Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: constitutionality

constitutionality stories: 23 news summaries

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Local Gun Laws

Challenge to Chicago handgun ban could neuter local gun control measures

Sep 30, 09 11:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court will take up a case that could radically alter legal precedent regarding gun ownership and Second Amendment rights. The case is an appeal brought by Chicago-area gun owners who challenged the city’s ban on handguns. The high court overturned such a ban last year in Washington,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Chicago • US Constitution • Second Amendment • US Supreme Court • constitutionality • handgun • handgun ban • Fourteenth Amendment

 Sudan Woman Tried for Pants 
 Gets Fined, Not Flogged 

Lubna Hussein plans appeal to country's constitutional court

Sep 7, 09 9:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Sudanese woman arrested in July for wearing pants has been fined around $200 but will not receive the 40 lashes once threatened, CNN reports. Lubna Hussein, an erstwhile UN worker who resigned in order to waive immunity and challenge her prosecution, says she will not pay the fine and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Sudan • women's rights • indecency • appeal • pants • constitutionality • verdict • fine • flogging • Lubna Hussein

 Montana May Be 1st 
 to Make Suicide a Right 

If affirmed, state would be first to guarantee right constitutionally

Sep 1, 09 11:15 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Montana Supreme Court tomorrow will take up the issue of—and likely affirm the right to—assisted suicide, the New York Times reports. The case is being brought on behalf of Robert Baxter, who died last year from leukemia after fighting for the right to end his own... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Montana • privacy • assisted suicide • constitution • constitutionality • Montana Supreme Court • Robert Baxter

 Fed Judge Tosses DoMA Suit 


Aug 25, 09 5:52 AM CDT
(Newser) - A federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act yesterday, supporting the Obama administration's claim that a gay couple had not suffered "an injury in fact." The Justice Department filed a brief agreeing with the plaintiffs that DoMA is discriminatory, but said it... More »

MORE ABOUT:
California • Department of Justice • gay marriage • discrimination • constitutionality • Defense of Marriage Act

(Newser) - Massachusetts has challenged the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, saying it interferes with a state's right to define and regulate marriage, the Boston Globe reports. “In enacting DOMA,” the lawsuit reads, “... More »

MORE ABOUT:
gay rights • gay marriage • United States • Massachusetts • lawsuit • constitutionality • Defense of Marriage Act • same-sex couples

(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • legislation • Voting Rights Act • US Supreme Court • constitutionality • opinion • racial discrimination • Section 5

(Newser) - The California state Supreme Court will issue its opinion on gay marriage Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reports. The court will rule on three questions, including two challenges to the constitutionality of Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex nuptials. One challenge comes from gay-rights lawyers who argue that Prop 8 was... More »

MORE ABOUT:
gay rights • gay marriage • Jerry Brown • constitutionality • California Supreme Court • Proposition 8 • Supreme Court justice

 Prop 8 Furor 
 Squeezes Calif. Court 

Groups would move to oust any high court members who overturn gay-marriage ban

Nov 19, 08 9:43 AM CST
(Newser) - California’s moderately conservative Supreme Court faces pressure from both fronts of the gay-marriage battle, the Los Angeles Times reports. Opponents of Proposition 8—including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger—are collecting arguments for why the amendment should be struck down, while supporters have promised to oust judges who rule the other... More »

MORE ABOUT:
gay rights • California • gay marriage • lawsuit • recall • constitutionality • California Supreme Court • constitutional law • Proposition 8

 Korea Backs Monopoly 
 for Blind Masseurs  

Profession will remain reserved for the blind in South Korea

Oct 31, 08 5:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - A South Korean court has upheld a law allowing only blind people to work as masseurs, the AP reports. The profession has been reserved for the blind for almost a century, but a legal battle had raged for years over the constitutionality of the rule. The perceived threat to their... More »

MORE ABOUT:
South Korea • disability • blindness • masseuse • constitutionality • disability rights

S. Korea's
Blind Masseurs Protest Threat
to Livelihood

Government opens profession to sighted

Sep 19, 08 12:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Blind masseurs in South Korea are protesting what they see as the end of a way of life—and their livelihood, CNN reports. Police arrested 26 yesterday who gathered on a bridge and threatened to jump because the government is for the first time allowing sighted people to become licensed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
South Korea • disability • blindness • masseuse • constitutionality • disability rights

