High Court to Hear Challenge to Voting Rights Act

Despite dramatic change in cause of toddler's death

(AP) - The medical examiner changed her opinion on the cause of a toddler's death, but the Supreme Court won't consider giving the man convicted in the child's death a new trial. The high court today refused, without comment, to hear an appeal from Neil Hampton Robbins, convicted in the death of 17-month-old Tristen Skye Rivet, who died on May 12, 1998. At the trial, Dr. Patricia Moore testified that Tristen's death was a homicide caused by asphyxia. But Moore later changed her opinion and said the cause of death was undetermined. More»

They say judge strayed too far from legislature's vision

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court threw out a federal court's draft of a Texas electoral map, saying it strayed too far from the one drawn by the state's Republican legislature. The decision, which was issued by the court as a whole, rather than signed by an individual justice, is a near-term win for Republicans, likely guaranteeing them a friendly 2012 map, Politico reports. More»

Chief scores 2 big 8-1 decisions last week, but Supremes still split

(NEWSER) - John Roberts told the Senate in 2005 that the Supreme Court was too polarized, and as chief justice he promised to encourage harmony between the court's left and right blocs. Last week he delivered, with two 8-1 decisions on the Voting Rights Act and the strip-search of a 13-year-old girl. But as the Los Angeles Times reports, those majorities are all too rare—the court is still splitting many decisions 5-4 along traditional liberal and conservative lines. More»

(NEWSER) - Today’ non-decision by the Supreme Court on Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is actually a stern repudiation, Tom Goldstein writes for SCOTUSblog. Reading between the lines, Goldstein surmises that the court will strike down Section 5 when the next challenge comes if Congress does not significantly alter it in the meantime. The most appealing change would be in the geographical restrictions of the law. More»

(AP) - The Supreme Court ruled narrowly today in a challenge to the Voting Rights Act, exempting a small Texas district from a key provision of the law, but side-stepping the larger constitutional issue. The act requires Southern areas with a history of discrimination to get advance federal approval before changing election procedures. The larger issue of whether the law is still necessary, “is a difficult constitutional question we do not answer today,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote. More»