Federal Courts

It was melted ice cream that led Roy Clendinen to file a civil rights suit in 1992, demanding $1 million for the "cruel and unusual punishment" he suffered when a guard at Mohawk state prison near Syracuse refused to refrigerate the snack.Another New York inmate, Reginald Troy, who developed an ulcer while a prisoner at the Shawangunk state prison Wallkill, filed his civilrights suit in 1991, claiming it was unconstitutional not to provide him lamb, veal and oysters for his meals -- foods allowed by a doctor, but not required.

A lawyer for John Joseph Merzbacher, a former Catholic school teacher imprisoned for raping a student decades ago, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case after a federal appeals court rejected an earlier argument that he should be set free. In a 21-page petition, Merzbacher's attorney H. Mark Stichel asks the high court to resolve several legal questions, including whether a defendant's claim that he would have taken a plea deal if offered, even while proclaiming his innocence, demonstrates a "reasonable probability" that he would have followed through.

WASHINGTON -- The federal courts are in danger of being overwhelmed if Congress persists in assigning U.S. judges the responsibility of handling new cases involving guns, drug murders and sexual assaults, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist said yesterday in a year-end report.A former Phoenix attorney, Chief Justice Rehnquist compared the federal court system to a Western desert town facing overdevelopment amid a water shortage."In that situation, we must conserve water, not think of building new subdivisions," he said.

A federal appeals court has upheld Maryland's handgun permitting law, reversing a lower court decision by concluding that the state can constitutionally require an applicant to show “good and substantial reason” that he or she needs a concealed-carry license. Fourth Circuit Judge Robert King, writing for the three-judge panel, said the state had shown that the requirement “is reasonably adapted” to its “significant interests in protecting public safety and preventing crime.” Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler cheered the ruling Thursday, saying the state is “a safer place today because of its handgun conceal-and-carry permit laws.” “The idea is to make sure guns are in the hands of responsible people, and not just anybody who wants to tote a gun in public,” Gansler said.

WASHINGTON -- A panel of federal judges is proposing new limits on access to federal courts for Social Security beneficiaries, victims of job discrimination and consumers as part of a long-range plan to cope with huge increases in the caseload.The panel of nine judges, who have a combined total of more than 160 years on the bench, was created in 1990 by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the policy-making arm of the federal judiciary.If recent trends continue, the judges said, the federal courts will be inundated with civil and criminal cases.

WASHINGTON - The Senate is locked in a stalemate over one of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees, and the debate is taking on the tenor and intensity of a Supreme Court confirmation battle. That's no coincidence. The nomination of Miguel Estrada to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is shaping up as a test of both parties' wills as they prepare - perhaps this year - to debate a potential vacancy on the Supreme Court. What began as a low-profile debate over Estrada, a 41-year- old Honduran immigrant and darling of conservatives, has escalated into a battle over the future of the federal courts.

WASHINGTON -- The policy making arm of the federal courts, in a sharp break with precedent, asked Congress yesterday to provide a financial remedy for potentially millions of workers harmed or killed by breathing asbestos particles.The request, by the 27-judge U.S. Judicial Conference, was based on a committee's report that the federal courts are overwhelmed by tens of thousands of highly complex lawsuits over who is to pay for the slow-developing cancers and other diseases afflicting individuals who have worked with or around asbestos.

WASHINGTON -- In winning the conviction of al-Qaida foot soldier Jose Padilla, the Bush administration might have paradoxically undercut a key tenet of the president's anti-terrorism strategy - that terrorists should be handled outside the regular court system. The administration's ability to successfully prosecute an alleged terrorist in federal court will provide ammunition to those challenging the military tribunal system established by the administration, legal analysts said. "What this demonstrates is that the administration's claim that the criminal justice system can't handle terrorists as criminals is a hoax," said Bruce Fein, a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration who has criticized President Bush's terrorism policies.

In his annual "state of the judiciary" remarks, Chief Justice William Rehnquist warned that things must change in what he foresees as an era of "austerity." He believes future federal budgets are going to be less generous to his branch of government than has been true in the past.Given that many federal courts have overloaded dockets, this is not a promising prospect. Justice delayed is justice denied, as the saying goes, and if resources for the judiciary shrink or remain the same, there are likely to be even greater delays.

