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Court OKs suit over San Francisco jail guard rule
Legal Business |
2014/07/07 14:00
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A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit challenging the San Francisco Sheriff's Department's policy of forbidding male guards to work in the women's jail.
The San Francisco Chronicle says a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday that the policy constituted sex discrimination which the city had failed to demonstrate was absolutely necessary.
The 9th Circuit decision overruled the finding of a federal judge who dismissed the lawsuit after finding that excluding male guards made sense as a way to protect the safety and privacy of female inmates.
The policy was adopted in 2006. The Chronicle says the 35 guards who sued the next year included women who alleged it had increased their work loads and men who said it cost them overtime and possible promotions. |
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Utah's same-sex marriage ban back in court
Legal Business |
2013/12/23 12:04
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A federal judge on Monday is set to consider a request from the state of Utah to block gay weddings that have been taking place since Friday when the state's same-sex marriage ban was overturned.
U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby ruled Utah's law passed violates gay and lesbian couples' rights under the 14th Amendment.
Lawyers for the state want the ruling put on hold as they appeal the decision that has put Utah in the national spotlight because of its long-standing opposition to gay marriage. Shelby will hold a hearing on the request Monday morning.
On Sunday, a federal appeals court rejected the state's emergency request stay the ruling, saying they couldn't rule on a stay since Shelby hasn't acted on the motion before him.
Following Shelby's surprising ruling Friday afternoon, gay and lesbian couples rushed to a county clerk's office in Salt Lake City to get marriage licenses. More than 100 couples wed as others cheered them on in what became an impromptu celebration an office building about three miles from the headquarters of the Mormon church. |
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$15 SeaTac minimum wage challenged in court
Legal Business |
2013/12/16 10:40
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A King County Superior Court judge declined Friday to immediately rule on a challenge to the voter-approved $15 an hour minimum wage requirement for airport workers in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Judge Andrea Darvas said she'll issue a ruling with reasoning after Christmas Day but before January 1. Parties in the case had been expecting a ruling Friday.
The measure is scheduled to go into effect on January 1.
Last month voters in the city of SeaTac narrowly approved the measure, which would require a $15 minimum wage, a handful of paid sick days and other standards to around 6,000 workers at the airport and related industries, like hotels and rental car companies.
However, the legal fight over the measure is not expected to end with Darvas' ruling. An eventual appeal to the state Supreme Court could come from either side, depending on her ruling.
The challenge to the newly approved measure is being led by Alaska Airlines Group and other businesses. They say that an initiative approved by city residents doesn't have power over the airport, which is operated by the Port of Seattle. The Port of Seattle, a public entity, agrees.
Alaska Airlines Group also says state law prohibits initiatives from packaging laws. So they're arguing that the multiple requirements in the measure, such as the minimum wage and paid sick days, constitute packaging multiple laws into one initiative. |
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Court date set for case involving dress code
Legal Business |
2013/06/01 11:07
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A federal judge has set a trial date for a case challenging how three school administrators enforced the dress code at a Sumter County middle school.
The Item of Sumter reports that U.S. District Judge Joseph Anderson has set the trial for March.
In the lawsuit, Charles Smith alleges the enforcement of the dress code at Furman Middle School was arbitrary and caused humiliation for students.
The lawsuit alleges Smith's son was targeted by administrators after Smith started a petition campaign to have the school's principal removed. The lawsuit says the boy, who now attends a private school, was suspended for wearing a jacket with a Columbia logo.
The suit names the principal and two assistants. The district says the dress code enforcement was proper.
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Chicago man pleads guilty in NY hacking case
Legal Business |
2013/05/31 11:06
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A self-described anarchist and "hacktivist" from Chicago pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges he illegally accessed computer systems of law enforcement agencies and government contractors.
"As part of each of these hacks, I took and decimated confidential information stored on computer systems websites used by each of the entities," Jeremy Hammond told a judge in federal court in Manhattan. "For each of these hacks, I knew what I was doing was against the law."
Prosecutors had alleged the cyber-attacks were carried out by Anonymous, the loosely organized worldwide hacking group that stole confidential information, defaced websites and temporarily put some victims out of business. Hammond was caught last year with the help of Hector Xavier Monsegur, a famous hacker known as Sabu who later helped law enforcement infiltrate Anonymous.
A criminal complaint had accused Hammond of pilfering information of more than 850,000 people via his attack on Austin, Texas-based Strategic Forecasting Inc., a publisher of geopolitical information also known as Stratfor. He also was accused of using the credit card numbers of Stratfor clients to make charges of at least $700,000. He allegedly bragged he even snared the personal data of a former U.S. vice president and one-time CIA director. |
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Iowa court official accused of gay marriage fraud
Legal Business |
2012/10/18 17:00
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An Iowa court official is accused of helping a same-sex couple from
Florida to get a marriage certificate without stepping foot in the
state.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says Grundy County Deputy
Clerk of Court Brigitte Van Nice was arrested Wednesday and charged
with two counts of forgery and one count of perjury.
A complaint says Van Nice received an online ordination last year
allowing her to perform weddings. She started talking with two Florida
men who were interested in getting married in Iowa, one of six states
that allow same-sex marriage.
The complaint says Van Nice filed a false document in February
claiming that she officiated their marriage and that two people
witnessed it.
A message left for Van Nice wasn't returned early Thursday.
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High court uphold WV congressional districts
Legal Business |
2012/09/29 11:00
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The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld West Virginia's congressional redistricting plan against a challenge that small population variations among its three congressional districts violate the Constitution.
The justices, in an unsigned opinion, reversed a lower federal court ruling that struck down the plan because of the population differences.
The high court said the West Virginia plan easily passes muster and said the population variations are too small to trigger constitutional concerns about the principle of one person, one vote. In addition, the court said the plan adopted by the West Virginia legislature served other legitimate goals, including keeping counties intact and not pitting incumbents against each other.
"It is clear that West Virginia has carried its burden," the high court said.
The justices had previously blocked the ruling to allow the state to conduct elections under the map approved by state lawmakers.
The lower court still can consider challenges to the plan under the state Constitution.
Both the state House and Senate passed the map with bipartisan and nearly unanimous margins. The difference between the smallest and largest districts was about 4,900 people.
The Jefferson County Commission, encompassing Charles Town and Harpers Ferry, challenged the redrawing, which moved one county from one congressional district to another. |
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