Supreme Court News Blog @newzblogz.com

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A Florida appeals court issued a stay Monday in the dispute over Anna Nicole Smith's body, ruling that her remains cannot be moved to the Bahamas until the judges hear a challenge from the starlet's estranged mother.

The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal is considering a request by Virgie Arthur to overturn a trial judge's decision giving control of Smith's body to the attorney for the centerfold's infant daughter. That attorney decided Smith should be buried in the Bahamas beside her 20-year-old son, who died last year of apparent drug-related causes.

Arthur has been seeking to bury her daughter in her native Texas.

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SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court is refusing to get involved in the case of a private security company sued by relatives of four workers killed in Iraq.The justices' decision means the case will be heard by a jury in North Carolina, rather than in the federal courts, where Blackwater Security Consulting wanted it moved.The families accuse Blackwater of failing to provide armored vehicles, weapons and other things it promised. The four Blackwater guards were beaten and their bodies were torched. S...

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- California's $3 billion stem cell agency withstood another challenge to its constitutionality when a state appeals court rejected claims by abortion foes and anti-tax advocates that the agency's managers had conflicts of interest. The 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a decision by a lower court judge who last year ruled in favor of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was created when Proposition 71 was passed by 59 percent of the electorate in 2...

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The fate of Anna Nicole Smith's body is now in the hands of three appeals court judges who will decide whether to overturn a trial court ruling that meant the model would be buried in the Bahamas.

The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal is considering a petition filed Monday by the centerfold's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, who challenged the trial court's decision last week that gave control of Smith's body to an attorney for Smith's infant daughter.

The advocate for the child, Richard Milstein, and the attorney for Smith's boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, have until 2 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the challenge. The appeals court will then review all the materials and may seek oral arguments or decide the case based on briefs.

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A quarter-century since the bullet-riddled body of a furniture salesman was found by a fisherman near Lake Houston, the man condemned for the slaying in Harris County was poised for a trip Tuesday evening to the Texas death chamber.

Donald Miller was 19 when he and two accomplices were arrested for the robbery and execution-style shootings of Michael Mozingo, 29, and Kenneth Whitt, 19. Now at age 44, Miller is one of the longest-serving of Texas' nearly 400 death row inmates.

"Very disappointing," said Bert Graham, one of the Harris County prosecutors who in 1982 tried Miller for capital murder for Mozingo's killing. "It's 25 years he's been living and Mr. Mozingo has been gone for 25 years and his family hasn't had the opportunity to share that 25 years with him."

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BISMARCK, N.D. - Don Polries and Helen Vetter don't look like outlaws. She's 82 and nearly blind, and he's an 87-year-old World War II veteran whose only brush with the law was a traffic ticket or two, decades ago.

But the retired farmers - and thousands like them - are considered criminals in North Dakota because they're not married and live together.

It makes Polries chuckle and Vetter steam.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. The fate of Anna Nicole Smith's body is in the hands of three appeals court judges in Florida.They will decide whether to overturn a trial court ruling that meant the model would be buried in the Bahamas.Smith's mother Virgie Arthur is challenging a decision last week that gave control of Smith's body to an attorney for Smith's infant daughter.Arthur wants the former model buried in Texas, not the Bahamas.Lawyers have until this afternoon to respond to the appeal. A panel o...

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The fate of Anna Nicole Smith's body is now in the hands of three appeals court judges who will decide whether to overturn a trial court ruling that meant the model would be buried in the Bahamas.

The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal is considering a petition filed Monday by the centerfold's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, who challenged the trial court's decision last week that gave control of Smith's body to an attorney for Smith's infant daughter.

The advocate for the child, Richard Milstein, and the attorney for Smith's boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, have until 2 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the challenge. The appeals court will then review all the materials and may seek oral arguments or decide the case based on briefs.

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SAN FRANCISCO - California's $3 billion stem cell agency withstood another challenge to its constitutionality when a state appeals court rejected claims by abortion foes and anti-tax advocates that the agency's managers had conflicts of interest.

The 1st District Court of Appeal upheld a decision by a lower court judge who last year ruled in favor of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which was created when Proposition 71 was passed by 59 percent of the electorate in 2004.

Opponents of the stem cell agency said after Monday's ruling that they likely would appeal to the state Supreme Court.

