Twins conceived after dad died won't get benefits
By Jesse J. Holland
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a man's children who were conceived through artificial insemination after his death cannot get Social Security survivor benefits.
Justices unanimously ruled that twins born to Robert Capato's surviving wife Karen did not qualify for survivor benefits because of a requirement that the federal government use state inheritance laws.
The Capato twins, conceived using Robert Capato's frozen sperm, were born 18 months after their father died of esophageal cancer. Karen Capato's application for survivor benefits on behalf of the twins was rejected by the Social Security Administration, which said Robert Capato needed to be alive during the children's conception to qualify. A federal judge agreed, saying they had to qualify as Capato's children before his death or qualify under state inheritance law as children who could legally inherit.
Capato died a Florida resident, and Florida law expressly bars children conceived posthumously from inheritance, unless they are named in a will. The only beneficiaries named in Capato's will are his wife, their son and his two children from a previous marriage.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia overturned that decision, saying the Capato twins were clearly the biological children of Robert Capato and deserved the survivor benefits. But other federal appellate courts have ruled differently in similar cases, leaving the Supreme Court to come to a final conclusion.
"We find the Social Security Administration's ruling better attuned to the statute's text and its design to benefit primarily those the deceased wage earner actually supported in his or her lifetime," Ginsburg said. "And even if the agency's longstanding interpretation is not the only reasonable one, it is at least a permissible construction entitled to deference."
The case was heard by the Philadelphia appeals court because Karen Capato unsuccessfully argued that her children should have been considered citizens of New Jersey, which has different inheritance laws from Florida. The twins were conceived in Florida, but Karen Capato moved to New Jersey during the pregnancy.
Ginsburg called Robert Capato's death before he and his wife could provide their children with additional siblings "tragic."
But "the law Congress enacted calls for resolution of Karen Capato's application for child's insurance benefits by reference to state intestacy law," she said. "We cannot replace that reference by creating a uniform federal rule that statute's text scarcely supports."
Interpretation and translation are
different, court says
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court says interpretation and translation are not the same thing when it comes to paying fees associated with federal civil lawsuits.
The high court ruled Monday that Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd. did not deserve to get $5,517.20 in compensation for interpreters for fighting off a lawsuit from a Japanese professional baseball player.
The company argued that translating written documents was the same as "compensation of interpreters," which can be charged to losing parties.
The court disagreed. This came in a case where Japanese professional baseball player Kouichi Taniguchi sued a resort owned by Kan Pacific after falling through a wooden deck while in the Northern Mariana Islands. A federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his lawsuit and awarded costs to Kan Pacific.
The opinion was written by Justice Samuel Alito, who noted that justices made the decision available in English. "Anybody who wants to read it in another language will have to pay to have it translated, not interpreted," he joked.
Man can't use parents to avoid deportation
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court says someone brought to the U.S. as a child by legal immigrant parents can't avoid deportation for criminal activities.
The high court on Monday unanimously ruled against Carlos Martinez Gutierrez, who wants to keep from being deported as a criminal immigrant.
Immigrants facing deportation can get an exception if they've been here for at least seven continuous years and have been legally registered as an immigrant for at least five years. The high court, in a decision written by Justice Elena Kagan, agreed with the government position that a person cannot use his parents' qualification under those rules to avoid deportation.
The high court decision overturns an earlier ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Court refuses to hear redistricting challenge in Ill.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court will not hear a challenge to redistricting in Illinois despite complaints from the League of Women Voters of Illinois that the new congressional and legislative lines are unconstitutional.
The high court on Monday turned away the lawsuit that complained the new congressional and legislative maps are unconstitutional because they assign voters to districts based on their political views and voting histories. A federal court threw out the group's lawsuit last year.
New maps are required every 10 years after the census reveals population shifts. Democrats drew them in Illinois because they control the Legislature and governor's office.
The maps force some Republicans into districts where they must run against other incumbents in 2012 and created just one Latino-majority district, although Illinois' Hispanic population is 32.5 percent.
Justices won't reduce student's download fine
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has refused to take up a Boston University student's constitutional challenge to a $675,000 penalty for illegally downloading 30 songs and sharing them on the Internet.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Joel Tenenbaum, of Providence, R.I., who was successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of America for illegally sharing music on peer-to-peer networks. In 2009, a jury ordered Tenenbaum to pay $675,000, or $22,500 for each song he illegally downloaded and shared.
A federal judge called that unconstitutionally excessive, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston reinstated the penalty at the request of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Brothers Records Inc. and other record labels represented by the RIAA.
The judge will have a new opportunity to look at the case and could again order the penalty reduced, using different legal reasoning.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Stephen Breyer did not participate in the high court's consideration of the case.
Published: Wed, May 23, 2012
