- Myth-busting reactions to the Supreme Court’s decision in 303 Creative v. Elenis Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
- Supreme Court Rules Website Designer’s Right to Free Expression Outweighs Duty Not to Discriminate in Providing Certain “Expressive” Goods and Services JD Supra
- The U.S. Supreme Court has created a First Amendment right to discrimination | Opinion Yahoo News
- Supreme Court says First Amendment allows discrimination Sacramento Bee
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Tag Archives: Courts
Wimbledon: Demonstrators dragged off after dumping confetti on grass courts to protest fossil fuels – Yahoo Sports
- Wimbledon: Demonstrators dragged off after dumping confetti on grass courts to protest fossil fuels Yahoo Sports
- Just Stop Oil protesters interrupt play at Wimbledon The Times and The Sunday Times
- Controversy Erupts at Wimbledon as ‘Circus’-Like Scenes Unfold as Fans React in Dismay to Protestors Turning Grass to Clay in Bizarre Scenes EssentiallySports
- Just Stop Oil storms Wimbledon court with orange confetti The Telegraph
- Environmental activists disrupt play at Wimbledon during match on Court 18 and get arrested KTVN
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Slovenia arrests 2 suspected Russian spies – POLITICO
Authorities in Slovenia arrested two foreign nationals accused of spying for Russia, local media reported late Sunday.
The two suspects were citizens of an unnamed South American country and had assumed false identities in real estate and antiques trading, according to local newspaper Delo. They were arrested on December 5, 2022, in a rented office in Ljubljana’s Bežigrad district, according to the report.
“The District State Prosecutor’s Office in Ljubljana received a notification from the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency, on the basis of which pre-trial proceedings have been initiated,” Ljubljana prosecutor’s office told Slovenia news portal Siol. The prosecutor’s office said the legal proceedings were ongoing, and would not officially confirm the allegations.
The operation to nab the suspected spies, reportedly carried out by the Slovenian Intelligence and Security Agency, was undertaken in cooperation with other countries’ security services, as the spy cell was reportedly also carrying out operations outside of Slovenia.
Security services around Europe have cracked down on alleged Russian spies operating on the Continent in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany has made two arrests connected to espionage within their own foreign intelligence agency.
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PM meets Aryeh Deri at Shas leader’s home after High Court’s disqualification
Shas: Court undermined the will of 400,000 voters
Moments after the High Court of Justice disqualified its leader from holding ministerial office, the Shas party released a statement accusing the court of making a “political” decision that undermined the will of Shas’s 400,000 voters.
“Today, the court effectively ruled that elections are meaningless. The court’s decision is political and tainted with extreme unreasonability,” reads the statement.
A recidivist financial offender, Shas leader Aryeh Deri was most recently convicted of tax offenses last January, and left the Knesset as part of a plea deal in which he vowed to retire from political life. Instead, he reentered the Knesset on top of Shas’s 11 seats in November, and in December, the coalition fast-tracked legislation to smooth his way into holding the interior and health ministry posts.
“The entire Shas movement is appalled by the arbitrary and unprecedented decision of the High Court of Justice, in contravention of law and justice, and sees it as a serious violation of the right to vote and to be elected, which is the lifeblood of democracy,” the Shas statement continues. The party also pledges to weigh its next steps, promising to consult with its guiding rabbis as to how to address the court decision.
Earlier this month, Justice Minister Yariv Levin proposed legislation to cancel the reasonability test under which the court has nixed Deri’s appointments, and the ruling will likely pressure the coalition to accelerate this, or another solution, to restore Deri’s status as a minister.
The decision also comes in the context of a broader Shas-backed judicial reform fight, a culmination of decades of the Mizrahi Haredi party lamenting overreach by a court that does not reflect its way of life.
“Broad sections of Israeli society today feel excluded by the court,” Shas’s statement reads.
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As the world courts TSMC, Taiwan worries about losing its ‘silicon shield’
Hong Kong
CNN
—
Semiconductor giant TSMC was feted this week by US President Joe Biden and Apple CEO Tim Cook during a ceremony to unveil its $40 billion manufacturing site in Arizona — a huge investment designed to help secure America’s supply of the most advanced chips.
But back home in Taiwan, there is deep unease over the growing political and commercial pressure being applied to the world’s most important chipmaker to expand internationally. The company is building a facility in Japan and considering investing in Europe.
“They’re like the Hope Diamond of semiconductors. Everybody wants them,” said G. Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, a research organization specializing in chips. (The Hope Diamond is the world’s largest blue diamond, which now resides at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.)
