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High court passes on chance to wrestle with social issuesBy Compiled from Times wires © St. Petersburg Times, published October 3, 2000 WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court began a new term Monday by declining multiple opportunities to tackle controversial social issues like the ones that dominated its last term. Without addressing the matters directly, the justices decided to let lower court rulings stand in cases involving such potentially divisive subjects as the Confederate flag, the federal ban on semiautomatic weapons and race-based admissions in an elementary school. In Florida-related cases, the court: Set aside a ruling that let public school students in Duval County choose a class member to give a prayer or other message at high school graduations. The justices ordered a federal appeals court to restudy the case in light of their decision last June to bar student-led prayers at public high school football games. The justices said such prayers violated the constitutionally required separation of government and religion. Refused to revive a lawsuit accusing past directors of Barnett Banks Inc., now part of Bank of America Corp., of depriving employees of $200-million in stock. The justices, without comment, let stand a lower court's conclusion that the directors were within their rights not to allocate 3.3-million shares to individuals in a Barnett employee stock ownership plan. Refused to order full back pay and promotions for 35 Miami police officers who successfully challenged the race-based promotions of two fellow officers. Rejected an appeal by gunmakers, Navegar of Miami and Penn Arms of Pennsylvania, that challenged Congress' authority to ban the manufacture, sale and possession of semiautomatic assault weapons. Let stand a $50-million award won by the heirs of a South Florida police officer killed in a train derailment in South Carolina nine years ago. The justices, acting without comment, turned away CSX Transportation arguments that a state court's award -- punishing the railroad for not maintaining a track switch -- unduly interfered with interstate commerce. In other cases, the justices: Turned down an appeal by a Kansas boy who was suspended from school for drawing a picture of a Confederate flag in class. The youth contended the three-day suspension violated his free-speech rights, but school officials said he violated a "racial harassment and intimidation" policy adopted after incidents of racial tension at his school. Let the University of California run an experimental elementary school that makes children's race a factor when selecting its students. A lower court said the university has a justifiable reason for considering race and therefore does not violate the rights of children it turns away. Refused to throw out a $5-billion damage award Exxon Mobil Corp. was ordered to pay over the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the nation's worst ever. Exxon Mobil's lawyers urged the justices to throw out the award on grounds of irregularities during jury deliberations. The company still has other appeals pending. Refused to block the marketing of a generic chewing gum to help smokers give up cigarettes. The justices rejected an appeal in which the maker of Nicorette gum said the marketing violated its copyright. Let a company continue selling computer software that lets people run Sony PlayStation games on personal computers. Connectix can sell the software until a lower court rules on Sony's claim of unfair competition. Rejected an appeal by an Indiana married couple who say they were sexually harassed at work by the same supervisor. A lower court ruled that the couple cannot sue under a federal law that bans sex discrimination at work, because someone who harasses people of both sexes is not discriminating on account of sex. Allowed actors George Wendt and John Ratzenberger, who portrayed barflies Norm and Cliff in the Cheers television comedy, to pursue their lawsuit that says two robots stole their act. They are suing Paramount Pictures Corp. and Host International over robots used in airport bars with the Cheers theme. - Information from the Washington Post, Associated Press and Bloomberg News was used in this report.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
