States brief ~ CA Supreme Court rules workplace sex can harass other employees News
States brief ~ CA Supreme Court rules workplace sex can harass other employees

[JURIST] Leading Monday's states brief, the California Supreme Court ruled [PDF text] today that a boss's sexual affairs with subordinates may result in the sexual harassment of other employees in violation of the state's Fair Employment and Housing Act [PDF text]. In the case, two former state prison employees alleged that the warden was having affairs with several women who were treated in a favored manner. The Supreme Court stated that when such sexual favoritism is widespread it may constitute a hostile work environment. The decision reversed the Court of Appeals, which had affirmed the lower courts grant of summary judgment in favor of the Defendants. AP has more.

In other state legal news …

  • The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled [PDF text] Monday that man's right to a fair trial was not violated during the prosecutor's closing arguments in which the prosecutor said the defendant deserved to die for his involvement in a car crash which killed three people. The opinion stated that the comment "improperly appealed to jurors' passions and emotions," but did not require a new trial. An appeals court had ordered a new trial [opinion, PDFt] after finding the comment to be an improper appeal to jurors' emotions. AP has more.
  • The Texas House of Representatives has passed legislation banning the government's use of eminent domain for private economic-development projects. The bill [text] prohibits state and local governments as well as the corporations created by them from condemning land for economic-development, if it aids a private party or "is for a public use that is merely a pretext to confer a private benefit on a particular private party." The legislation was passed in response to the recent US Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London [JURIST report]. The House has already passed a constitutional ban [text] on such use of eminent domain that is currently being debated in the Senate. Texas's Dallas Morning News has local coverage.
  • Effective Monday, Illinois police departments will be required to record all interrogations in homicide cases. The requirement is meant to ensure that police do not obtain false confessions through torture or promises of leniency, and will also allow jurors to see the interrogations. Steven Drizin, the legal director of Northwestern University's Center for Wrongful Convictions [center website], called the requirement "one of the most important safeguards in the criminal justice system in the last 40 years." The law was enacted in 2003 and makes Illinois the third state with such a requirement. The Chicago Sun-Times has local coverage.
THIS DAY @ LAW

House Judiciary Committee opened impeachment hearings against Richard Nixon

On May 9, 1974, the US House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Peter Rodino (D-NJ) opened hearings into the possible impeachment of President Richard Nixon in connection with the Watergate scandal. The Committee voted to impeach Nixon on three counts on July 30. Chairman Rodino died in 2005 at his home in New Jersey. He was 95.

Australia Parliament opened

On May 9, 1901, the Parliament of Australia convened for the first time in Melbourne. The Australian Parliament also held its first meeting in the new capital of Canberra 26 years later on the same day 1927. Finally, on this day in 1988 Australian opened its new Parliament House in Canberra. Read the Constitution of Australia.