“Customers in China want them to build there. Customers in the US want them there. And customers in Europe want them there too,” he added.
Apart from the risk that TSMC will take its most advanced technology with it — stripping Taiwan of one of its unique assets and reducing employment opportunities locally — there are fears that a diminished presence for the company could expose Taipei to greater pressure from Beijing, which has vowed to take control of the self-ruled island, by force if necessary.
TSMC is considered a national treasure in Taiwan and supplies tech giants including Apple
(AAPL) and Qualcomm
(QCOM). It mass produces the most advanced semiconductors in the world, components that are vital to the smooth running of everything from smartphones to washing machines.
The company is perceived as being so valuable to the global economy, as well as to China — which claims Taiwan as its own territory despite having never controlled it — that it is sometimes even referred to as forming part of a “silicon shield” against a potential military invasion by Beijing. TSMC’s presence gives a strong incentive to the West to defend Taiwan against any attempt by China to take it by force.
“The idea is that if Taiwan became a powerhouse in semiconductors, then America would have to support and defend it,” said Hutcheson. “The strategy has been super successful.”
A day before Tuesday’s Phoenix ceremony Chiu Chenyuan, a lawmaker with the opposition Taiwan People’s Party, grilled Foreign Minister Joseph Wu about whether there is a “secret deal” with the United States to disadvantage Taiwan’s chip industry.
Chiu claimed that the chip giant was under political pressure to move its operations and its most advanced technology to the US. He cited the transfer of 300 people, including TSMC engineers, to the Arizona plant. In response, Wu said there was no secret deal, nor was there any attempt to diminish the importance of Taiwan to TSMC.
Patrick Chen, the Taipei-based head of research at CL Securities Taiwan, said there was a common concern on the island about TSMC’s growing international importance, the pressure it is facing to expand, and what that means for Taiwan.
“It is similar to what happened in the US in the 70s and 80s when manufacturing jobs were being shifted away from the States into other countries. Many local jobs were lost and cities bankrupted,” he said.
CNN has asked TSMC for comment about its expansion plans.
Its CEO, CC Wei, had previously said: “Every region is important to TSMC,” adding that it would “continue to serve all the customers all over the world.”
Founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC is not a household name outside Taiwan, even though it produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced computer chips.
Semiconductors are an indispensable part of just about every electronic device. They are difficult to make because of the high cost of development and the level of knowledge required, meaning much of the production is concentrated among a handful of suppliers.
Concerned about losing access to crucial chips, particularly as tension has escalated between China and the United States, as well as between Beijing and Taipei, governments and major consumer-facing companies like Apple have asked semiconductor companies to localize their operations, according to experts.
“TSMC’s decision to expand its Arizona investment is evidence that politics and geopolitical risks will play a bigger role than previously in supply chain decisions,” said Chris Miller, author of “Chip War: the Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology”.
“It also suggests that TSMC’s customers are asking for more geographic diversification, which is something that wasn’t previously a key concern of major customers.”
On Tuesday, TSMC said it was increasing its investment in the US by building a second semiconductor factory in Arizona and raising its total investment there from $12 billion to $40 billion.
Chang had previously said its plant in Arizona would produce 3-nanometer chips, the company’s most advanced technology, as advances in chip manufacturing require etching ever-smaller transistors onto silicon wafers.
These announcements alarm politicians like Chiu of the Taiwan People’s Party’s. He frets about the island losing out as TSMC is courted globally.
Chen of CL Securities said national security concerns among governments globally are driving TSMC’s expansion. But he believes the company will continue to manufacture its most advanced technology at home.
“This would make economic sense given [the] lower salaries [and] higher quality of Taiwanese engineers,” he said, adding that the company needs the approval of the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs to move its most advanced technologies abroad, which it was unlikely to give.
Many experts believe that by the time 3-nanometer chips are being made in Arizona, TSMC’s Taiwan operations would be producing even smaller, more advanced chips.
Hutcheson also believes TSMC will keep its most cutting-edge development teams in Taiwan.
“Once you have a team of people doing development work, they work very closely together. You don’t want to disrupt that. It’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
— CNN’s Wayne Chang contributed to this report.
As the world courts TSMC, Taiwan worries about losing its ‘silicon shield’
Hong Kong
CNN
—
Semiconductor giant TSMC was feted this week by US President Joe Biden and Apple CEO Tim Cook during a ceremony to unveil its $40 billion manufacturing site in Arizona — a huge investment designed to help secure America’s supply of the most advanced chips.
