USLegal Reporter

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a Georgia police officer’s actions of running his vehicle into a suspect’s moving car to end a high-speed car chase were reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The suspect, Victor Harris, sued Timothy Scott, a Coweta County sheriff’s deputy, after becoming paralyzed when he lost control of his vehicle.

The Court reversed the Eleventh Circuit’s decision allowing the case to go forward and held that law enforcement can attempt to stop a motorist without fear of civil rights lawsuits, when others may reasonably be at risk of serious physical injury.

The case is Scott v. Harris, 05-1631.

Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070430/D8OR07AG0.html

As a result of the Virginia Tech massacre, Republican Congressman Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania proposed legislation on Wednesday that would permit colleges and universities to release information regarding a student’s mental health to parents or guardians when students are considered to be at risk of carrying out suicide, homicide or physical assault.

The legislation entitled ‘The Mental Health Cooperation Act for Families and Schools’ is designed to help parents become more involved in the mental health treatment process. The law would clarify communications with parents allowed under the existing Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, which allows access to student records upon student consent, in emergency cases and when needed to protect a student’s health. Congressman Murphy believes that the existing Act is too vague.

Source: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070426/D8ONV9E00.html

New Hampshire’s legislature passed a bill today allowing same-sex civil unions to be recognized by the state. The bill now goes to Governor John Lynch, who has indicated he will sign the bill, thereby giving same-sex civil unions the same rights, responsibilities, and obligations as married couples.

The signing of the bill will make New Hampshire the fifth state to legally recognize civil unions, along with Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Three other states appear poised to pass similar legislation. This month, Oregon’s House of Representatives passed a civil union bill, and Washington State’s Senate passed a partnership bill last month. New York’s Governor Eliot Spitzer has also announced his intent to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Source: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/04/new-hampshire-legislature-passes-civil.php

Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich today introduced articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. The articles will now be reviewed by the House Judiciary Committee, who will decide whether to conduct an impeachment inquiry. If the impeachment measure passes through the Judiciary Committee to a House vote, it would then go to the Senate for a trial.

Rep. Kucinich claims that Cheney falsified intelligence in order to dupe Congress and the public into believing war with Iraq was necessary. He also claims Cheney manipulated intelligence about links between Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and al-Qaida, the group responsible for 9/11.

Kucinich will need the support of Democratic leaders for the impeachment to move forward. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has stated that Democratic leaders don’t back impeachment, and are focused instead on stopping the Iraq war.

Source: http://news.findlaw.com/ap/p/621/04-24-2007/ce44000b0be48566.html

A Middlesex County jury on Monday convicted Melanie McGuire on four charges related to the death of her husband, William McGuire. She was found guilty of first degree murder, desecration of a corpse, perjury, and a weapons violation.

William McGuire was killed on April 29, 2004. His body parts were later found in suit cases recovered from the Chesapeake Bay. 

During the trial, prosecutors argued that Melanie McGuire, who was a nurse, had planned her husband’s murder because she was having an affair with her boss, who ran a fertility clinic and wanted to be with him. The defense had suggested that William McGuire had a gambling problem and may have been killed by a creditor.

McGuire will be sentenced on July 13th. She faces 30 years to life in prison.

Source: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20070424_Nurse_convicted_of_killing_husband.html

A federal appeals court ruled last Thursday Thursday that Arizona can enforce its voter identification law while a non-profit organization challenges the law in federal court. The law requires first time voters to submit proof of citizenship and all voters to present government-issued identification when casting a ballot in person at the polls. The identification must be either a government-issued photo ID or two other pieces of specified non-photo identification. The law also addresses illegal immigrants’ ineligibility to obtain certain government services and benefits. 

Arizona approved the law, entitled Proposition 200, in 2004, in an effort to prevent voter fraud by non-citizens. Opponents of the law claim that it disenfranchises particular voters, including minority, immigrant and elderly persons and establishes an unconstitutional poll tax upon persons required to buy photo ID cards. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth District held that the law does not clearly place a severe burden on the right to vote or a disproportionate burden on naturalized citizens, does not violate a federal voter registration law or constitute a poll tax.

