TERRORISM VICTIMS NOT GETTING THEIR PAY DAY | SCOTUS Sides With Police Again | Will Kennedy Stay Or Will He Go? That Is The Question.
April 2, 2018
SCOTUS LETS PLA OFF THE HOOK
|The Supreme Court decided today to let stand a lower court decision that said the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Liberation Organization don’t have to pay $656 million in damages to eleven American families who were victims of six bombing and shooting attacks in Israel. The families had invoked the federal Anti-Terrorism Act which gives any American injured by an act of terrorism the right to sue for damages. The Trump administration had weighed in to say the appeal didn’t warrant Supreme Court review, with THEODORE OLSON on the other side representing the families and calling the administration’s position “astonishing.” Olson argued that the lower court decision eviscerated a critical component of American anti-terrorism policy.
DON'T SHOOT
|Justices today sided with an Arizona police officer, shielding her from being sued for shooting a woman in her front yard. It’s yet another decision from justices that makes it harder to bring legal action against officers who use excessive force, even against an innocent person.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
|The Supreme Court ruled today that car dealerships’ service advisers, such as car salesmen and mechanics, are exempt under federal law from overtime pay requirements. The justices were split 5-4 in a case that decided service advisers are salespeople, which stands to affect more than 18,000 car dealerships nationwide. In question was the definition of a “salesman” in order to determine if certain dealership employees needed to be paid overtime. JUSTICE CLARENCE THOMAS wrote in a majority opinion that the “ordinary meaning of ‘salesman’ is someone who sells goods or services” and that service advisers “do precisely that.” In a dissent, JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG wrote that because service advisers “neither sell nor repair automobiles” they should not be exempt from overtime payments.
PLAYING DETECTIVE
|Justices declined today to take up appeals from abortion opponents over undercover videos they filmed at meetings with abortion providers. The opponents were hoping to expose alleged illegal sales of aborted fetal tissue for profit. However, the trial judge in the case concluded there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by the abortion providers captured in the videos.
SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
|CNN’s Ariane de Vogue reports on renewed rumors of a JUSTICE KENNEDY retirement. She notes, “As retirement speculation ramps up again, court watchers wonder what went into his calculation for staying on the bench last term – and if anything’s changed since.”
HERE COMES THE BIG ONE
|“No case on the docket this year is likely to be more important than Trump v. Hawaii, which involves the legality of PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S travel ban. The case will be heard on the last day of arguments for the term, Wednesday, April 25.” Erwin Chemerinsky previews one of the biggest case of the term in the ABA Journal.