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Argentina asks top US Court to stop 'catastrophe'
Court News |
2014/02/20 15:05
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Argentina filed a long-shot appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday asking the justices in Washington to avert an "economic catastrophe" by overturning lower court rulings that could force the South American government to default on billions of dollars in debts.
Making Argentina pay cash in full to investors who didn't accept bond swaps in exchange for defaulted debt could destabilize the global economy by making other voluntary debt restructurings "substantially more difficult, if not impossible," the petition said.
"Full payment of the holdouts would cut Argentina's reserves approximately in half, an unimaginable result for any nation," Argentina's lawyers argued. "Any sovereign would protest if a foreign court issued an extraterritorial order threatening its creditors and citizens and coercing it into turning over billions of dollars from its immune reserves."
By ignoring the federal sovereign immunity law that normally protects other countries' assets from seizure outside the United States, the lower court decisions also could make U.S. assets overseas vulnerable to similar seizures by other governments, the petition said.
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Fight over gay marriage moving to federal courts
Court News |
2014/02/20 15:05
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The overturning of Virginia’s gay marriage ban places the legal fight over same-sex unions increasingly in the hands of federal appeals courts shaped by President Barack Obama’s two election victories.
It’s no accident that Virginia has become a key testing ground for federal judges’ willingness to embrace same-sex marriage after last year’s strongly worded pro-gay rights ruling by the Supreme Court. Judges appointed by Democratic presidents have a 10-5 edge over Republicans on the Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, formerly among the nation’s most conservative appeals courts.
Nationally, three other federal appeals courts will soon take up the right of same-sex couples to marry, too, in Ohio, Colorado and California. The San Francisco-based 9th circuit is dominated by judges appointed by Democratic presidents. The Denver-based court, home of the 10th circuit, has shifted from a Republican advantage to an even split between the parties, while the 6th circuit, based in Cincinnati, remains relatively unchanged in favor of Republicans during Obama’s tenure.
U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen’s ruling Thursday, that same-sex couples in Virginia have the same constitutional right to marry as heterosexuals, represented the strongest advance in the South for advocates of gay marriage. She put her own ruling on hold while it is being appealed. |
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Ousted Egypt leader's lawyers protest court cage
Legal Line News |
2014/02/17 16:56
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Lawyers for Egypt's ousted president and his co-defendants walked out of court on Sunday to protest the soundproof glass cage in which defendants are held during proceedings, state TV reported.
It said judge Shaaban el-Shamy ordered a recess after the lawyers left the hearing, the first in a case in which Morsi and 35 others are facing charges of conspiring with foreign groups and undermining national security.
El-Shamy, who later ordered the trial adjourned until Feb. 23, was quoted by the private CBC TV network as telling the lawyers that the trial would proceed without them. It also reported that Morsi shouted at the start of the trial that he could not hear the proceedings.
El-Shamy sent technicians to inspect the cage to verify Morsi's claim, CBC said. The judge then ordered the volume raised to allow Morsi to better hear. The defense lawyers remained unsatisfied and walked out.
The cage was introduced after Morsi and his co-defendants interrupted the proceedings of other court cases by talking over the judge and chanting slogans. The cage is fitted to give the judge sole control over whether the defendants can be heard or not when speaking.
Morsi was ousted by the military following millions-strong protests demanding his step down after just one year in power. He, together with leaders of his Muslim Brotherhood, now face a multitude of trials on a range of charges, some of which carry the death penalty. |
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Jacksonville man guilty of lesser counts in music shooting
Law Firm Press |
2014/02/17 16:55
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A 47-year-old software developer was convicted Saturday of attempted murder for shooting into a carful of teenagers after an argument over what he called their “thug music,” but jurors couldn’t agree on the most serious charge of first-degree murder.
After more than 30 hours of jury deliberations over four days, a mistrial was declared on the murder charge that Michael Dunn faced in the fatal shooting of one of the black teens. The 12 jurors found him guilty of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and a count of firing into an occupied car.
Dunn was charged with fatally shooting 17-year-old Jordan Davis, of Marietta , Ga. , in 2012 after the argument over loud music coming from the SUV occupied by Davis and three friends outside a Jacksonville convenience store. Dunn, who is white, had described the music to his fiancee as “thug music.”
Dunn showed no emotion as the verdicts were read. Each attempted second-degree murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while the fourth charge he was convicted on carries a maximum of 15. A sentencing date will be set at a hearing next month. |
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