Mark Sherman

March 23, 2010 | National Law Journal

The Supreme Court agreed to consider a curious corner of immigration law that applies to children born outside the U.S. to one parent who is American and one who is not. Ruben Flores-Villar argues the law unfairly discriminates on the basis of gender, saying the fact that his father is an American and his mother is not complicated his attempts to acquire citizenship and avoid criminal charges for being in the country illegally. The law makes it easier for children whose mothers are citizens to become citizens themselves.

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read

June 10, 2011 | Law.com

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is not the sort who leaves people wondering what he really thinks, especially when it comes to members of Congress. In two opinions Thursday, Scalia disparaged lawmakers as sleepy and lazy. (No word on whether he also called them sneezy or grumpy.) Related story: For more details on Scalia's writings, see Tony Mauro's "Courtside" piece: Dissenting Scalia in rare form (Paid access)

By Mark Sherman

2 minute read

October 02, 2007 | Law.com

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

May 12, 2008 | Law.com

The Supreme Court said May 12 that it cannot intervene in an important dispute over the rights of apartheid victims to sue U.S. corporations in U.S. courts because four of the nine justices had to sit out the case over apparent conflicts. The result is that a lawsuit accusing some prominent companies of violating international law by assisting South Africa's former apartheid government will go forward.

By Mark Sherman

2 minute read

October 11, 2006 | National Law Journal

The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider whether W.R. Grace & Co. must pay $54 million to clean up asbestos in a Montana mining town. The case pits Grace, which operated a vermiculite mine for 27 years, against the EPA, which oversees the federal Superfund program for the nation's worst hazardous waste sites. Grace said other appeals courts ruled that companies can't be forced to pay the cost of cleaning a polluted site without being allowed to challenge whether the cleanup was necessary.

By Mark Sherman

2 minute read

October 18, 2005 | Law.com

Serono Laboratories, the Swiss manufacturer of the AIDS treatment drug Serostim, will pay more than $700 million to settle allegations that it offered kickbacks to doctors to write prescriptions to boost sagging sales, officials said Monday. The settlement is the second largest for prescription drug fraud, according to a spokesman for Taxpayers Against Fraud, and is the latest in a series of whistleblower claims that have resulted in more than $3 billion in payments from drug companies in recent years.

By Mark Sherman

2 minute read

December 05, 2007 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Bush administration argued in the Supreme Court on Wednesday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have sufficient opportunities to challenge their confinement, the third round of high court review of the detentions.

By MARK SHERMAN

4 minute read

August 06, 2007 | Law.com

Two Supreme Court justices have had cancer. Another has a stent to keep an artery open. Now the chief justice has suffered his second unexplained seizure in 14 years. The justices themselves decide whether and how to continue their work in the midst of health problems, but the disclosure of Chief Justice John Roberts' seizure last week called attention to a thorny issue -- protecting the justices' privacy and especially news about their health.

By Mark Sherman

5 minute read

August 10, 2008 | The Legal Intelligencer

By MARK SHERMAN

3 minute read

June 28, 2007 | Law.com

By Mark Sherman

3 minute read