Cultivated Compendium

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that police are immune from being sued over the shooting of a mentally ill woman in San Francisco, the Associated Press reports. While the shooting victim Teresa Sheehan said the police should have made reasonable accommodations for her under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the court said that it was not taking up that question because it hadn't been fully considered by the lower courts.

The court's decision is here: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/13-1412_0pl1.pdf

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that nonunionized child care providers in Michigan can't form a class with union members to sue over union dues being deducted from their state subsidies, Courthouse News' Lorraine Bailey reports.

Under a collective bargaining agreement, all home child care providers in Michigan who were receiving state subsidies had to become a union member or have a portion of their subsidies deducted to cover union costs (the progam of collective bargaining at issue has since ended). The Sixth Circuit said the proposed class of 40,000 childcare workers was problematic for including any provider--whether they voted to join the union or not.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has ruled that black employees of a Nucor Corp. steel plant can proceed as a class with their claims that their employer violated the Civil Rights Act with discrimination in job promotions, the Daily Labor Report's Lisa Nagele-Piazza reports.

The Fourth Circuit, 2-1, reversed a lower decision to decertify the class action in which the black steelworkers allege that they faced disparate treatment and disparate impact from discrimination in promotions. The lower court had found that the class did not meet the U.S. Supreme Court's heightened standard in Wal-Mart Stores Inc. v. Dukes for whether there are questions of law or fact common to the class.

Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed a bill limiting the use of drones when anyone has a "reasonable expectation of privacy," the Tampa Bay Times' Michael Auslen reports. The law goes into effect July 1.

During the current session of the U.S. Supreme Court, protesters have interrupted oral arguments multiple times, and they have been arrested for it. The Legal Times' Zoe Tillman reports that some of the protesters are arguing that a prohibiting "a 'harangue or oration' or other 'loud' language at the high court violates the First Amendment." In particular, their lawyer is arguing that the law is overbroad and does not advance any compeling governmental interest.
 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled earlier this month that British Petroleum has the right to appeal some damage claims awarded in the aftermath of the Gulf oil spill, Reuters' Jonathan Stempel reports.

The circuit court found that the settlement agreement did not resolve claims itself, but established a mechanism for the trial court to resolve claims. As a result, BP can appeal claim determinations by U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier.

Even though the Supreme Court is going to issue rulings that could affect health care, capital punishment and same-sex marriage in the next few weeks, Pew Research Center's Meredith Dost reports that polling shows many Americans know very little about the highest court in the country. For example, only one-third knew that there are three women on the court and only 28 percent correctly identified Justice Anthony Kennedy as the swing vote.

The New York Times' Andrew Jacobs had an unsettling feature on the Chinese criminal justice system, writing that many convictions in China depend on confessions that are obtained through coercion. Even though President Xi Jinping has made legal reform part of his effort to boost support for the Communist Party and China's highest court have ruled against using evidence obtained through abuse, "Chinese lawyers and human rights advocates say these measures have had limited impact on a police system that for decades has made obtaining a confession the centerpiece of its efforts."

Human Rights Watch found that judges excluded evidence in just 23 cases of 432 in which defendants said they have been abused.

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission has provided guidance on when it chooses in-house judges to preside over securities cases, the Wall Street Journal's Aruna Viswanatha reports. The SEC revealed "it would consider bringing cases before its in-house courts when the alleged misconduct was old or if it presented unsettled legal issues."

The SEC got the ability to bring cases before administrative law judges in the 2010 Dodd-Frank law. The SEC has won 90 percent of those cases.

Defendants are arguing that the SEC's administrative-law process violates their due process rights.

Robert May, the director of a documentary about the corrupt Pennsylvania judges convicted of wrongdoing regarding juvenile crimes, writes in the Washington Post that children should not be shackled when brought into courtrooms if adults are not. He notes the U.S. Supreme Court has consistently "held that shackling adult defendants in handcuffs, leg irons and belly chains should be limited to the most extreme cases. The court, however, has remained silent on restraining juveniles." He notes that mental health experts say that automatic juvenile shackling is inconsistent with the goals of rehabilitation within the juvenile justice system and can do permanent harm to children, especially those who are already traumatized. If defendants accused of murder can be left unshackled in court, then children should be too, May said.