Supreme Court Rejects Contraceptives Mandate for Some Corporations

By Adam Liptak  |  New York Times  |  June 30, 2014

Justices Rule in Favor of Hobby Lobby

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that requiring family-owned corporations to pay for insurance coverage for contraception under the Affordable Care Act violated a federal law protecting religious freedom. It was, the dissent said, “a decision of startling breadth.”

The 5-to-4 ruling, which applied to two companies owned by Christian families, opened the door to challenges from other corporations over laws that they claim violate their religious liberty.

The decision, along with another closely divided one that dealt a blow to public-sector unions, ended the term with a bang. But the rulings could have had an even broader immediate impact.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., writing for the court’s five more conservative justices, said a federal religious-freedom law applied to “closely held” for-profit corporations run on religious principles.

Supreme Court narrowly limits reach of labor unions

By Michael Pearson and Bill Mears  |  CNN  |  June 30, 2014

In a decision that sidesteps a major shift in labor policy, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that Illinois can't force home health care workers to pay dues to unions.

The narrow 5-4 ruling applies most directly to the Illinois home care providers who challenged a state decision to classify them as public employees and require them to pay fees to a union.

But it also deals a blow to union efforts nationwide to extend their reach in an era of declining membership and political influence.

"These home workers share a lot of attributes of the new emerging work force, and for unions, it's a big blow because that was their growth area," George Washington University Law School professor Jonathan Turley said. "And it's going to be very difficult now to extend these contracts to get those types of dues."

Judge Rules US 'No-Fly' List Is Unconstitutional

By Agence France Presse  |  Business Insider  |  June 25, 2014

Current handling of the "no-fly list" of terrorist suspects barred from commercial flights over US airspace was ruled unconstitutional Tuesday by a federal judge in Oregon.

In a 65-page ruling, published on the web site of the federal courts, Judge Anna Brown handed a major victory to 13 Muslim plaintiffs, including the imam of a Portland, Oregon mosque.

Importantly, Brown said the system as it exists does not give people a meaningful way to challenge their status on the list.

"The right to travel is a part of the 'liberty' of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment," she said.

Supreme Court limits cellphone searches after arrests

By Associated Press  |  Fox News  |  June 25, 2014

In a strong defense of digital age privacy, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police may not generally search the cellphones of people they arrest without first getting search warrants.

Cellphones are powerful devices unlike anything else police may find on someone they arrest, Chief Justice John Roberts said for the court. Because the phones contain so much information, police must get a warrant before looking through them, Roberts said.

"Modern cellphones are not just another technological convenience. With all they contain and all they may reveal, they hold for many Americans the privacies of life," Roberts said.

The court chose not to extend earlier rulings that allow police to empty a suspect's pockets and examine whatever they find to ensure officers' safety and prevent the destruction of evidence.

The Obama administration and the state of California, defending the cellphone searches, said cellphones should have no greater protection from a search than anything else police find.

Another Unanimous Supreme Court Decision Against Obama

Supreme Court rebukes Obama on recess appointments

By Robert Barnes  | Washington Post  |  June 26,2014

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that President Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in making high-level government appointments in 2012 when he declared the Senate to be in recess and unable to act on the nominations.

Obama made appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at a time when the Senate was holding pro forma sessions every three days precisely to thwart the president’s ability to exercise the power.

“The Senate is in session when it says it is,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer wrote for the court, stressing that if the Senate is able to conduct business, that is enough to keep the president from making recess appointments.

But the court stepped back from handing Obama — and those who will follow him in the Oval Office — a more substantial loss. A bare majority of the justices upheld, in theory at least, the president’s ability to make recess appointments when the Senate is indeed on extended break, saying history weighs in favor of a broad power.

Start Saving as Early as Possible

By Alaina Tweddale  |  WiseBread  |  June 19, 2014

The data below is an excerpt from This Is Why You Can't Postpone Planning for Your Retirement (And How to Start)
Link

Treat your retirement savings like you would any other bill: Budget for it and put the dough away each month, as if it were a necessary expense (because really, it is). The earlier you start, the more you can take advantage of compound earnings and, ultimately, the less you'll have to sock away in the long run. Here's a look at what you'd need to save, starting at different ages, to retire with $2 million (assuming an average annual increase of 7% per year and retirement at age 65).

