News In Brief
A divided US Supreme Court voted to uphold political party spending limits. Ruling in a 15-year-old case concerning spending by Republicans on a Colorado Senate race, the court preserved caps on how much a party may spend on activities such as mass mailings or ads in coordination with a candidate's campaign. (Story, page 1.)
The high court also ruled that immigrants with criminal convictions cannot be deported without a legal hearing. The justices disagreed with a 1996 law that barred court review of removal orders for immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies. In other rulings, the court found that freelance writers have control over whether articles they sold for print may be reproduced in electronic form and let stand a ruling that led Texas to end affirmative action in its public schools and universities. (Stories, page 4.)
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is to meet with President Bush in Washington today to discuss the ongoing conflict with Palestinians. Sharon has made an end to the fighting a condition for resuming any peace negotiations. His visit is the second to the US in three months. In contrast, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat, a regular visitor to the White House during the Clinton years, has yet to be invited by Bush.
Two Anglican archbishops from overseas consecrated four conservative American priests as bishops, sending shock waves through the Anglican Communion and its US member, the Episcopal Church. The unprecedented action was rooted in a battle over homosexuality, with the archbishops criticizing what they say is a tacit acceptance in the church of ordaining noncelibate gay men and lesbians and blessing same-sex unions. Observers say the action could lead to a breakaway Anglican denomination in the US that would exist parallel to the more liberal Episcopal Church.
One-third of violence victims say their attackers had committed previous crimes against them, a study by the Justice Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. About half the reported attacks were committed by "intimate partners," one-third were blamed on family members, and 20 percent were committed by strangers, the report said.
New Jersey Republicans vote today in their closely watched gubernatorial primary. Former US Rep. Bob Franks is challenged by popular Jersey City Mayor Bret Schundler in what political observers say has been a particularly bitter campaign. As the Monitor went to press, late opinion polls favored Schundler, considered a renegade in some Republican circles and out of favor with the state's generally moderate GOP leaders. They worry that his conservative views will allow Democratic candidate Jim McGreevey to portray Republicans as extremists in the November election.
(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Monitor
