In a friend-of-the-court brief, the VFW, American Legion and other veterans groups said the 9th Circuit's ruling, if allowed to stand, could trigger legal challenges to the display of crosses at Arlington National Cemetery and elsewhere.
The court said it had voted to hear the case, now relabeled Salazar vs. Buono. Arguments will be heard in October, and Obama administration lawyers will be in charge of defending the presence of the cross.
Monday saw the return of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She had surgery for pancreatic cancer on Feb. 5, but as promised, she was back on the bench when the court resumed hearing oral arguments. Lab tests said her cancer was in a very early stage and had not spread.
Honest services
Also Monday, the court refused to hear a challenge to the law against honest services fraud, despite a strong dissent by Justice Antonin Scalia.
Three former aides to Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley had appealed their convictions for conspiring to steer city jobs to campaign workers. They questioned whether this was a federal crime. They were not accused of taking bribes or kickbacks, but were found guilty of depriving the city's taxpayers of honest services.
Scalia said this expansive phrase invites abuse by headline-grabbing prosecutors. Carried to its logical conclusion, he said, it would seemingly cover a salaried employee's phoning in sick to go to a ballgame.
Normally, fraud involves a scheme to cheat someone of money or property. Twenty years ago, Congress expanded the anti-fraud law to include schemes involving the intangible right of honest services. Since then, the law has been used against public officials, corporate executives and union leaders who violate a duty of trust.
Federal prosecutors have considered charging Cardinal Roger Mahony with honest services fraud because of the scandal involving priests who abused minors, The Times has reported. Legal experts have said that would be an unorthodox use of the law. The archdiocese said its attorneys have been told that Mahony is not the target of a federal probe.
Immigration case
Meanwhile, the court also agreed to hear the case of a Vietnam veteran who faces deportation because of bad advice from his lawyer. Jose Padilla, a legal permanent resident but not a U.S. citizen, was told he could plead guilty to marijuana trafficking without an effect on his immigration status. In fact, the law now requires deportation for non-citizens who are guilty of an aggravated felony, including drug trafficking.
Padilla tried to revoke his plea when he learned of the mistake, but the Kentucky courts said nothing could be done. The Supreme Court said it would hear his appeal and decide whether a lawyer's mistake calls for setting aside a guilty plea. The case is Padilla vs. Kentucky.
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david.savage@latimes.com
