Gay issue heads up Supreme Court docket

October 2, 1995
Web posted at: 1:45 a.m. EDT

From CNN Correspondent Anthony Collings

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gays rights heads the list of important new Supreme Court cases as the highest court in the U.S. opens its fall term on Monday.

Gay rights advocates want the court to throw out the results of a 1992 anti-gay-rights ballot initiative in Colorado. Gay men and lesbians, like Denver police officer Angela Romero, fear that otherwise they'll lose civil rights protections they've already won in several Colorado cities.

"There are some mean-spirited people in positions who would seek to get rid of the gays and lesbians on the job," Romero said. "I sometimes think that I would lose my job." (145K AIFF sound or 145K WAV sound)

Opponents of gay rights hope the Supreme Court will uphold what the voters decided and prevent lesbians and gay men from getting what they see as special legal protections.

"People who own property and hold deeply held beliefs that homosexuality is not okay, and they don't want to rent to open, practicing -- 'out' if you will -- homosexuals...they shouldn't be forced to," said Kevin Tebedo of Colorado for Family Values, the organization that sponsored the ballot initiative. (145K AIFF sound or 145K WAV sound)

Of all the new cases, this one certainly seems the most controversial. The Colorado Supreme Court has already ruled the initiative unconstitutional, but many gay rights advocates fear the U.S. high court, given this its generally conservative outlook, will reverse that decision.

Among other cases for the Supreme Court in its new term: Automaker BMW wants the court to put a limit on high punitive damage awards. The company is fighting a $2 million damage award imposed on it because a new car buyer wasn't told that his vehicle had been repainted.

The court will also decide whether two Los Angeles policemen, convicted in the Rodney King beating, need longer prison sentences. They got two and a half years.

Another issue: can race ever be a factor in drawing up congressional districts? Last term the court said it can't be the main factor, but didn't fully explain.

Also the court must decide how copyright laws apply to computer software, if the 1990 census result must to be changed because it undercounted minorities, whether U.S. taxpayers still get refunds owed them even if they miss a filing deadline, and whether states can prevent liquor ads from mentioning price.

But the first case of the Court's new term indirectly concerns Oliver North and his unsuccessful Senate campaign. The issue: whether the Virginia GOP convention that nominated him broke an election law by charging an attendance fee.

Gay issue heads up Supreme Court docket

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