Supreme Court move allows Jackson part in race admissions case
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Friday took a step that will allow new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman on the court, to take part in a case that could lead to the end of the use of race in college admissions.
Jackson, who joined the court June 30 following the retirement of Justice Stephen Breyer, had pledged during her confirmation hearing to sit out the case involving Harvard’s admissions policy because she was a member of the school’s board.
The Harvard dispute had been joined to a similar lawsuit involving the University of North Carolina. The court split the case in two, allowing Jackson to hear arguments and vote in the North Carolina case. Harvard is a private institution, while UNC is a public university.
Jackson’s participation seems unlikely to make much difference in the outcome on a court with a 6-3 conservative majority that is skeptical of the role of race in education, voting and other areas.
Arguments over one of the new term’s most highly anticipated issues probably will take place in November or December, but no date has been announced yet.
Jackson was a member of Harvard’s Board of Overseers from 2016 until the spring. It is made up of alumni and is one of Harvard’s two governing bodies. She is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Three other justices also got their law degrees from Harvard: Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan and Neil Gorsuch. Roberts also was a Harvard undergraduate and Kagan was the law school dean for a time. But none of the other justices has any current or recent role with the university.
Federal law requires all judges to recuse from cases in which their “impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” including close ties to a party, a financial interest in the outcome or participation at an earlier stage of the case.
Iowa state park shooting:
Three family members were shot to death Friday morning while camping in a state park in eastern Iowa, and the suspected gunman died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Officers responded to reports of the shooting at the Maquoketa Caves State Park Campground before 6:30 a.m., the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said in a statement. Officers found three people fatally shot in a tent at the campground, division assistant director Mitch Mortvedt said.
Officials immediately evacuated everyone from the park, a children’s summer camp on the grounds and the campground. Using a plane to help search the area, law enforcement later found 23-year-old Anthony Sherwin dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a wooded area of the park. Sherwin came from Nebraska, and investigators don’t believe he had any prior relationship with the victims, Mortvedt said.
The three victims were related, Mortvedt said. He did not provide their names or ages, explain how they were related or provide a motive for the killings.
NKorea media ban: South Korea plans to lift its decadeslong ban on public access to North Korean television, newspapers and other media as part of its efforts to promote mutual understanding
between the rivals, officials said Friday, despite animosities over the North’s recent missile tests.
Divided along the world’s most heavily fortified border since 1948, the two Koreas prohibit their citizens from visiting each other’s territory and exchanging phone calls, emails and letters, and they block access to each other’s websites and TV stations.
Officials at South Korea’s Unification Ministry said South Korea will start by allowing access to North Korean broadcasts to try to encourage North Korea to take similar steps. The ministry refused to provide further details, saying the plans are still being discussed with relevant authorities in South Korea.
Libya militia clashes: Clashes between competing militias in Libya’s capital on Friday killed at least 13 people, despite calls for calm after violence first broke out the previous night, a spokesman
for Tripoli’s emergency services said.
It was the latest escalation to threaten the relative peace after nearly a decade of civil war in Libya, where two rival sets of authorities are locked in a political stalemate. The divisions have sparked several incidents of violence in Tripoli in recent months, but most have been over in a matter of hours.
According to the emergency services spokesman, among those killed since the fighting started late Thursday were three civilians from the area and a 12-year-old child. He also said 30 people had been wounded.
Prince Harry can take the British government to court over his security arrangements in the U.K., a judge in London ruled Friday.
Harry and his wife, Meghan, lost publicly funded U.K. police protection when they stepped down as senior working
Prince Harry security:
royals and moved to North America in 2020. The prince wants to pay personally for police security when he comes to Britain, and is challenging the government’s refusal to permit it.
Judge Jonathan Swift ruled Friday that the case can go to a full hearing at the High Court in London. He refused some aspects of the challenge but said some grounds “give rise to an arguable case” that deserves a hearing.
A West Virginia man charged with trying to kill his sister — who recently awakened from a two-year coma and identified him as her attacker — has died.
Daniel Palmer III had long been considered the key suspect in the brutal attack that left his sister comatose two years ago.
Able to speak only a word at a time after coming out of a coma, Wanda Palmer identified her brother, with whom
Accused attacker dead:
she had a violent past, as her attacker. Daniel Palmer was arrested July 15.
Less than a week later, he was dead, likely bringing a close to a highly unusual case in which the investigation was stalled by a lack of evidence.
Daniel Palmer was pronounced dead Thursday at a Charleston hospital, a day after he was taken there following an evaluation by jail medical staff, the state Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Division of Corrections, said in a news release.
The statement didn’t indicate a cause of death and a spokeswoman for Department of Health and Human Resources said state law only allows the agency to release autopsy information to relatives and law enforcement.
Palmer, 55, of Cottageville, was uncooperative while in custody and during booking procedures at the South Central Regional Jail, the statement said.