In brief: Oregon gay marriage intact during appeal
SALEM, Ore. – The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to halt same-sex weddings in Oregon while a federal appeals court considers whether a group opposed to gay marriage can intervene in the case.
The order follows an emergency appeal by the National Organization for Marriage, which seeks to overturn U.S. District Judge Michael McShane’s May 19 ruling that declared Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional. The group had tried unsuccessfully to intervene in the lower court proceeding after Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum declined to defend the same-sex ban.
The group filed its request with Justice Anthony Kennedy and he referred it to the full court. The justices denied it without comment.
Judge faces censure over rape comments
BILLINGS – A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim appeared “older than her chronological age” faces public censure and a 31-day suspension without pay for his misconduct in the case, the Montana Supreme Court said in a Wednesday order.
Justices said Judge G. Todd Baugh of Billings eroded confidence in the court system with his actions in the case of convicted rapist and former teacher Stacey Dean Rambold.
“There is no place in the Montana judiciary for perpetuating the stereotype that women and girls are responsible for sexual crimes committed against them,” Chief Justice Mike McGrath wrote.
Baugh, 72, was ordered to appear before the court July 1 for the public censure.
The judge sent Rambold to prison for just 30 days last year after he pleaded guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. Prosecutors appealed, and the Supreme Court in April ordered a new sentencing in the case by a different judge.
Baugh has apologized for his actions and said he plans to retire when his term expires in December after three decades on the bench.
Police crack down on gangs in Harlem
NEW YORK – More than 100 alleged gang members were charged Wednesday for what law enforcement officials called a decades-old feud that wreaked violence and death over two Harlem public housing developments.
“These three gangs were not sophisticated drug-trafficking organizations,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in announcing the two indictments. “Far from it, they were young people protecting their territories from imaginary threats and avenging the murders of fellow gang members and loved ones.”
The 103 suspected gang members face charges including conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and gang assault.
Forty suspects from three gangs were arrested in early morning raids in Harlem, 39 already were jailed on other offenses and the rest were being sought in what Vance called the largest gang case in New York City history.
Tea party candidate, incumbent in runoff
JACKSON, Miss. – Forced into a Mississippi runoff, challenger Chris McDaniel and veteran Sen. Thad Cochran plunged into a three-week campaign Wednesday to pick a Republican candidate for the fall and settle the tea party’s last, best attempt of the year to topple a pillar of the establishment.
McDaniel, a narrow leader in the vote tally, issued a statement from his campaign that cited his first-place finish as evidence of a “groundswell of energy behind his campaign to bring a true conservative agenda to Washington, D.C.”
Cochran, 76 , and his allies sought to put the best face on a relatively weak showing at the ballot box after three decades in office spent directing federal funds to his economically distressed state. “We had a great day yesterday, and it is one more step toward making November Mississippi’s moment when we take back the U.S. Senate,” he said in a written statement.