But back home in Taiwan, there is deep unease over the growing political and commercial pressure being applied to the world’s most important chipmaker to expand internationally. The company is building a facility in Japan and considering investing in Europe.
“They’re like the Hope Diamond of semiconductors. Everybody wants them,” said G. Dan Hutcheson, vice chair of TechInsights, a research organization specializing in chips. (The Hope Diamond is the world’s largest blue diamond, which now resides at the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington.)
“Customers in China want them to build there. Customers in the US want them there. And customers in Europe want them there too,” he added.
Apart from the risk that TSMC will take its most advanced technology with it — stripping Taiwan of one of its unique assets and reducing employment opportunities locally — there are fears that a diminished presence for the company could expose Taipei to greater pressure from Beijing, which has vowed to take control of the self-ruled island, by force if necessary.
TSMC is considered a national treasure in Taiwan and supplies tech giants including Apple
(AAPL) and Qualcomm
(QCOM). It mass produces the most advanced semiconductors in the world, components that are vital to the smooth running of everything from smartphones to washing machines.
The company is perceived as being so valuable to the global economy, as well as to China — which claims Taiwan as its own territory despite having never controlled it — that it is sometimes even referred to as forming part of a “silicon shield” against a potential military invasion by Beijing. TSMC’s presence gives a strong incentive to the West to defend Taiwan against any attempt by China to take it by force.
“The idea is that if Taiwan became a powerhouse in semiconductors, then America would have to support and defend it,” said Hutcheson. “The strategy has been super successful.”
A day before Tuesday’s Phoenix ceremony Chiu Chenyuan, a lawmaker with the opposition Taiwan People’s Party, grilled Foreign Minister Joseph Wu about whether there is a “secret deal” with the United States to disadvantage Taiwan’s chip industry.
Chiu claimed that the chip giant was under political pressure to move its operations and its most advanced technology to the US. He cited the transfer of 300 people, including TSMC engineers, to the Arizona plant. In response, Wu said there was no secret deal, nor was there any attempt to diminish the importance of Taiwan to TSMC.
Patrick Chen, the Taipei-based head of research at CL Securities Taiwan, said there was a common concern on the island about TSMC’s growing international importance, the pressure it is facing to expand, and what that means for Taiwan.
“It is similar to what happened in the US in the 70s and 80s when manufacturing jobs were being shifted away from the States into other countries. Many local jobs were lost and cities bankrupted,” he said.
CNN has asked TSMC for comment about its expansion plans.
Its CEO, CC Wei, had previously said: “Every region is important to TSMC,” adding that it would “continue to serve all the customers all over the world.”
Founded in 1987 by Morris Chang, TSMC is not a household name outside Taiwan, even though it produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced computer chips.
Semiconductors are an indispensable part of just about every electronic device. They are difficult to make because of the high cost of development and the level of knowledge required, meaning much of the production is concentrated among a handful of suppliers.
Concerned about losing access to crucial chips, particularly as tension has escalated between China and the United States, as well as between Beijing and Taipei, governments and major consumer-facing companies like Apple have asked semiconductor companies to localize their operations, according to experts.
“TSMC’s decision to expand its Arizona investment is evidence that politics and geopolitical risks will play a bigger role than previously in supply chain decisions,” said Chris Miller, author of “Chip War: the Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology”.
“It also suggests that TSMC’s customers are asking for more geographic diversification, which is something that wasn’t previously a key concern of major customers.”
On Tuesday, TSMC said it was increasing its investment in the US by building a second semiconductor factory in Arizona and raising its total investment there from $12 billion to $40 billion.
Chang had previously said its plant in Arizona would produce 3-nanometer chips, the company’s most advanced technology, as advances in chip manufacturing require etching ever-smaller transistors onto silicon wafers.
These announcements alarm politicians like Chiu of the Taiwan People’s Party’s. He frets about the island losing out as TSMC is courted globally.
Chen of CL Securities said national security concerns among governments globally are driving TSMC’s expansion. But he believes the company will continue to manufacture its most advanced technology at home.
“This would make economic sense given [the] lower salaries [and] higher quality of Taiwanese engineers,” he said, adding that the company needs the approval of the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs to move its most advanced technologies abroad, which it was unlikely to give.
Many experts believe that by the time 3-nanometer chips are being made in Arizona, TSMC’s Taiwan operations would be producing even smaller, more advanced chips.
Hutcheson also believes TSMC will keep its most cutting-edge development teams in Taiwan.