• Start at age 20 and you'll have to save $510 per month.
• Start at age 30 and you'll have to save $1,050 per month.
• Start at age 40 and you'll have to save $2,270 per month.
• Start at age 50 and you'll have to save $5,600 per month.

The saver who started at 20 saved only $245,000 (the rest of the balance is a result of compound investment earnings). The saver who starts at age 50, on the other hand, will save $1,008,000 to get to $2 million at retirement.

The Justice Department Unleashes A Godzilla On Business

By IBD Editorials  |  June 26, 2014

Politics: After she destroyed Arthur Andersen in a flawed and subsequently overturned prosecution, the Senate has confirmed Leslie Caldwell to lead the DOJ's criminal division, giving her a mandate for even more mayhem.

You'd think someone who had thrown 85,000 people out of work, as this former Enron task force chief prosecutor did in her indictment of Arthur Andersen, before the whole thing was thrown out by a 9-0

Supreme Court, would go quietly from the public spotlight. Not so with Caldwell, a notoriously anti-business activist who in concert with the Obama White House is instead failing upward.

Her appointment over 700 Justice Department lawyers is bad news for an already beleaguered private sector, given her "wise guys" view of Wall Street.

Sidney Powell, former Justice Department counsel, sounded the alarm first. "Americans should brace themselves for an unprecedented assault on businesses, banks and political opponents of this administration — regardless of law or facts," he says in the New York Observer.

"Expect increasing use of the Department of Justice as an instrument of 'terror' to extort large civil penalties or fines from businesses under the threat of criminal prosecution and the death penalty that Ms. Caldwell and her cronies dealt Arthur Andersen."

The 18 Books That Changed My Life

By Noah Kagan, Okdork  |  Business Insider  |  June 25, 2014

A few months ago, I was drinking a Noah's Mill whiskey with my good buddy Brian Balfour and talking about life.

During the conversation we got on the topic of books that changed our lives.

I want to share them with you.

I judge a book's success if a year later I am still using at least one thing from the book.

My takeaways are what I still remember from the books; you may get even more out of these:

Google unveils products, updates that tie everything together

By Chris O'Brien and Paresh Dave  |  LA Times  |  June 25, 2014

Google wants to be everywhere in your life, all the time.

In a marathon keynote address Wednesday at Google I/O 2014, its annual developers conference, the Mountain View, Calif., company rolled out a mix of new products and updates to older ones.

But the pile of details added up to a basic message: The company now offers a breadth of products and services that will (Google hopes) work in harmony whether you're working, playing or in transit between the two.

Whether it's smartwatches, smartphones, tablets, connected cars, laptops or interactive TV, Google said its Internet services and a new version of its Android mobile operating system would increasingly tie everything together.

"I see this as an evolutionary move," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy. "There weren't things that made you say that this is new and unique. It's about making the things that Google does work better."

Broadly, it's similar to the message offered earlier this month by Apple at its own annual developers conference. No single eye-catching product was rolled out. Instead, in a world where smartphones and tablets are woven through the fabric of everyday life, companies are trying to figure out how to help consumers get more out of what they have.

Boehner Planning House Lawsuit Against Obama Executive Actions

By Daniel Newhauser  |  Roll Call  |  June 24, 2014

Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, told Republicans Tuesday he could have an announcement within days on whether the House will file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama, challenging the executive actions that have become the keystone of the administration.

The lawsuit could set up a significant test of constitutional checks and balances, with the legislative branch suing the executive branch for ignoring its mandates, and the judiciary branch deciding the outcome.
Boehner told the House Republican Conference during a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning that he has been consulting with legal scholars and plans to unveil his next steps this week or next, according to sources in the room.

Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said further action is necessary because the Senate has not taken up bills passed by the House targeting executive actions. The House has passed a bill expediting court consideration of House resolutions starting lawsuits targeting executive overreach and another mandating that the attorney general notify Congress when the administration decides to take executive action outside of what has been authorized by Congress.

“The president has a clear record of ignoring the American people’s elected representatives and exceeding his constitutional authority, which has dangerous implications for both our system of government and our economy,” Steel said. “The House has passed legislation to address this, but it has gone nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate, so we are examining other options.”