High Court Faces Deadlines on Big Cases
By GINA HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Saturday, May 13, 2006
(05-13) 09:42 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Before ending a historic term, the Supreme Court must resolve some potential blockbuster cases involving the president's wartime powers, capital punishment and political boundaries in Texas.
Much attention this term has focused on the two newest justices — John Roberts and Samuel Alito — and on signs of a possible shift to the right on the nine-member court.
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Some headline-grabbing cases are over: a test of Oregon's physician-assisted suicide law, a constitutional challenge to state abortion restrictions and model-reality television star Anna Nicole Smith's fight for a piece of her late husband's estate.
Still to be decided are cases involving President Bush's power to order military trials for suspected foreign terrorists held at the Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and an appeal that will decide when death row inmates should get a new chance to prove their innocence with DNA and other evidence.
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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/13/national/w094220D17.DTL