A HEIGHTENED fear of crime is rampant in the United States today.In response, the House and Senate will soon consider final action on major crime legislation.It includes an extraordinary number of provisions, including one that would make many offenses -- for example, virtually any offense involving a firearm -- a federal crime.If enacted, the bill could swamp the federal courts with cases they are not properly equipped to handle.Before this happens, Congress should look long and hard at the effect it will have if so many crimes now prosecuted by the states are federalized.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Toys "R" Us, alleging the company broke the law when staff at its Columbia store refused to provide a sign-language interpreter for a job applicant who is deaf. The lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, says the retailer discriminated against the woman, Shakirra Thomas, after she applied for a position at the store in 2011. It alleges the company violated the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires employers to provide "reasonable accommodations" for job applicants and workers with disabilities.

A Middle River family who alleges a Baltimore County officer used excessive force with a Taser has a second chance in court after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday partially reversed an earlier decision to throw out their federal suit. Ryan Meyers' family sued after the 40-year-old died when Baltimore County police responded to his home for a domestic violence call in 2007. Three officers entered the home and one tasered Meyers 10 times because police said he refused to listen to the officers and drop a baseball bat. But Meyers' family said he fell to the ground and was no longer resisting arrest when the officer continued to taser him unnecessarily.

Linda Malat Tiburzi wanted a front-row seat inside a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals courtroom Tuesday, so judges could get a good look at her during a hearing involving a convicted child rapist who had taught at a Baltimore Catholic school. Though it's traumatic for Tiburzi to relive her alleged abuse at the hands of John J. Merzbacher, she said she and the 14 other men and women who took a bus from Pasadena wanted to show their commitment to keeping him behind bars. "I want the judges to see my face," said Tiburzi, 51, who said she was sexually abused by Merzbacher while she was a Catholic Community middle-schooler from 1973 to 1976.

A federal appeals court swept aside a key pillar of Maryland's plan to reduce soot and smog on Tuesday when it struck down a federal rule aimed at limiting air pollution crossing from one state to another. Maryland has moved aggressively to cut emissions from coal-burning power plants that officials say contribute to serious health problems such as asthma, heart attacks and premature death. But up to 70 percent of the pollution fouling the state's air comes from upwind states, according to Robert M. Summers, Maryland secretary of the environment.

A week before Maryland's gun permit laws were set to loosen under a federal ruling allowing more people to carry concealed firearms in the state, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday delayed the shift. The court, which issued its order pending an appeal, set an expedited schedule to take up the case — and the question of whether the Maryland State Police have discretion in granting concealed carry permits. It tentatively set arguments for late October. The court order comes amid a nationwide debate over access to guns.

The federal government is considering closing dozens of rural court sites across the country, including one that serves Maryland's Eastern Shore — a move that would force people to drive up to 110 miles to the nearest courthouse to have their cases heard. "It would be a grave inconvenience to litigants to have them come to a federal court in either Baltimore or Greenbelt. It makes no sense," said Deborah K. Chasanow, chief judge of Maryland's U.S. District Courts. The potential closures, 60 of them spread throughout 29 states, are being considered as a cost-cutting measure within the federal judiciary.

WASHINGTON -- The federal courts' policy-making group, refusing to join in a widespread trend in the state courts, voted yesterday to keep intact a long-standing ban on television and radio broadcasts of federal trials and appeals hearings.The vote by the U.S. Judicial Conference also will end a limited experiment when its time runs out at the end of this year.By a margin of about 2-1, the U.S. Judicial Conference turned down a committee's proposal to allow cameras and tape recorders into civil cases beginning May 1 in every federal District Court and in all U.S. Courts of Appeals.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a lower court's ruling that California's Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage, was unconstitutional is surely a good outcome and an advance for equality. Already backers of same-sex marriage in Maryland, including Gov.Martin O'Malley, are expressing optimism that it will provide a boost to their efforts here. But the 2-1 opinion is so narrowly drawn that, even if it is upheld by theU.S. Supreme Court in an inevitable appeal, it may have little bearing on the situation in Maryland and elsewhere.

I read with some interest the letter by Albert Nalley about the redistricting process in Maryland ("Courts the only solution to make drawing of new district lines fair," Catonsville Times, Feb. 1). While I do agree in large part with his arguments, I have to say, with all due respect, that besides the Maryland General Assembly, the last people on Earth we want planning redistricting is any court whatsoever. Ten years ago, the redistricting process wound its way through the Maryland courts and the result is the set of ridiculous districts we've had to endure for the past decade.