 Court Boots Thai PM 
 Over Cooking Show 

Samak forced to resign as protests continue in Bangkok

Sep 9, 08 6:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Thailand's supreme court has ruled that the prime minister and his government must resign, declaring that his participation in a TV cooking show violated the constitution. The unanimous ruling comes as opponents of Samak Sundaravej continue to occupy Government House in Bangkok, reports the AP. While Samak may seek a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Thailand • cooking • Bangkok • constitution • Samak Sundaravej • constitutionality • television personality • People's Alliance for Democracy

 Supremes to Weigh
 On-Air Swearing 

Fox battles the FCC in next big court case

Mar 17, 08 1:11 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court might take up a gavel in one hand and a bar of soap in the other next term, when it considers a case challenging the FCC’s “fleeting utterances” standards, it announced today. The FCC is appealing a lower-court ruling—which arose when Cher dropped an... More »

MORE ABOUT:
television • CBS • FCC • indecency • Janet Jackson • profanity • Fox • wardrobe malfunction • US Supreme Court • constitutionality • swearing

Court Skeptical of Challenge to Lethal Injection

Justices cite low chance of painful death, lack of better option

Jan 7, 08 2:49 PM CST
(Newser) - As the Supreme Court opened its hearing on lethal injection today, justices expressed serious doubts that the method amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, the LA Times reports. Most of the panel, including Chief Justice John Roberts, seemed unconvinced that the three-chemical cocktail results in a painful death, or that... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Antonin Scalia • John Roberts • lethal injection • death row • cruel and unusual punishment • US Supreme Court • barbituates • constitutionality

OPINION

Candidate Paul: Awkward But Authentic

Carlson takes the measure of the Libertarian Republican

Dec 26, 07 4:09 PM CST
(Newser) - Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul speaks tonelessly about such drab subjects as the constitutionality of the Federal Reserve, but people like him anyway, writes Tucker Carlson in the New Republic, perhaps because they see “authenticity.” The no-longer-bow-tied pundit returns from the campaign trail sure about one thing:... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Ron Paul • libertarian • Tucker Carlson • campaign trail • constitutionality • Election 2008

Supreme Court Stops Another Execution

Justices halt lethal injection in Florida to review constitutionality

Nov 15, 07 3:56 PM CST
(Newser) - The Supreme Court today halted the execution of Florida man convicted of killing a child in 1991—another sign the court wants executions halted as it considers the constitutionality of lethal injection. Mark Dean Schwab was scheduled to die at 6 p.m., but he will now wait until the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • Florida • lethal injection • execution • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

Justices Stay Execution, Signaling Moratorium

Lower courts will defer until 2008 review

Oct 31, 07 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court delivered an eleventh-hour stay for a prisoner slated to die by lethal injection last night, giving what the New York Times calls a "nearly indisputable indication" that a majority of justices are willing to block all executions until they rule on a death penalty case next... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • moratorium • Earl Berry • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

A Death Penalty Moratorium?

Not so fast: the Supreme Court is sending mixed messages

Oct 19, 07 9:19 PM CDT
(Newser) - Is there a stay on all US executions? The Supreme Court has recently granted 2 and refused to nix a third, as more inmates challenge lethal injection. “The states are getting the message,” says one expert, while another mentions “moratorium mojo” on his blog. But critics warn... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Antonin Scalia • lethal injection • execution • moratorium • Ralph Baze • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

Texas Executions at Standstill

Case before US Supreme Court used to stay death order

Oct 3, 07 1:44 PM CDT
(Newser) - As the US Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of lethal-injection methods, a Texas appeals court yesterday stayed an execution order scheduled to be carried out tonight—bringing the country's busiest death row to a standstill. The Supreme Court is looking at a case brought by death-row inmates in Kentucky who... More »

MORE ABOUT:
lethal injection • Texas capital punishment • constitutionality

Supreme Court Will Take Up Lethal Injection

Constitutionality at issue; docket also includes voting rights

Sep 25, 07 2:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Supreme Court will take up the constitutionality of lethal injections in what a public defender called one of the most critical death penalty cases “in decades.” The challenge stems from a 2004 suit by two Kentucky inmates on death row who charged that the method constitutes cruel... More »

MORE ABOUT:
death penalty • Kentucky • lethal injection • execution • Indiana • voting rights • death row • anesthetic • photo ID • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

Habeas Corpus Bill Withers
in Senate

Combatants' rights measure lacks enough support to force a vote

Sep 19, 07 3:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - A bill to allow terrorism suspects to challenge indefinite detention faltered in Washington today as only 56 Senate votes could be mustered to cut off debate on the habeas corpus measure. Sixty are needed for bills to move forward for a vote in the upper chamber; supporters said they might... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Congress • terrorism • Senate • Patrick Leahy • habeas corpus • US Supreme Court • constitutionality

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


from our news partners