WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal from an anti-abortion group that wanted to be exempted from campaign finance disclosure regulations.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from The Real Truth About Abortion, Inc., which was formerly called The Real Truth About Obama, Inc. The group wanted to stop the Federal Election Commission and the Justice Department from enforcing fundraising and advertising regulations against it.
The Virginia based group, which was formed by anti-abortion activists, says its “issue advocacy” amounts to constitutionally protected free speech that does not expressly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. The group also says that Federal Election Commission rules defining PACs and their activity are unconstitutionally broad and vague.
The lower courts have disagreed.
Court won’t stop embryonic stem cell research
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t stop the government‘s funding of embryonic stem cell research, despite some researchers’ complaints that the work relies on destroyed human embryos.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from two scientists who have been challenging the funding for the work.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia earlier this year threw out their lawsuit challenging federal funding for the research, which is used in pursuit of cures to deadly diseases. Opponents claimed the National Institutes of Health was violating the 1996 Dickey-Wicker law that prohibits taxpayer financing for work that harms an embryo.
Researchers hope one day to use stem cells in ways that cure spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s disease and other ailments.
High court rejects Medicare challenge
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away a challenge from former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and other Social Security recipients who say they have the right to reject Medicare in favor of continuing health coverage from private insurers.
The justices did not comment Monday in letting stand a federal appeals court ruling that held that there is no way for people who receive Social Security to reject Medicare benefits.
Armey, a Texas Republican, and two other former federal employees say private insurance covers more than Medicare. Two other plaintiffs are wealthy individuals who have high deductible private insurance and prefer to pay for their health care.
The case was funded by a group called The Fund For Personal Liberty, which says its purpose is to take on burdensome government regulations.
Court won’t hear Ga. Gun lawsuit
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t overturn a Georgia law banning firearms in churches and other places of worship.
The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from GeorgiaCarry.org, which wanted the justices to overturn a lower court decision upholding Georgia’s law banning guns in churches and other places of worship.
GeorgiaCarry.org argued that the ban applying specifically to places of worship burdens “religiously motivated conduct by regulating how or what a worshipper can do with a weapon while he is worshipping.”
But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s dismissal of the lawsuit brought by GeorgiaCarry and the Rev. Jonathan Wilkins of the Baptist Tabernacle of Thomaston, Ga. The Supreme Court, without comment, refused to reconsider that ruling.
