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Court issues partial win to bin Laden assistant
Court Watch News |
2014/07/15 12:33
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A federal appeals court on Monday set aside two of three convictions against a former personal assistant to Osama bin Laden.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the ruling in the case of Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who produced propaganda videos for al-Qaida and assisted with preparations for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist strikes.
A military commission had convicted him of conspiracy to commit war crimes, providing material support for terrorism and soliciting others to commit war crimes. He has been sentenced to life imprisonment.
The appeals court rejected al-Bahlul's challenge to his conspiracy conviction but overturned his material support and solicitation convictions.
The court, in an opinion by Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson, said the government had offered little backup for the notion that a military commission could try defendants on the charges for which the convictions were overturned — material support for terrorism and solicitation to commit war crimes.
On the conspiracy conviction, the appeals court said Congress has positively identified conspiracy as a war crime.
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US Supreme Court lets Equifax tax ruling stand
Court Watch News |
2014/06/30 16:34
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The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't hear an appeal from credit bureau Equifax Inc. involving what it considered an adverse tax ruling in Mississippi.
The appeal was a reaction to a 2013 Mississippi Supreme Court decision that Equifax had to prove that it didn't earn any taxable income in the state. The state Department of Revenue examined Equifax's income and allocated some to Mississippi, ruling it owed taxes and penalties.
The Mississippi court upheld the Revenue Department's calculation of the company's taxes based on revenue earned in Mississippi, thus increasing its tax liability from zero to over $700,000, according to court documents.
The Council on State Taxation, Georgia Chamber of Commerce and The Institute for Professionals had filed "friend of the court" briefs in the case.
Lawmakers responded during the 2014 session by passing a law to change how the state collects taxes.
A key part of the law could make it harder for the state to rule that multistate corporations are paying too little in taxes to Mississippi. It says the Department of Revenue would have to present clear and convincing proof before it could reallocate how a company splits its income among states, and only do so in "limited and unique, nonrecurring circumstances."
The Department of Revenue estimates all changes in the law, including a phase-in of lower interest rates for overdue taxes, will cost Mississippi $100 million a year. |
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Court: No unemployment for teacher who quit early
Court Watch News |
2014/06/13 10:52
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Washington's Supreme Court says a Spanish teacher who tried to do his school district a favor by quitting early -- instead of in the middle of the school year -- was not entitled to unemployment pay.
Robert Campbell taught in University Place for six years before his wife learned she had won a Fulbright grant to study in Finland in 2011. Campbell asked for a leave of absence so he and the couple's 3-year-old daughter could go along, but the district denied it.
So Campbell had two options: He could quit in June 2010, giving the district time to hire someone else before the next school year, or he could quit in the middle of the school year. He chose the former.
The state denied him unemployment benefits, saying that to be eligible in such circumstances, people must stay in their job as long as reasonably possible before following their spouses. The court unanimously upheld the decision. |
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Washington wants pot tax trial in state court
Court Watch News |
2014/06/03 12:01
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The state attorney general's office has asked a federal judge in Seattle to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Washington's authority to tax marijuana sales.
In the motion Friday to U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman, the state says Martin Nickerson failed to appeal the tax assessments in a timely manner and that the issue should be resolved in state court.
The case arises from the state's attempt to collect sales taxes from a medical marijuana dispensary in Bellingham. Attorney Douglas Hiatt, who represents Nickerson, said it could throw a wrench in Washington's plans for collecting taxes on recreational marijuana, too.
The lawsuit challenges Washington state's authority to tax marijuana as long as marijuana remains illegal under federal law. |
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