In a landmark decision with far-reaching consequences, a sharply divided Supreme Court last week struck down restrictions on campaign spending by corporations and unions, freeing them to spend a limitless amount to support or oppose a political candidate. The case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, reverses two prior Supreme Court precedents as well as overturns key aspects of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA), also known as the McCain-Feingold Act.
Erica Corder
The relationship between religion and public education is endless fodder for debate, and it seems that, the more diverse our society is, the more problematic political correctness becomes. On November 30, 2009 the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from Erica Corder to revive her 2008 lawsuit against Lewis Palmer School District, reigniting conversations about freedom of speech and the separation of church and state.
With the crumble, and hopefully resurrection soon, of the financial markets, my blood can’t help but boil and my head can’t help but spin when I hear of another potential financial injustice. This week’s Odd File case will return tomorrow; meanwhile, check this out.
Here’s the scenario:
Billionaire founder of the Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam was charged last week by federal prosecutors for utilizing insider trading schemes to net Galleon more than $20 million worth in illegal profits. Danielle Chiesi from New Castle Funds was also charged with supplying Rajaratnam and New Castle with insider information. However, reports are surfacing that if Rajaratnam was using insider information to drive which shares Galleon would purchase for profits, then Rajaratnam was a lousy at insider trading. According to the criminal complaint, Chiesi coaxed Rajaratnam to purchase 16 million shares and New Castle to purchase 2.5 million shares of A.M.D., a computer chip maker. Galleon spent $85 million to $90 million on the 16 million share purchase, but, when the global financial markets began to fall, so did A.M.D.’s shares. The shares that Galleon purchased were then only worth $68 million, and the group suffered a near 30% loss.
Here’s the scenario:
Back in 2005, a French man living in Massachusetts wrote in complaining about Subway Restaurant’s advertisement of their new chicken cordon bleu sandwich. A poster in a Subway Restaurant window read “Chicken and France… Somehow it just goes together.” The poster also featured a chicken dressed in what appeared to be a French military uniform. He found the poster to be disturbing because to him it was clearly racist, inflammatory, and insensitive. The man said, “They’re looking to sell a few sandwiches on the basis of the current anti-French sentiment?” He acknowledged that there are a lot of French people in the United States and that Subway Restaurant, as an international franchise, has shops in France and Quebec, so he had a hard time imagining this poster in restaurant windows there. He asked: “Are they violating any laws?”
