|
|
 |
 |
| Sunday, 6 October 2002 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
US Supreme Court to open new term facing big cases WASHINGTON, (Reuters) The U.S. Supreme Court begins a new term on Monday, expected to confront controversial issues including the government's anti-terror efforts after the Sept. 11 attacks, campaign finance reform and affirmative action. After the summer recess, the nine justices return to the bench for a 2002-2003 term that already features such cases as a tough "three-strikes" law for repeat criminals and the "Megan's Law" publicizing names of convicted sex offenders. An issue likely to dominate headlines is a pending request by New Jersey Republicans to keep Democrats from putting a new senatorial candidate on the Nov. 5 ballot, a case reminiscent of one in 2000 over Florida votes in which the court effectively gave the presidency to Republican George W. Bush. The high court has not said whether it will accept the New Jersey case, which could decide whether the Republicans or Democrats will control the U.S. Senate. "It has the potential to be the most exciting and interesting term in decades," said Thomas Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who closely follows the court. The justices also have on their docket cases on whether a Virginia law outlawing cross burning violates free-speech rights, anti-abortion tactics and states' ability to force drug makers to lower prescription prices for the uninsured. Legal experts said some of the most important issues have either reached or will soon reach the court, including ones on secret detentions after the hijacked plane attacks last year that killed about 3,000 people. 'ASTONISHING TERM' "It's already very interesting, but its about to become an astonishing term to be remembered for a long time," Goldstein said referring to the cases the court will likely consider. Goldstein said other cases the court could decide to take up include a challenge to a Texas anti-sodomy law that makes it a crime for gays or lesbians to have consensual sex in their own homes and a federal law requiring libraries to filter the Internet for material harmful to minors. One of the most closely watched cases involves affirmative action and the role race may play in university admissions. The court last addressed the issue with a landmark 1978 ruling striking down a university's admission program that used racial quotas, but said schools could still consider race in admissions decisions. A white woman who claims she was denied admission to the University of Michigan law school because of her race is asking the justices to hear her case. "That's the case to watch," University of Virginia law professor A.E. Dick Howard said, "It will test the soul of the present court." The U.S. Justice Department has said it will appeal a ruling by a federal appeals court in August opening up secret immigration hearings for those detained after the Sept. 11 attacks. "This is a very momentous year for civil liberties in America," said American University law professor Herman Schwartz. SECRET DETENTIONS He said the Supreme Court will eventually have to decide how the U.S. government handles the detentions. While predicting the court would give the government some leeway in its "anti-terror" detentions, Schwartz said the justices would not accept the government's position that courts lack the authority to review such actions. Legal experts said they do not expect any retirements, assuming the justices remain in good health, at least until the end of the term in June. The nine jurists have been together since 1994, the longest period of stability on the court since the 1820s. Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Anthony Kennedy, both named to the bench in the 1980s by Republican President Ronald Reagan, have emerged as two moderate conservatives who often determine the outcome of cases, the experts said. The court's far-right wing consists of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, elevated to his current post by Reagan in 1986, and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, both named by Republican presidents, the experts said. The court's most liberal members are Justices John Paul Stevens and David Souter, both named by Republican presidents, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, the only members of the court named by a Democratic president.. |
|
News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security Produced by Lake House |