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WASHINGTON - Jeff and Sandee Winkelman don't have the money to pay for private schooling for their autistic son, let alone hire a lawyer to sue their public school district.

The Winkelmans want the Supreme Court to rule that the main federal special education law gives them the right to go before a federal court to argue that taxpayers should pay for 9-year-old Jacob's private school, even though neither parent is a lawyer.

The case is before the court Tuesday, when the Winkelmans will be represented free of charge by a private lawyer.

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WASHINGTON - Health groups are trying to generate momentum for legislation that would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate tobacco products.

The FDA couldn't ban nicotine outright, but the legislation would give it the power to reduce nicotine levels, as well as require larger and more informative health warnings.

The legislation would also prohibit terms such as "light," "mild" and "low-tar," which officials say can mislead consumers into believing that certain cigarettes are safer than others.

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The fate of Anna Nicole Smith's body is now in the hands of three appeals court judges who will decide whether to overturn a trial court ruling that meant the model would be buried in the Bahamas.

The Florida 4th District Court of Appeal is considering a petition filed Monday by the centerfold's estranged mother, Virgie Arthur, who challenged the trial court's decision last week that gave control of Smith's body to an attorney for Smith's infant daughter.

The advocate for the child, Richard Milstein, and the attorney for Smith's boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, have until 2 p.m. Tuesday to respond to the challenge. The appeals court will then review all the materials and may seek oral arguments or decide the case based on briefs.

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WASHINGTON (AP) Video of a police chase that left a Georgia teenager paralyzed - the "scariest chase I've seen since 'The French Connection,'" one Supreme Court justice said - played a key role Monday in arguments over the actions of a sheriff's deputy.

A camera in the dashboard of the police cruiser that rammed Victor Harris's black Cadillac captured the sickening moment when Harris lost control and veered off the road and down an embankment.

Harris sued former Coweta County Sheriff's deputy Timothy Scott, accusing the deputy of violating his civil rights. The court is deciding whether the lawsuit can proceed in its first case in 20 years on police use of deadly force to stop fleeing suspects.

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SUPREME COURT A case pitting parents of an autistic boy against a suburban Cleveland school district is before the Supreme Court today.Jeff and Sandee Winkelman want the Supreme Court to rule that a federal special education law gives them the right to go before a federal court to argue about their son's schooling, even though they can't afford a lawyer.A lawyer is representing them today, free of charge.The broader issue isn't before the high court. The Winkelmans object to the school district'...

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JACKSON, Miss. George Love was killed in a 1958 Mississippi Delta gunbattle with police who believed he was involved in a murder. One year later he was cleared of the allegation.Jimmie Lee Griffin was killed in a hit-and-run accident in 1965. A coroner's report showed the Sturgis resident was run over at least twice.

Hubert Orsby's body was found in the Black River near Canton. He wore a shirt with "CORE," the acronym for the Congress of Racial Equality, on it.Their deaths are among 74 in 11 states, including three in Tennessee, that the Southern Poverty Law Center says could be racially motivated killings of black men and women between 1952 and 1968.The center, which reports on hate crimes, has forwarded the list to the FBI, and the Justice Department is expected to hold a news conference today to talk abou...

List made in late '80s

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NASSAU, Bahamas -- Legal experts predict Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, will have a tough time winning custody of her baby when the case moves to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on Monday.

Howard K. Stern, the former model's partner, is listed on the birth certificate as the father and "there is a very strong legal presumption that what is stated in that document is accurate," said Thomas A. E. Evans, a prominent Bahamas attorney.

Birkhead, a Los Angeles-based photographer, also must contend with a competing claim from Virgie Arthur, Smith's mother, who has said she could provide a more stable home for Dannielynn than Stern and should therefore be awarded custody of the girl -- who could inherit a fortune.

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State senators plan to ask questions this week about how Michigan spends money attracting economic growth.

Sen. Alan Sanborn, a Richmond Republican and chair of the Senate Economic Development and Regulatory Reform Committee, scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to learn more about the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

It's a quasi-public part of state government that partners with local communities to attract jobs. The agency has a board of directors made up of members of the private sector.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary that turned former Vice President Al Gore's power-point presentation on global warming into an engaging and entertaining film, won the Oscar Sunday night.

