TODAY IN HISTORY, DECISION IN BUSH V. GORE
December 12, 2016
TODAY IN HISTORY
|On this day, in the year 2000, the Supreme Court reversed a state court decision calling for recounts in Florida’s contested election and GEORGE W. BUSH became the nation’s 43rd president.
COMING FULL CIRCLE
|“It was 16 years ago today that the Supreme Court ended a Florida recount in the presidential election contest between GEORGE W. BUSH and AL GORE. The court’s decision remains debated today and still relevant as recounts wrap up in the 2016 election.” The staff over at Constitution Daily “recounts” the Bush v. Gore decision at a time when recounts have been started and stopped in three different states following this year’s presidential election.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
|The Supreme Court today declined to hear a challenge from a death row inmate who argued that because the state of Ohio botched his first attempt to execute him, trying again would be unconstitutional. JUSTICES ELENA KAGAN and STEPHEN BREYER said they would have granted the appeal to decide the issue.
LETHAL GAPS
|“The arithmetic of capital punishment can seem curious,” writes Adam Liptak with The New York Times. “It takes four votes to put a case on the court’s docket but it takes five to stop an execution. Over the years, in fits and starts, some justices have sought to address this anomaly by casting a ‘courtesy fifth’ vote to stay an execution when four justices thought the case worthy of consideration.” Liptak considers what he calls “the lethal gaps” in how the Supreme Court handles death penalty cases.
REJECTION SECTION
Internet Sales Tax Clash Turned Away by U.S. Supreme Court
BloombergThe justices today turned away an appeal from a retail-industry trade group, letting stand a Colorado law that imposes reporting requirements on internet retailers in an effort to get customers to pay the sales taxes they owe.
Supreme Court declines to hear biologic drug patent fight
Reuters“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case over whether companies that make copycat versions of biologic drugs must wait six months after winning federal approval before bringing them to market.”
Supreme Court denies NFL head injury settlement
Constitution Daily“The Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear complaints that the settlement of a multitude of lawsuits by former pro football players over head injuries did not provide adequately for one of the most serious forms of brain trauma.”
Supreme Court Declines Hank Greenberg's Appeal in New York Civil Fraud Case
The Wall Street Journal“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider an appeal by former American International Group Inc. CEO Maurice ‘Hank’ Greenberg, who was seeking dismissal of a civil fraud case brought a decade ago by the New York attorney general.”
OTHER NEWS
Three Challenges Aim to Give Rights to Fetuses
Bloomberg“The Supreme Court’s abortion cases have never defined fetuses (much less embryos) as human beings with interests. Roe v. Wade held that the word person, as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn.’ That has remained the cornerstone of the constitutional abortion right. Yet over time, the court’s jurisprudence must come to terms with cultural impulses running the other way. For anyone who supports abortion rights, the persistent fetus initiatives are a serious challenge.”