“Once you have a team of people doing development work, they work very closely together. You don’t want to disrupt that. It’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
— CNN’s Wayne Chang contributed to this report.
19-year-old Khorry Ramey too you to witness Kevin Johnson’s execution: Judge
A 19-year-old woman is too young to witness the state of Missouri execute her father, who was sentenced to death for killing a police officer when he was a teen, a federal judge ruled.
Khorry Ramey requested to be present for Kevin Johnson’s final moments, but US District Judge Brian Wimes said in a ruling that execution witnesses need to be at least 21 years old, NBC News reported.
Missouri and Nevada are the only states that require witnesses to be 21, Ramey’s attorneys argued.
“I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to be with my dad in his last moments,” Ramey said in a statement, adding that he “has worked very hard to rehabilitate himself in prison. I pray that [Gov. Mike] Parson will give my dad clemency.”
Johnson, now 37, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Nov. 29 for the 2005 killing of Kirkwood Police Officer William McEntee, a crime he committed when he was 19 and Ramey was 2.
He selected his daughter as one of the five people permitted to witness his death, but the Missouri Department of Corrections rejected the request, a move the ACLU argued violates both the First and Fourteenth amendments.
“Missouri executes people, like Mr. Johnson, for crimes committed as adults but before their 21st birthday illustrates the irrationality of the statute’s requirement that execution witnesses not only be adults but also at least 21 years old,” the filing states.
Missing her father’s execution will cause Ramey “irreparable harm,” her attorneys said.
In a court declaration earlier this week, Ramey called Johnson “the most important person in my life.”
Ramey and Johnson have a very close relationship and he is her only living parent, the ACLU said. She witnessed the murder of her mother at the hands of an ex-boyfriend when she was just 4 years old.
With the execution date looming, Johnson’s attorneys are filing appeals to save his life. They admit Johnson’s guilt, but argue that a history of mental illness and argue his age at the time of the crime should warrant court intervention. They also claim racism played a role in his death penalty sentencing — Johnson is black and McEntee was white.
McEntee arrived at Johnson’s home in 2005 to serve an arrest warrant to Johnson, who police believed violated the probation he was on for assaulting his girlfriend.
When McEntee showed up at the house, Johnson’s younger brother, Joseph “Bam Bam” Long, 12, ran next door to their grandmother’s house, where he collapsed and began having a seizure.
Johnson testified that McEntee kept the boys’ mother from going into the house to help the seizing boy. Joseph later died at a hospital.
Upon seeing McEntee in the neighborhood later that evening, Johnson approached the officer and shot him twice.
“The surviving victims of Johnson’s crimes have waited long enough for justice, and every day longer that they must wait is a day they are denied the chance to finally make peace with their loss,” stated a state petition filed last week by the Missouri Attorney General’s Office to the Supreme Court.
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U.S. Supreme Court’s Thomas temporarily blocks Graham election case testimony
Oct 24 (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on Monday temporarily blocked a judge’s order requiring Senator Lindsey Graham to testify to a grand jury in Georgia in a criminal investigation into whether then-President Donald Trump and his allies unlawfully tried to overturn 2020 election results in the state.
Thomas put the case on hold pending further action either from the justice or the full Supreme Court on a request by Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and Trump ally, to halt the order for testimony. Graham filed the emergency application to the Supreme Court on Friday after a federal appeals court denied his request to block the questioning.
Thomas acted in the case because he is designated by the court to handle emergency requests from a region that includes Georgia.
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Graham has argued that his position as a senator provides him immunity under the U.S. Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause from having to answer questions related to his actions as part of the legislative process.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has subpoenaed Graham to answer questions about phone calls he made to a senior Georgia election official in the weeks after the November 2020 election.
Atlanta-based U.S. District Judge Leigh Martin May last month narrowed the scope of questions that Graham must answer from the grand jury, ruling that he is protected from having to discuss “investigatory fact-finding” that he was engaged in during his calls to state election officials.
However, May said he may be questioned about alleged efforts to encourage officials to throw out ballots or alleged communication with the Trump campaign. May rejected Graham’s bid to avoid testifying altogether.
The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday declined to block Graham’s testimony pending an appeal.
Graham is not a target in the investigation but his testimony could shed further light on coordination among Trump allies to reverse the election results.
The senator’s lawyers said in his application that the testimony would “undisputedly center on Senator Graham’s official acts – phone calls he made in the course of his official work, in the leadup to the critical vote under the Electoral Count Act.”
Trump continues to appear at rallies repeating his false claims that the 2020 election won by Democrat Joe Biden was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud.