The best-documentary win was a triumph for Gore, who has kept a sense of humor about his loss in the 2000 election that was decided in George W. Bush's favor by a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America," Gore says in the film, repeating a line he has used often.

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For a year, Edward Kozel valiantly tried to keep computer users from illegally downloading music. His antipiracy company, C-Right, infiltrated networks using the peer-to-peer technology that can be used to share files illegally. Once there, C-Right effectively blocked downloads of unlicensed content on behalf of its entertainment clients.

But for every download thwarted by C-Right and others, countless more proceed unhindered. Illegal files still account for an estimated 90% of the music download market [see BusinessWeek.com, 1/22/07, "Making a Ruckus in the Music Business"]. Entertainment executives grew frustrated with battling downloads a few at a time, Kozel says. Representatives of one music label even told him they no longer planned to spend money on blocking downloads.

If You Can't Beat 'Em

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Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence M. Small is living a lifestyle more like a corporate CEO than the steward of a charity funded by donors and taxpayer dollars, according to a watchdog Senator after an independent audit and an Inspector General's report, both obtained by CBS News.

While Smithsonian museums suffer leaky roofs and wait for funding for repairs and restorations, the reports find possibly "lavish and extravagant" expenditures by and for Secretary Small.

The disclosure comes after a recent GAO report indicated that the institution's facilities would require $255 million a year for the next 9 years (or $2.3 billion in total) for repairs and maintenance.

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PARMA, Ohio (AP) -- If the U.S. Supreme Court allows the parents of an autistic boy to sue his school district without being represented by an attorney, districts nationwide will be inundated with frivolous lawsuits, school officials in this Cleveland suburb argue. The Bush administration, backing the boy's family, says that's a necessary consequence of a right to self-representation that Congress intended for parents of disabled students. The Supreme Court takes up the case of Jacob Winkelm...

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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Former vice president Al Gore used the success of his documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," to expand his efforts to educate people about global warming - and to tell a few jokes. The film turned Gore's road show about climate change into a film that won Academy Awards for best documentary and best song. Gore also teased a bit Sunday night about his plans to possibly make another presidential run, although backstage, he said he was not a candidate. The win was a triumph f...

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The future of bills determining how people pay for schools or what control they have over their property hinges on how legislative leaders negotiate the new political makeup of the Ohio House and Senate. Majority Republicans in both chambers introduced identical bills that would carry Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland's yet-to-be announced school funding plan and stop cities and villages from taking over property for development purposes. With a majority of just seven sea...

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North Dakota's anti-corporate farming law was put in place 75 years ago to protect the state's agricultural heritage. But a Minnesota businessman and his group say the law is unconstitutional, outdated and does nothing to protect the ducks.

The state on Thursday asked Southeast District Judge James Bekken to force James Cook to give up about 1,800 acres of property in Cavalier, Griggs and Ward counties.

The state says Cook, through his nonprofit Crosslands Inc., bought three parcels of land without government approval, the most recent in 2003 and 2004. The state sued two years ago after Cook ignored Gov. John Hoeven's order to get rid of the land.

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The Rev. Ben Cox recalls reciting the Pledge of Allegiance as a kindergarten student in the small West Tennessee town of Whiteville and recognizing, when he got to the phrase "With liberty and justice for all," that it wasn't true for black people."I pledged then and there that when I became a man, I would fight for the right to be free," said Cox, 75, who lives in Jackson, Tenn.

In the decades that followed, Cox would become one of the early lieutenants in the battle for racial equality in America.Upon graduating from seminary school at Howard University, Cox led one of the first lunch counter sit-ins in North Carolina, demonstrations that led to desegregation of restaurants.The publicity from that demonstration brought Cox to the attention of top NAACP officials, who hired him to travel through the South, training blacks in the methods of nonviolence. It was an importa...

13 rode first bus

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- Legal experts predict Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, will have a tough time winning custody of her baby when the case moves to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on Monday. Howard K. Stern, the former model's partner, is listed on the birth certificate as the father and "there is a very strong legal presumption that what is stated in that document is accurate," said Thomas A. E. Evans, a prominent Bahamas attorney. Birkhead, a Los Angeles-based photog...

