiscrimination laws that protect all individuals from harm, whether on the basis of race, gender, or sexual orientation," Peter Renn, an attorney who represents the couple, said in a statement.

Last year, the Hawaii Supreme Court rejected Young's appeal of a lower court ruling that ordered her to stop discriminating against same-sex couples.

--------

Associated Press reporter Mark Sherman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Published: Wed, Mar 20, 2019