Mark Sherman

June 01, 2011 | Daily Report Online

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito took part in a case over curse words on television involving ABC Inc. and other networks even though he owned stock in ABC's parent, Walt Disney Co., at the time.Alito said Tuesday that he owned around $2,000 in Disney stock when the court heard the case FCC v. Fox Television Stations in late 2008.

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read

February 12, 2010 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - A woman serving a 27-year prison term for a crack cocaine conspiracy is asking President Barack Obama to use his power of forgiveness for the first time since taking office to commute her sentence.Two federal judges have called the prison term for Hamedah Hasan, formerly known as Stephanie Lomax, excessive and would have imposed a 12-year sentence.

By MARK SHERMAN

3 minute read

October 02, 2007 | National Law Journal

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to enter a dispute over whether some religious organizations can be forced to pay for workers' birth-control health insurance benefits, letting stand a ruling upholding a New York law that forces religious-based social service agencies to subsidize contraceptives as part of prescription drug coverage. Religious groups argued the law violates their First Amendment rights because it forces them to violate religious teachings that regard contraception as sinful.

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read

April 18, 2012 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Wednesday that organizations may not be sued for claims they aided in torture or killings abroad under a law aimed at helping torture victims.Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the court's opinion dismissing the lawsuit filed by the family of an American who died in the custody of Palestinian intelligence officers in Jericho in 1995.

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read

October 22, 2007 | National Law Journal

Justice Samuel Alito says he doubts the public is clamoring for Supreme Court sessions to be televised. "I am concerned that if our arguments were televised we'd be competing neck and neck with Congress ... for the lowest ratings that have ever been recorded by the Nielsen system," Alito said Friday in an often humorous speech at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics conference on the need for major changes to the Constitution.

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read

October 08, 2007 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - To put it bluntly, Texas wants President Bush to get out of the way of the state's plan to execute a Mexican for the brutal killing of two teenage girls.Bush, who presided over 152 executions as governor of Texas, wants to halt the execution of Jose Ernesto Medellin in what has become a confusing test of presidential power that the Supreme Court ultimately will sort out.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read

April 20, 2007 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - Legal efforts to further restrict access to abortion will depend, in the short term, on whether Justice Anthony Kennedy is willing to go along.The majority opinion he wrote upholding the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act offers hope both for those who think the impact of Wednesday's decision will be limited and for those who think it will be profound.

By Mark Sherman

4 minute read

December 08, 2009 | Daily Report Online

WASHINGTON AP - The Supreme Court is considering whether to rein in federal prosecutors' use of a 28-word fraud law that has become a preferred tool in high-profile corporate crime and public corruption cases - and a favorite target of critics.The court is hearing three cases this term, including two Tuesday, in which defendants are challenging the use of the so-called honest services fraud law against them.

By MARK SHERMAN

4 minute read

July 06, 2011 | Daily Report Online

By Mark Sherman and Nedra Pickler

5 minute read

October 09, 2007 | National Law Journal

To put it bluntly, Texas wants President Bush to get out of the way of the state's plan to execute a Mexican for the brutal killing of two teenage girls. Bush wants to enforce a decision by the International Court of Justice that found the convictions of Jose Ernesto Medellin and 50 other Mexican-born prisoners violated their rights to legal help as outlined in the 1963 Vienna Convention. The Supreme Court will hear argument Wednesday in the case, which has become a confusing test of presidential power.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read