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NASSAU, Bahamas - Legal experts predict Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, will have a tough time winning custody of her baby when the case moves to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on Monday.

Howard K. Stern, the former model's partner, is listed on the birth certificate as the father and "there is a very strong legal presumption that what is stated in that document is accurate," said Thomas A. E. Evans, a prominent Bahamas attorney.

Birkhead, a Los Angeles-based photographer, also must contend with a competing claim from Virgie Arthur, Smith's mother, who has said she could provide a more stable home for Dannielynn than Stern and should therefore be awarded custody of the girl - who could inherit a fortune.

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NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops sealed off the center of Nablus' old city with cement blocks and trash containers Monday, and searched apartments for seven Palestinian fugitives whose names the army broadcast over local TV and radio stations.

It was the largest Israeli raid in the West Bank in months, with about 80 jeeps, armored vehicles and bulldozers moving around Nablus for a second day. Troops enforced a curfew that confined tens of thousands of Palestinians to their homes.

Soldiers uncovered two explosives labs in what the army said would be an open-ended sweep. Palestinian officials charged that the offensive threatened efforts to restart peace negotiations.

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- Legal experts predict Anna Nicole Smith's ex-boyfriend, Larry Birkhead, will have a tough time winning custody of her baby when the case moves to the Supreme Court of the Bahamas on Monday. Howard K. Stern, the former model's partner, is listed on the birth certificate as the father and "there is a very strong legal presumption that what is stated in that document is accurate," said Thomas A. E. Evans, a prominent Bahamas attorney. Birkhead, a Los Angeles-based photog...

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LOS ANGELES - "An Inconvenient Truth," the documentary that turned former vice president Al Gore's power-point presentation on global warming into an engaging and entertaining film, won the Oscar Sunday night.

The best-documentary win was a triumph for Gore, who has kept a sense of humor about his loss in the 2000 election that was decided in George W. Bush's favor by a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

"I am Al Gore. I used to be the next president of the United States of America," Gore says in the film, repeating a line he has used often.

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LANSING, Mich. - State senators plan to ask questions this week about how Michigan spends money attracting economic growth.

Sen. Alan Sanborn, a Richmond Republican and chair of the Senate Economic Development and Regulatory Reform Committee, scheduled a hearing for Wednesday to learn more about the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

It's a quasi-public part of state government that partners with local communities to attract jobs. The agency has a board of directors made up of members of the private sector.

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NABLUS, West Bank - Dozens of Israeli jeeps and armored vehicles raided the West Bank city of Nablus Sunday and placed tens of thousands of Palestinians under curfew.

The army said troops had on Saturday, at the start of the operation to arrest suspected militants, uncovered an explosives laboratory in the city and that soldiers had been shot at in several places and returned fire. No injuries were reported on either side.

About 80 jeeps backing several bulldozers entered the city, witnesses said. The bulldozers pushed rubble into piles on main roads to make them impassable, they said. Troops placed about 50,000 people under curfew in the center of Nablus and closed the main entrance to the city, witnesses said.

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MADRID, Spain - Thousands of people waving red-and-yellow Spanish flags protested in Madrid Saturday against a court ruling that shortened the prison sentence for one of the Basque separatist group ETA's most notorious killers.

The crowd screamed "murderer, murderer, murderer" and accused the Socialist government of being soft on ETA.

Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos has been in prison since 1987 for the deaths of 25 in a series of ETA attacks. With time off for good behavior and other benefits, he was on the verge of release last year when he was charged anew over newspaper articles he wrote from prison that were deemed as threats of new attacks.

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WASHINGTON/SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (Reuters) - The tobacco wars are back in the U.S. Congress, but the battle lines have shifted and anti-smoking forces are no longer facing a monolithic tobacco industry and loyal legislators.

Marlboro cigarettes maker Philip Morris USA is siding with public health advocates in favor of a bill that, for the first time, would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate tobacco products, but not ban them.

The effort gained momentum with Democrats taking control of the Congress this year.

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SUPREME COURT The Supreme Court finds itself smack in the middle of a big debate over high-speed chases.Officers in Georgia were chasing a speeding Victor Harris in 2001 when a cruiser rammed Harris' Cadillac at roughly 90 miles-per-hour, sending him into an embankment and leaving him paralyzed.Harris sued Deputy Timothy Scott for violating his civil rights by using excessive force. Scott said he was trying to end the chase before anybody got hurt. Two lower courts sided with Harris.This will be...

