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Court favors Abercrombie in Okla. suit over hijab
Legal News Feed |
2013/10/04 13:36
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A federal appeals court has dismissed claims by an Oklahoma woman who says she wasn't hired by Abercrombie & Fitch because her headscarf conflicted with the retailer's dress code, which has since been changed.
A federal judge initially sided with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Samantha Elauf. The EEOC alleged that Elauf wasn't hired in 2008 at an Abercrombie store in Tulsa's Woodland Hills Mall because her hijab violated the clothing retailer's "Look Policy."
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision Tuesday. The court said Elauf never told Abercrombie she needed a religious accommodation, even though she was wearing the headscarf during her interview.
The Ohio-based company changed its policy three years ago. It recently settled similar lawsuits in California. |
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Appeals court panel considers TABOR challenge
Legal News Feed |
2013/09/25 11:44
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Colorado is asking the federal courts to stay out of a dispute about whether its strict tax and spending limits has robbed the state of a republican form of government.
In arguments Monday, state Solicitor General Daniel Domenico told a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that lawmakers still have the ability to ask voters to approve a tax increase if they think one is needed under the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights.
"Just because it's a little bit harder doesn't make it unrepublican," he said of the referendum needed to raise taxes under TABOR.
Domenico said that if lawmakers tried and failed to win a tax increase, they might have a case. But he also argued that courts haven't gotten involved in enforcing the provision in the U.S. Constitution guaranteeing a republic — or representative democracy — to the states, leaving that to Congress instead. |
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Wenatchee lawyer picked for federal judgeship
Legal News Feed |
2013/09/23 11:27
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The White House has nominated Wenatchee lawyer Stanley Bastian to become Eastern Washington's newest federal judge.
If approved by the Senate, he would replace Judge Edward Shea on the bench in Richland.
Bastian is a 1983 University of Washington Law School graduate who has served as an assistant city attorney in Seattle and as a state Appeals Court law clerk. He joined a Wenatchee firm in 1988.
The Spokesman-Review reports in the 1990s Bastian was hired by Douglas County to defend sheriff's investigators and prosecutors who were sued for their roles in the discredited Wenatchee sex ring case.
The Tri-City Herald reports Shea was the first federal judge to be based full-time in the Tri-Cities and went on senior status in June 2012, with a reduced workload. |
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Berlusconi appeals case to European rights court
Legal News Feed |
2013/09/09 12:09
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Former Premier Silvio Berlusconi is turning to Europe's human rights court in a bid to avoid a ban on public office and other punishments for his tax fraud conviction, the media mogul's aides said Sunday.
The politician and media magnate was found guilty of artificially inflating the amounts paid for film rights by his Mediaset empire to reduce the company's tax liabilities. Berlusconi claims he is an innocent victim of magistrates who sympathize with the left, but the verdict was upheld by Italy's top criminal court last month.
His top aide, Angelino Alfano, said the petition to the Strasbourg, France-based tribunal "shows that the Berlusconi case isn't closed."
Alfano didn't say when or on what grounds the petition to the European rights court was filed. But, "we are really confident, that at the European level, we can reach a finding of innocence that so far in Italy hasn't been possible," he said.
Italy's Court of Cassation confirmed a four-year prison term — though Berlusconi is unlikely to actually serve it — and also ordered a Milan appeals court to determine the length of a ban on serving in public office from one to three years.
A Senate panel Monday starts formally discussing if Berlusconi must surrender his Senate seat. That deliberation isn't based on the ban ordered by the Cassation Court, but a 2012 law says those sentenced to more than two years in prison are ineligible to hold public office for six years. |
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