Supreme Court won't hear a challenge to college programs for reporting bias allegations
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court said Monday it won't hear a challenge from conservative college students who say their freedom of speech is violated by a university program for reporting allegations of bias.
Two of the nine justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly said they would have heard the case.
The students say Indiana University's bias-response team stifles speech on campus by allowing anonymous reports about things that appear prejudiced or demeaning.
The university says the program is aimed at education and support, and the two-person team doesn't dole out punishment.
The unnamed students are represented by the group Speech First, which says 450 universities have similar programs. The group has filed multiple similar lawsuits and come to settlements ending programs in Michigan, Texas and Florida.
The high court majority didn't detail their reasons for declining the case in their brief order handed down Monday, as is typical. Alito noted briefly that he would have heard the case.
Thomas wrote in a dissent that the bias response teams can refer students for possible discipline, and he identified indications they could chill students' free speech.
"Given the number of schools with bias response teams, this Court eventually will need to resolve the split over a student's right to challenge such programs," Thomas wrote.
Two of the nine justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, publicly said they would have heard the case.
The students say Indiana University's bias-response team stifles speech on campus by allowing anonymous reports about things that appear prejudiced or demeaning.
The university says the program is aimed at education and support, and the two-person team doesn't dole out punishment.
The unnamed students are represented by the group Speech First, which says 450 universities have similar programs. The group has filed multiple similar lawsuits and come to settlements ending programs in Michigan, Texas and Florida.
The high court majority didn't detail their reasons for declining the case in their brief order handed down Monday, as is typical. Alito noted briefly that he would have heard the case.
Thomas wrote in a dissent that the bias response teams can refer students for possible discipline, and he identified indications they could chill students' free speech.
"Given the number of schools with bias response teams, this Court eventually will need to resolve the split over a student's right to challenge such programs," Thomas wrote.
Court won't reimpose death sentence for man convicted of murdering a woman in 1985 rape case
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday left in place a Utah state court decision that overturned the death sentence for man convicted of murdering a woman to stop her from testifying against him in a rape case.
The justices did not comment in rejecting the state's appeal in the case of Douglas Lovell. The Utah Supreme Court upheld Lovell's murder conviction for killing Joyce Yost in 1985 but threw out the sentence.
Lovell tried to hire two people to kill Yost to prevent her from testifying against him on charges that he had raped her, state officials said. When that failed, did it himself by abducting and strangling her, officials said.
The state court determined that Lovell's attorneys for his sentencing in 2015 did not object or sufficiently respond to testimony about his excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Utah-based faith known widely as the Mormon church. The lawyers' performance meant jurors could not fairly weigh evidence before they sentenced Lovell to death.
A state judge ruled in 2021 that the church did not interfere in Lovell's trial when it laid out ground rules for what local church leaders could say before they testified as character witnesses. Lovell had claimed the witnesses were effectively silenced by the church or never contacted at all by his court-appointed attorney.
The justices did not comment in rejecting the state's appeal in the case of Douglas Lovell. The Utah Supreme Court upheld Lovell's murder conviction for killing Joyce Yost in 1985 but threw out the sentence.
Lovell tried to hire two people to kill Yost to prevent her from testifying against him on charges that he had raped her, state officials said. When that failed, did it himself by abducting and strangling her, officials said.
The state court determined that Lovell's attorneys for his sentencing in 2015 did not object or sufficiently respond to testimony about his excommunication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Utah-based faith known widely as the Mormon church. The lawyers' performance meant jurors could not fairly weigh evidence before they sentenced Lovell to death.
A state judge ruled in 2021 that the church did not interfere in Lovell's trial when it laid out ground rules for what local church leaders could say before they testified as character witnesses. Lovell had claimed the witnesses were effectively silenced by the church or never contacted at all by his court-appointed attorney.