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BEIJING (Reuters) - China has set up a top-level task force to clamp down on illegal activities in the securities market, a government report said on Sunday.

China's cabinet, the State Council, approved the body, to include the vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), the industry's watchdog, the deputy central bank governor and the deputy head of the Supreme Court, according to the report on the central government's Web site (www.gov.cn).

The committee will formulate and interpret rules to crack down on illicit activities in the industry and help related agencies pursue suspected crimes, the report said.

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Only a Democrat like Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland could say with a straight face that President Bush's proposed $2.9 trillion budget for 2008 is "spartan and skimpy." Democrats never have enough of our money to spend on their favorite entitlement programs - the ones that keep them in office.

There are some good things in this budget, which Democrats see as bad and some bad things, which Republicans see as good.

Among the good is the president's proposal for eliminating money for 141 programs, saving $12 billion over five years. While $12 billion in a $2.9 trillion budget is chump change, the elimination of outdated and unneeded government programs is a trend to be encouraged.

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COLUMBIA, Mo. - On a recent Sunday night, the brothers of Beta Upsilon Chi were sizing up a new pledge class. It was the end of rush week, when University of Missouri students interested in Greek life shop for a fraternity or sorority.

Andrew Guthrie, president of Beta Upsilon Chi, or BYX (pronounced "bucks" by the brothers,) stood in the sanctuary of the university's A.P. Green Chapel. He faced his fraternity brothers and a handful of young men who, if chosen, would become the next BYX pledges.

"God, thank you for tonight," prayed Guthrie. "Thank you for getting us through another couple weeks of school. We pray for the next pledge class, that you will guide them here."

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NABLUS, West Bank - Dozens of Israeli jeeps and armored vehicles raided the West Bank city of Nablus Sunday and placed tens of thousands of Palestinians under curfew.

The army said troops had uncovered an explosives laboratory in the city and that soldiers had been shot at in several places and returned fire. No injuries were reported on either side.

About 80 jeeps backing several bulldozers entered the city, witnesses said, apparently with the intent of demolishing the explosives lab. Troops placed about 50,000 people under curfew in the center of Nablus and closed the main entrance to the city, witnesses said.

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COLUMBUS - A person crazy enough to run an absentee ballot through a paper shredder before it had been counted would face felony charges.

Someone caught altering totals in an electronic voting machine would be in just as much trouble.

Voter fraud is a serious crime, so why is gerrymandering tolerated?

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PHOENIX – A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of special Maricopa County courts for Spanish-speaking and American Indian defendants has been dismissed by a federal judge.

The special courts for drunken driving defendants are in essence segregated, with defendants treated differently in violation of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, said Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas, who filed the case.

U.S. District Court Judge Earl Carroll dismissed the case Friday, ruling that Mr. Thomas had no standing to bring the lawsuit because he is not a litigant.

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FOR the past dozen years in Los Angeles County, public access to courtroom trials has been billed as a battle between the First and Sixth amendments.

But in reality, the years since the O.J. Simpson murder trial have created a lopsided victory for defendants and defense attorneys. Often, they'd be asked by judges to decide if cameras should be allowed and nearly always they would gavel down the public's right to know. It has resulted in a diminishing of the First Amendment - and a dimming of the press's light into the judicial process. More importantly, the last 12 years have represented a loss for the 10million people of this county and for their democracy.

By keeping television cameras or press photographers out of criminal trials, the Los Angeles County courts have kept the public in the dark about the most fundamental democratic aspect of our government. The right to a fair trial - to ensure justice is applied equally and fairly no matter race, creed or economic status - is what the framers viewed as most critical.

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CEDARTOWN, Ga. For three years, a group of deacons from the Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church in Cedartown has tried to oust the congregation's pastor. And three times, the church leader has taken the case to the Georgia Supreme Court.Pastor Willie M. Bolden simply refuses to leave.All through his life, Bolden has shown the courage of his convictions. He says he was arrested dozens of times protesting segregation in the South and once led 20 mule-drawn wagons from Mississippi to Washington to ...