The investigation was launched after Trump was recorded in a Jan. 2, 2021, phone call pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the state’s election results based on unfounded claims of voter fraud. During the phone call, Trump urged Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to “find” enough votes to overturn his Georgia loss to Biden.
The transcript of the call quotes Trump telling Raffensperger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes,” which is the number Trump needed to win Georgia. Trump has denied wrongdoing in the phone call.
Legal experts have said Trump’s phone calls may have violated at least three state election laws: conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with performance of election duties.
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Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Putin courts Erdogan with plan to pump more Russian gas via Turkey
ASTANA, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Moscow could export more gas via Turkey and turn it into a new supply “hub”, bidding to preserve Russia’s energy leverage over Europe.
At a meeting in Kazakhstan, Putin said Turkey offered the most reliable route to deliver gas to the European Union, and the proposed platform would allow prices to be set without politics.
Russia is looking to redirect supplies away from the Nord Stream Baltic gas pipelines, damaged in explosions last month that are still under investigation. Russia blamed the West, without providing evidence, and rejected what it called “stupid” assertions that it had sabotaged the pipelines itself.
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Putin told Erdogan the hub would be “a platform not only for supplies, but also for determining the price, because this is a very important issue”.
“Today, these prices are sky-high,” he said. “We could easily regulate [them] at a normal market level, without any political overtones.”
Erdogan did not respond in the televised portion of their meeting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA as saying both men had ordered a rapid and detailed examination of the idea.
Russia supplied about 40% of Europe’s gas before its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but had cut flows sharply even before the explosions, blaming technical problems that it said were the result of Western sanctions.
European governments rejected that explanation, accusing Moscow of using energy as a geopolitical weapon.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), in Astana, Kazakhstan October 13, 2022. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
TURKISH MEDIATION
Relations with NATO member Turkey are vital to Russia at a time when the West has hit it with waves of economic sanctions, which Ankara has refrained from joining. Turkey has, however, rejected Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian regions as a “grave violation” of international law.
Erdogan has sought to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv, and achieved a rare breakthrough in July when, together with the United Nations, he brokered an agreement allowing for the resumption of commercial Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia had blockaded.
Russia has complained, however, that its own grain and fertiliser exports, while not directly targeted by Western sanctions, continue to be hampered by problems with access to foreign ports and obtaining insurance.
Erdogan told Putin: “We are determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports … and the transfer of Russian grain and fertiliser to less developed countries via Turkey.”
Russian officials had said before the meeting that they were open to hearing proposals from Turkey about hosting peace talks involving Russia and the West.
However, Peskov was quoted by RIA as saying “the topic of a Russian-Ukrainian settlement was not discussed” by the leaders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week signalled increasing receptiveness to talks after Moscow suffered a series of military defeats. Washington dismissed his comments as “posturing”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ruled out talking to Putin after he proclaimed the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions and after Russia rained missiles on Ukrainian cities this week in the wake of an attack on a vital bridge between Russia and Crimea, the peninsula it seized in 2014.
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Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan, Editing by Kevin Liffey
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Google faces $25.4 billion damages claims in UK, Dutch courts over adtech practices
The Google name is displayed outside the company’s office in London, Britain, November 1, 2018. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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BRUSSELS, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Alphabet unit Google (GOOGL.O) will face damages claims for up to 25 billion euros ($25.4 billion) over its digital advertising practices in two suits to be filed in British and Dutch courts in the coming weeks by a law firm on behalf of publishers.
Google’s adtech has recently drawn scrutiny from antitrust regulators following complaints from publishers. read more
The French competition watchdog imposed a 220-million-euro fine on the company last year while the European Commission and its UK peer are investigating whether Google’s adtech business gives it an unfair advantage over rivals and advertisers. [ read more
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“It is time that Google owns up to its responsibilities and pays back the damages it has caused to this important industry. That is why today we are announcing these actions across two jurisdictions to obtain compensation for EU and UK publishers,” Damien Geradin at law firm Geradin Partners said in a statement on Tuesday.
Google criticised the imminent lawsuits, saying that it works constructively with publishers across Europe.
“This lawsuit is speculative and opportunistic. When we receive the complaint, we’ll fight it vigorously,” a spokesperson said.
The British claim at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal will seek to recover compensation for all owners of websites carrying banner advertising, including traditional publishers. Britain has an opt-out regime.
The Dutch claim is open to publishers affected by Google’s actions. Litigation funder Harbour is funding both lawsuits.
($1 = 0.9860 euros)
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Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Philip Blenkinsop and David Evans
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.