NOT OVER UNTIL THE FAT LADY SUNG | Why Lie About Voter Fraud? | 21 Forget-Me-Nots
December 6, 2016
UNTIL THE FAT LADY SUNG
|Tech giant Samsung just won big at the court today with justices ruling in its favor in the big-money smartphone patent fight with Apple. The justices ruled 8-0 throwing out a prior ruling that said the South Korean company had to pay a $399 million penalty to its American rival for copying key iPhone designs. The court held that a patent violator does not always have to fork over its entire profits from the sales of products using stolen designs, if the designs covered only certain components and not the whole thing.
INSIDE OUT
|In another unanimous ruling today, the justices found in favor of a Chicago man’s conviction in a decision that could have made it easier to prosecute people accused of profiting from confidential information. The court ruled that people can be sent to prison for making trades even when the insider who provided the tip wasn’t trying to make money – it’s enough for the insider to give the information as a gift to someone to trade on it. This was the first time the Supreme Court ruled on an insider trading case in two decades.
ICYMI
|The Supreme Court yesterday heard a “double-header” with two gerrymandering challenges to Virginia and North Carolina redistricting maps. Bloomberg’s Kimberly Robinson reports, “At issue is whether those states unconstitutionally allowed race to ‘predominate’ during the redistricting process. The justices struggled with the need to provide plaintiffs with flexibility to prove that states unconstitutionally considered race when drawing new voter maps, and the need to provide states with the flexibility to actually draw those maps.”
ED BOARD OVERTURE
|The Editorial Board of The New York Times considers why DONALD TRUMP lies about voting fraud and notes it seems “reality is beside the point.” NYT: “It doesn’t seem to matter to G.O.P. leaders that election officials around the country of both parties have confirmed that there was no fraud on Election Day. What matters to them, as strategists have long known, is that Republicans do better when fewer people vote. Under a Trump administration, anti-voter efforts could become national in scope – through congressional legislation, a hostile Justice Department or a Supreme Court nominee with little regard for voting rights. Undermining the integrity of the electoral process and making it harder to vote is threatening to all Americans, regardless of party.”
FORGET ME NOT
|So we don’t forget the list of 21 folks who could potentially join the Supreme Court, CNN’s Ariane de Vogue reminds us who’s on the list and what they’re known for. It’s a list that she says, “Dazzles conservatives and includes everyone from a tweeting justice who sits on the Texas Supreme Court to an appellate judge in Alabama who has called Roe v. Wade an ‘abomination.'”
OTHER NEWS
Is there a workable way to judge racial gerrymanders?
Constitution Daily“Only one thing was really clear after the Supreme Court spent two hours on Monday trying anew to craft a workable constitutional standard for judging when redistricting maps are based too heavily upon the race of voters. It was that the Justices are growing increasingly frustrated that they have to face repeatedly a renewable of that elusive pursuit. They did not make notable progress on the problem this time, either.”
Justices Uphold Katrina Fraud Verdict Against State Farm
The Associated Press“A unanimous Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a jury verdict that State Farm Fire and Casualty Co. committed fraud against the federal government after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina.”
U.S. Supreme Court to hear case over Advocate Health pensions
Chicago Tribune“The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that examines whether Advocate Health Care must follow a federal law designed to protect employee pensions – or whether its religious affiliation exempts it from that law. It’s a case with implications for a number of religiously affiliated hospital systems in Illinois that have also been brought to court over the issue.”
Ohio's Top Court Says Police Dashcam Video is Public Record
The Associated PressIn a unanimous decision yesterday, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled video footage from police cruiser dashcams is a public record that, with some exceptions, should be promptly released upon request.
Supreme Court must protect immigration detainees
The Hill“It is unreasonable and inhumane to hold people for long periods of time without seeing a judge. The Supreme Court must rule for Rodriguez, and protect the rights of immigration detainees.”