Source: http://www.lawinfo.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/News.story/msgID/74699468-2CE1-4318-A321-AA3A79C2C688

Washington State Governor Chris Gregoire on Wednesday signed legislation opposing the REAL ID ACT. The bill prohibits state spending on implementation of the Act, unless the federal government addresses privacy and security concerns, unreasonable costs and record-keeping burdens that stem from implementation of the Act. Under the legislation, the state attorney general would also be allowed to challenge the Act’s constitutionality with the governor’s approval. Four other states, including Maine, Arkansas, Idaho and Montana have passed and more than 20 other states are considering similar measures.

The REAL ID Act, which was drafted after 9/11 and passed in 2005 as part of an emergency supplemental appropriations defense spending bill, calls for federal identification requirements as a way to discourage illegal immigration. The Act strives to prevent terrorists from fraudulently obtaining driver’s licenses and other government identification, as well as boarding airplanes and entering federal government buildings. Under the law, states would be required to develop a new driver’s license and personal identification card containing identifying information that is stored in a national database. States would then be required to obtain birth certificates and proof of citizenship and state residency from applicants and check such documents against the database prior to issuing the driver’s licenses or government IDs. The Department of Homeland Security recently extended the original compliance deadline of May 2008 by 18 months in response to concern and opposition by states.

See: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2007/04/19/montana/000agov.prt

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2007/04/washington-governor-signs-legislation.php

Cook County on Wednesday agreed to pay $950,000 to settle a lawsuit involving a female inmate who died in jail. In 2002, Marie O’Donnell-Smith was arrested for shoplifting and placed in a cell. O’Donnell-Smith was also a recovering heroin addict and she collapsed to the floor allegedly complaining of health trouble. She was reportedly given a drug “cocktail” and returned to her cell. She was found dead the next morning.

A doctor hired by the plaintiffs testified that O’Donnell-Smith would not have died if she had received proper medical treatment. He stated that the heroin withdrawl likely caused an irregular heart arrhythmia, which caused her heart to stop.

The Cook County Sheriff’s office had previously agreed to pay $50,000 the plaintiff’s family.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/north/chi-0704181004apr19,1,4616172.story?coll=chi-newslocalnorth-hed

 

In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court today upheld a federal ban on a medical procedure which has come to be known as a partial-birth abortion. In 2003, Congress passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. The Act prohibits a procedure in which a physician delivers a live fetus only to perform an overt act to end the life of the fetus.

Writing for the majority, Justice Kennedy said, “Respondents have not demonstrated that the Act, as a facial matter, is void for vagueness or that it imposes and undo burden on a woman’s right to abortion based on its overbreath or a lack of health exception.”

Writing for the dissent, Justice Ginsburg said, “Today’s decision is alarming… It tolerates, indeed applauds federal intervention to ban a nationwide procedure found neccesary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. It blurs the line firmly drawn in Casey, between previability and postviability abortions. And for the first time since Roe, the court blesses a prohibition with no exception safeguarding a woman’s health.

Any physician who performs a partial-birth abortion now faces fines and imprisonment of up to two years.

The case is Gonzales v. Carhart, 05-380.

Source: http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/06pdf/05-380.pdf 

 

Following mediation, a settlement has been reached between the City of Round Rock, Texas, the Round Rock School District, and high school students who were issued citations for leaving school to participate in an immigration protest. Students from Stony Point and Round Rock high schools held marches in March 2006 to rally against immigration legislation which had been introduced in Congress.

The students and their families previously filed a federal lawsuit claiming that their civil rights to free speech and to assemble were violated when police officers issued 209 citations for curfew violation or class disruption. Fifty-two of the curfew cases were previously dismissed, and the students pled guilty or no contest in 103 of the curfew or disruption cases. Juries heard two cases, issuing a not-guilty verdict in one and a guilty verdict in another. Of the cases remaining prior to settlement, 40 were pending with not-guilty pleas. The settlement reached on April 12, 2007 applies to the 70 students included in the lawsuit, and officials believe that there are no more open cases. 

As part of the settlement, the city has agreed to drop charges against the students, pay legal fees and remove reference to the incident from the students’ records. The students have agreed to attend a civics education seminar. City officials claim the settlement was entered into in an effort to save the time and expense of a federal lawsuit.

Source: http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/14/14settlement.html