Supreme Court Developments on Monday
http://tinyurl.com/6hj9mBy The Associated Press
In developments Monday at the Supreme Court, the court:
_Rejected an appeal by four men who challenged Florida's ban on adoption by gay couples, avoiding another contentious fight over gay rights.
_Declined to consider dismissing a lawsuit seeking to hold gun manufacturers responsible for the 1999 shooting of a letter carrier by a white supremacist.
_Set aside a South Carolina ruling granting Robert Lee Nance a new trial. Justices ordered the lower state court to review its decision in light of their ruling in Florida v. Nixon, which held that death row inmates should not automatically get new trials if lawyers made a strategic decision not to pursue a vigorous defense.
_Refused to allow the filing of an appeal on behalf of Connecticut serial killer Michael Ross, scheduled to be put to death Jan. 26, because the court papers did not have Ross' signature. Ross, who would be the first inmate executed in New England in 40 years, has said he does not want to appeal.
_Refused to consider former Rep. James A. Traficant's challenge to his bribery and racketeering conviction.
_Let stand a lower court ruling that allowed Missouri's Ku Klux Klan chapter into the state highway litter cleanup program. The state had not wished to partner with the group because it discriminates based on race.
_Declined to consider the proper standards for allowing individuals to file class-action lawsuits against corporations, in a case accusing six health maintenance organizations of fraud.
_Let stand a lower ruling that allows Florida state prosecutors to pursue charges against two fired America West pilots accused of being drunk in the cockpit.
_Let stand a lower ruling that said the California Public Employees' Retirement System must proceed with its securities fraud lawsuit on behalf of WorldCom Inc. bondholders in federal, rather than state, court.
_Declined to consider whether Pennsylvania officials were wrong to keep Ralph Nader (news - web sites) off the presidential ballot last November.
_Let stand a lower ruling that Major League Baseball must rehire nine umpires with back pay following a 1999 mass resignation. Another portion of the ruling said the Major League did not have to rehire 10 other umpires.
_Said it would not speed up a decision on whether to consider a challenge to President Bush (news - web sites)'s authority to name William Pryor to a federal appeals court while the Senate was on a holiday break.
_Asked for the Bush administration's views in a case that questions whether the state of Utah can keep thousands of tons of radioactive waste out of the state, or if the federal government has exclusive control over the transportation and storage of nuclear waste.
_Rejected an appeal from a Norfolk, Va., gun dealer, Bob's Gun & Tackle Shop, over a federal agency's authority to demand information about transactions involving used firearms.
_Refused to consider a challenge to an ordinance that requires employers that do business with the city of Berkeley, Calif., to pay workers a so-called living wage.
_Let stand a lower ruling granting a new trial for John Rodney McRae, who was convicted of murdering 15-year-old Randy Laufer of Michigan in a 1987 stabbing.
_Declined to hear Pennsylvania's challenge to a lower ruling giving death row inmate Donald Hardcastle a second chance to seek a new trial.
_Rejected an appeal from Indian tribes in Milwaukee who sought to acquire a western Wisconsin dog track and turn it into a casino. Former Gov. Scott McCallum vetoed the idea in 2001 because he opposed any expansion of gambling.
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