Court Rulings

On summer nights in the mid-1960s, while black-and-white television crackled elsewhere in his Staten Island home with news of Southern violence and Vietnam, Bobby Lasnik would stretch out in his bedroom to let the righteous soundtrack of the civil rights movement waft into his impressionable teenage soul. Tuned in to WBAI-FM, coming across the water from Manhattan, he heard baleful laments about injustice that he would carry with him for a lifetime. "Suddenly there was someone speaking a certain kind of truth to you. You'd say, 'Wow!

WASHINGTON - A widow who conceived a baby from the sperm of her late husband is not automatically entitled to Social Security survivors benefits to help raise the child, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. The 9-0 decision rejected the claim that a biological child of a married couple, even one born years after the father died, always qualifies as his survivor under the Social Security Act. Instead, the justices upheld the government's multi-part definition of who deserves survivors benefits.

Until last month, the strongest evidence in drug and drunk driving cases in courtrooms across the nation often was a piece of paper. A crime lab or Breathalyzer report would confirm that the defendant indeed had illegal drugs or a high level of alcohol in his or her system. But a Supreme Court decision has sent a jolt through that procedure. Now the prosecution must make a lab technician available to testify in person if the defendant demands it.

Reacting to Eric J. Segall's Op-Ed article on Tuesday warning of a gay rights backlash if theU.S. Supreme Court overturns Proposition 8, reader Sara Wan of Malibu wrote: "It is wrong to suggest that pushing for civil liberties should be left to Congress and not include the judicial system. As long as discrimination is legal, it is harder to fight it. "Segall's analogy to past laws banning interracial marriage is incorrect. While there was not a specific push to legalize interracial marriage, the 1967 Supreme Court decision was the direct result of the civil rights movement.

One morning in May 2008, an eighth-grader walked into Janice Hart's office at a Beverly Hills school crying. She was upset and humiliated and couldn't possibly go to class, the girl told the counselor. The night before, a classmate had posted a video on YouTube with a group of other eighth-graders bad-mouthing her, calling her "spoiled," a "brat" and a "slut." Text and instant messages had been flying since. Half the class must have seen it by now, she told Hart. Hart took the problem to the vice principal and principal, who took it to a district administrator, who asked the district's lawyers what they could do about it. In the end, citing "cyber-bullying" concerns, school officials suspended the girl who posted the video for two days.

A ballot measure proposing to change the way California secretary of state campaigns are financed cannot be described by opponents in the voter manual as a move that will "raise your taxes" -- because for the general public, it won't, a Sacramento judge ruled Monday. Settling a challenge to the measure's description at the eleventh hour -- the voter guide printing deadline was 5 p.m. Monday -- Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley struck the wording from the argument against Proposition 15. Major lobbying groups filed suit against the measure last year, contending that the plan to collect a $350 annual fee from lobbyists and their employers to finance the 2014 and 2018 campaigns for secretary of state would constitute a new tax. In arguments against the measure to be included in the voter guide, the opponents mentioned its potential effect on taxes and taxpayers 23 times.

A Superior Court judge Wednesday approved a preliminary injunction against two street gangs accused of terrorizing and intimidating residents in the Harbor City area. Under the temporary order approved by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James L. Wright in Long Beach, 32 alleged members of the Harbor City Crips and another Harbor City gang are barred from associating in public with their reputed cohorts.

Robert Blake's 35-year-old daughter won temporary guardianship Thursday of her baby half sister Rose, the child born of the actor and the woman he is accused of murdering. Delinah Blake pumped her fist and mouthed "Yes!" at the end of a brief hearing in a downtown Los Angeles courthouse, at which Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner H. Ronald Hauptman pronounced Rose Lenore Sophia Blake hers, at least for now.

An Internet blogger nicknamed Minerva was acquitted by a Seoul court Monday on charges that he spread malicious rumors about the South Korean economy that cost the government billions of dollars. Park Dae-sung was released after the court's ruling that he did not violate telecommunications laws with his popular weblogs, which regularly pontificated on South Korea's ailing economy, castigated policymakers and forecast dire scenarios that many investors took to heart.

