Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 1999)
Page 6 • Thursday, June 24, 1999 Court boosts states’ rights 5-4 decision rejects charges of federal-rights violations WASHINGTON (AP) — State governments can not be sued against their will in state courts by people seeking to enforce some federal right, the U.S. Supreme Court said yesterday in a major de cision on states’ rights. By a 5-4 vote, the justices killed a state court lawsuit by dozens of state probation officers seek ing to enforce a federal labor law and collect over time pay from Maine. The court ruled the Consti tution’s “structure and histo ry” shields states not only from being sued in federal courts, but also makes them immune from individuals’ state court lawsuits seeking to enforce a federal right. The decision leaves Maine’s probation officers with a fed erally protected right to be paid for overtime work but with no way to enforce that right be- “Congress must accord states the esteem due to them as joint participants in a federal system.” — Anthony M. Kennedy sides trying to get the federal government to sue the state for them. The decision continues a recent trend in the nation’s highest court. In a series of cases de cided by 5-4 votes, the justices have shown in creasing sensitivity to how individual states’ authority fares when pitted against the federal government’s power. The conservative coalition of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and Justices Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Clarence Thomas again prevailed yesterday over more liberal colleagues. Justices John Paul Stevens, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. Writing for the court yesterday, Kennedy said mmmmmammmmmmm Congress lacked the authority, when enacting the Federal Labor Standards Act of 1938, to waive states’ sovereign immunity from being sued in state courts. “Congress has vast power but not all power,” Kennedy said. “The powers delegated to Congress under the Constitu tion do not include the power to subject nonconsenting states to private suits for dam ages in state courts.” In an extraordinarily lengthy U.S. Supreme Court Justice courtroom session in which the court closed out its 1998-99 term, Kennedy read portions of his 51-page opinion, emphasizing the importance of a nation built on the idea of two distinct sovereignties — the federal government and the individual states. “Congress must accord states the esteem due to them as joint participants in a federal system,” he said. Jurors convict Klansman in Virginia cross-burning HILLSVILLE, Va. (AP) — An all- white jury convicted a Ku Klux Klan leader of cross-burning Wednesday, rejecting claims by his black ACLU lawyer that he was legally exercising his right to free speech. The jury took 25 minutes to con vict Barry Black of Johnstown, Pa., for violating a Virginia law against burning a cross to intimidate others. Black, 51, could receive up to five years in prison. Prosecutors said Black, of the In ternational Keystone Knights of the Klan, led a rally in which 18 robed Klansmen held torches as they stood around a burning cross. The August gathering was on private property with the owner’s consent. Black’s lawyer, David Baugh of the ACLU, argued: 'The cross was burned as a part of their ceremony, not because they want to intimidate anyone. Mr. Black has the right to ex press, by sign or gesture, any feel ings he has." CODY WAGES Welder Calvin Appelt hammers a brace atop The Zone Wednesday. The cross section Appelt is working support the rafters of the upper deck of The Zone. Clinton faces possible court date WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move that could complicate the first lady’s political aspirations, pros ecutor Kenneth Starr has named Hillary Rodham Clinton a poten tial witness for the trial of former law partner Webster Hubbell, sources said Wednesday. The independent counsel’s office submitted Clinton’s name April 21 as one of 63 po tential witnesses in the Hubbell case, said the sources, who spoke under condition of CLINTON anonymity. Hubbell’s lawyers countered with a list of 17 possible defense witnesses May 25. The defense filed both lists under seal in federal court. At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge James Robertson estimated the trial — scheduled to begin Aug. 9 — would last five weeks at most. Clinton is pondering a race for the Senate seat from New York. If Starr calls her to the witness stand, it would be her second appearance to testify at the feder al courthouse in Washington. Her first was in January 1996, amid a furor over the discovery of her law firm billing records that revealed the work she and Hubbell had done on a fraudulent Arkansas real estate development called Castle Grande. The billing records turned up in the White House family residence under still-unexplained circumstances in early January 1996, two years after prosecutors subpoenaed them." prints of Clinton, Hubbell and ner Vincent Foster were on them. Hubbell, a former associate atton in the Clinton administration, is concealing his and Clinton’s tie Grande. The project, which federal banking concluded was riddled with “insideri titious sales and land flips," wa$i Hubbell’s father-in-law, Seth Ward.aniO Whitewater business partner, Jim V Federal regulators concluded Cast 1 : transactions cost McDougal’s savingi- nearly $4 million, contributing to theirs failure. Forme at the NEED A JOB? THE KIDS KLUB IS SEEKING STAFF FOR THE 1999 FALL SEMESTER Are you a fun person? Do you enjoy working with kids? College Station Looking for valuable work experience? Are you available Mon.-FrL, 2:45 p.m. to 6:15 p.ny? If you answered yes to any of these questions, we may have a job for you. Applications are now being accepted for the Kids Klub After School Program at Central Park Office thru July 12th at 5 p.m. Employment to begin August 1 Oth College Station ISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer For more information call: Male & Female Staff needed! ~XH< 764-3486 r Y\ c When it comes to choices. - .div 1 - The tion is Loan f ilar to al Fair (FFEL ? The rehtly studer banks lender Direct dents fed era school The will re direct cent,, by 0.21 adilitir red net Bi Porn 0CCO1 no one stacks up like FIRSTCAR JBrya SB City title we Forr Some like vanilla. Some prefer chocolate, Some rave about tutti-frutti. But everyone likes to have a choice. That 7 s why FIRSTCARE offers you more choices than any other Health Maintenance Organization. Wrang] With FIRSTCARE, you can choose your Primary Care Physician from Bryan- College Station and Central Texas' largest network of doctors. You also have direct access to your designated OB/GYN for gender-related problems, and there are many other referral specialists ready to serve you. On top of that, the dollars spent "sentat n FIRSTCARE stay right here in CeAvhich Texas. c °inpei ^ereju To top it off, FIRSTCARE has no forms to fill out, no annual deductibleBry an meet and minimal out-of-pocket expen^hisye; and thf If this all looks good to you, call (254) 202-5’^ or 1-888-817-2273 for more informabiess !>| With so many choices, FIRSTCARE tgether whole new flavor of HMO. "!’h sl t dowi Prove tl flail tot FIRSTCARE i\ Health A I The HMO of Choice. ^CKluee beads ^ af tieb "Thr except \ He s, ? g?tess A Service of Hillcrest 3th 4547 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 4 • Waco, Texas 76710 • (254) 202-5300 • (888) 817-2273 ‘erdi