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Clearing the air and waters
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- By the end of this U.S. Supreme Court term, the air won't be any cleaner. The water won't be any clearer. But the law ought to be less murky.
* Environmental and economic interests are also at odds over the Clean Water Act in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Landfill operators just outside of Chicago are competing with migratory birds for the same turf, in this case, waters. The Corps of Engineers asserts jurisdiction over the ponds left by an old strip mine by claiming the birds fall under interstate commerce. Bird watchers and hunters spend over a billion dollars each year in pursuit of migratory birds. The case raises interest in corners you might not expect. Last year, in U.S. v. Morrison, the court struck provisions of the Violence Against Women Act saying gender-motivated crimes of violence are not economic activity. In doing so, it rejected arguments that crimes against women have an impact on commerce because they make women fearful of certain jobs in certain locations. The court could find itself saying that where birds fly has more impact on commerce than where women work. With slightly more than half the court's docket filled for the term, there is no overarching theme, but business will have more than its usual share of interest in the court's decisions. * An opening day case--Eastern Associated Coal Corp. v. United Mine Workers of America--questions whether mandatory arbitration in a labor contract requires an employer to put a union driver who repeatedly tests positive for drugs back at the wheel of a 25-ton truck on a West Virginia highway. "This is the Homer Simpson case," says Tom Goldstein, a Washington attorney who frequently argues before the Supreme Court. "The public likes to feel that, OK, you have protection in arbitration. But we'd still rather you're not running something that could explode and kill me." Other cases involving arbitration in employment and contracts are also on the docket. The Fourth Amendment assurance against "unreasonable searches" will test the justices sense of reason in at least four cases. * Ferguson v. City of Charleston. Is it reasonable for a South Carolina public hospital to turn drug-revealing urine tests of pregnant patients over to police and have the women arrested? * City of Indianapolis v. Edmond. Should drivers expect to be stopped in wholesale numbers at a police roadblock while drug sniffing dogs check their vehicles? * Illinois v. McArthur. Can police prevent a person from entering his residence while they get a warrant to search the premises for drugs? * Atwater v. City of Lago Vista. In the case that strikes fear into the hearts of soccer moms, the court will have to decide if the Fourth Amendment came unbuckled when a Texas cop handcuffed and arrested a woman who undid her seatbelt to retrieve a child's toy in her car. Is it unreasonable to arrest someone for a violation that only carries a fine? None of the justices is unbuckling his or her seatbelt. The same nine justices are sitting together for their seventh term in a stretch of continuity unmatched since the 19th Century. There are loud--and justifiable--claims from both Republicans and Democrats that the Supreme Court is at stake in this year's presidential election. With Justice John Paul Stevens now 80 and Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in their 70s, actuarial probability says one or more could retire in the next four years, almost certainly within eight. The justices, of course, have no limits on their term on the Supreme Court.
RELATED STORIES: Report: Judge junkets may taint environmental rulings RELATED SITES: Supreme Court of the United States |
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