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A man is taking his fight over a $100 speeding ticket to the Ohio Supreme Court, where he'll argue the ticket is invalid because the police officer who made the traffic stop left a box unchecked. Legal battles over speeding tickets rarely make it to the state's highest court, but justices agreed to hear the case Tuesday to settle conflicting rulings from separate appeals courts. Gary Kieffaber, a computer systems analyst from northeast Ohio, has spent two years and $40...

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If Helen Mirren doesn't go home with an Oscar for best actress tonight, her loss will have defied all predictions.

Other races' outcomes could similarly shock Oscar watchers.

"They could literally put an Oscar on Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker's seats and call it a night," says Benjamin Eckstein, president and owner of Las Vegas-based America's Line, creator of syndicated columns on sports and entertainment odds.

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CORRYVILLE An exhibit that chronicles the historic legal struggles and victories of black Americans opened Saturday at the University of Cincinnati.U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon J. Keith unveiled his collection of pictures, documents and records highlighting notable African-American moments from the abolition of slavery through school desegregation and the early civil rights movement.Keith sits on the Sixth Circuit, which reviews cases from Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.

The exhibit, Marching Toward Justice, also highlights the efforts of notable black American attorneys and judges, including the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Marshall, the grandson of a slave, became an attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the nations first black Supreme Court member.Marching Toward Justice was created to illustrate a major achievement in African-American legal history: the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution th...

E-mail this

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Canada's highest court on Friday unanimously struck down a law that allows the Canadian government to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely using secret evidence and without charges while their deportations are being reviewed.

"The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: Before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote in the ruling.

The decision reflected striking differences from the current legal climate in the United States. In the Military Commissions Act of 2006, Congress stripped the federal courts of the authority to hear challenges, through petitions for writs of habeas corpus, to the open-ended confinement of foreign terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

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OTTAWA (AP) - One of Canada's most contentious anti-terrorism measures was struck down Friday by the Supreme Court, which declared it unconstitutional to detain foreign terror suspects indefinitely while the courts review their deportation orders.

The 9-0 ruling dealt a blow to the government's anti-terrorism regulations. Five Arab Muslim men have been held for years under the "security certificate" program, which the Justice Department had insisted is a key tool in the fight against global terrorism and essential to Canada's security.

The court found that the system violates the Charter of Rights and Freedom, Canada's bill of rights. It suspended the judgment from taking effect for a year, to give Parliament time to rewrite the part of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that covers the certificates.

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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's Supreme Court struck down a controversial anti-terror law on Friday that allows foreign suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial on the basis of secret evidence.

The court ruled unanimously that the government had broken the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by issuing so-called security certificates to imprison people, pending deportation, without giving them a chance to see the government's case.

"The overarching principle of fundamental justice that applies here is this: before the state can detain people for significant periods of time, it must accord them a fair judicial process," Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin wrote on behalf of all nine judges.

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Today is Saturday, February 24, the 55th day of 2007. There are 310 days left in the year.

Todays Highlight in History:

On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives impeached President Andrew Johnson following his attempted dismissal of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton; Johnson was later acquitted by the Senate.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Little Rock's school district has been freed from federal supervision, a half-century after a defiant governor's refusal to allow nine black students into an all-white Central High sparked one of the biggest crises of the civil rights era.

U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. issued a ruling Friday that found that the district was substantially complying with a 1998 desegregation plan worked out in the 27,000-student district.

Little Rock, which now has a black-majority school board, was satisfactorily evaluating its academic programs in the effort to improve achievement on blacks, the ruling found.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- From the state that brought you the hanging chad, now comes the crying judge. Some members of the bar and other court-watchers are cringing over the way Judge Larry Seidlin wept - no, sobbed - on live, national TV as he announced a ruling Thursday in the dispute over where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried.

Some are accusing the brash former New York cab driver of showboating for the camer

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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) -- Peruvian president Alan Garcia said he will try to reopen the investigation into the 1989 slaying of a reporter from The Tampa Tribune who had been probing links between guerrillas and drug traffickers. Garcia's discussed his interest in reviving the investigation into Todd Smith's death following a meeting with U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Thursday. Peru's Supreme Court would ultimately decide if another investigation should be opened. "We'll work with the justice system to ...

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