Razor USA persuaded a federal judge for now to bar more than a dozen competitors in the kick-scooter market from selling what could be the most popular toy this holiday season. U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real in Los Angeles issued a temporary restraining order that prevents companies such as Gen-X Sports Inc. and K2 Inc. from selling their brand of scooters between now and Dec. 4.

WASHINGTON -- Advocacy groups spending millions of dollars in the 2012 campaign are now faced with the prospect of having to reveal the donors who have been secretly financing their efforts after a federal appellate court panel refused to block a lower court order requiring the move. In a 2 to 1 decision issued Monday evening, a U.S. Court of Appeals panel in Washington declined to stay a ruling by a federal judge requiring organizations that run election-related television ads to disclose their donors.

Moving swiftly after a judge dismissed his case Thursday morning, Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley six hours later refiled 24 perjury and voter fraud charges against Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon. The new charges, which accuse the Alarcons of lying about living in a house in Panorama City so that the councilman could run for his 7th District seat, mirror the allegations in the grand jury indictment thrown out by Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy, who was ruling on a defense motion.

A UC Berkeley law professor who helped the Bush administration create policies to justify harsh interrogation techniques and prolonged detention may not be sued by an American citizen detained under those conditions, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested in 2002 and declared an "enemy combatant," may not hold professor John Yoo liable for "gross physical and psychological abuse" that Padilla said he suffered during more than three years of military detention.

WASHINGTON - Ten months into his term as Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney was abruptly confronted with an emotionally charged issue: The state's highest court ruled that gays had the legal right to marry, thrusting the state into the forefront of the same-sex marriage debate. Romney, now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, faced one of the biggest challenges of his four years in office. His response would alienate constituencies on both sides and contribute to criticisms that he shifted positions for political gain, a charge renewed in his two bids for the White House.

A state appeals court Tuesday put the brakes on part of the criminal case against two top Bell officials in a dispute over whether the Los Angeles County district attorney should be allowed to prosecute the case. What exactly the decision from the 2nd District Court of Appeal means, though, was disputed by attorneys for the defense and the prosecution. A star player in this drama is Randy Adams, Bell's highly paid former police chief, who has not been charged. Among the allegations faced by Robert Rizzo, Bell's former chief administrative officer, and Angela Spaccia, Rizzo's second in command, is that they hid Adams' $457,000 annual paycheck by dividing it into two contracts.

The ongoing legal battle surrounding Fisk University's Stieglitz art collection took a significant step toward a conclusion Monday when the Tennessee Supreme Court rejected an attempt to keep the artwork from moving out of Nashville. Fisk University has been trying to sell a 50% stake in the prized art collection to the Crystal Bridges Museum, founded by Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton. The university has been experiencing financial difficulties and sought the sale to help it stay afloat.

The Supreme Court put a new limit on police searches of cars Tuesday, saying that "countless individuals guilty of nothing more serious than a traffic violation" have had their vehicles searched in violation of their rights. In a 5-4 decision, the justices set aside a 1981 opinion that had given police broad authority to search cars whenever they made an arrest.

The California Supreme Court revived a major class action lawsuit against the tobacco industry Monday, ruling that smokers could hold it accountable for alleged deceptive advertising. After years of consumer cases meeting their demise in lower courts, the state high court's 4-3 decision helped resuscitate a key consumer law that voters sharply limited in 2004 in the wake of lawsuit scandals. Justice Carlos R.

The Obama administration's consumer financial watchdog wants to undo a limit on some upfront fees on credit cards, prompting criticism that it could hurt borrowers with poor credit. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is backing away from restrictions on what the industry calls fee-harvester cards. Issuers of these cards make such customers pay a large fee before they can receive cards with very low credit lines. The agency indicated that its decision stemmed from a court ruling saying the fee cap appeared to be barred by "plain and unambiguous" language in the applicable law. Lobbyists and the public have until June 11 to file comments or objections before a final decision is made.

California employers must make it possible for workers to take scheduled breaks but cannot be held liable if employees decide to work instead of rest, the California Supreme Court decided Thursday. The state high court ruling came amid a proliferation of lawsuits brought by California workers against a wide range of employers, particularly in the restaurant industry, that had sparked anxiety among business owners. Tens of thousands of workers have contended that companies evade state labor law requirements by making it impossible to take scheduled breaks.