Word: bans
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...country last week was swift and in some quarters downright horrified when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that crimes by some juveniles and mentally retarded people may be punishable by death. By a 5-to-4 vote, the high court ruled in a pair of decisions that the constitutional ban on "cruel and unusual punishments" does not forbid the execution of youths who commit crimes at 16 or 17 years of age, nor does it automatically prohibit death sentences for the retarded. "By executing the retarded and people who aren't old enough to vote or serve in & the Army...
School administrators learned the symbol's devilish significance at a seminar on cults conducted last spring at the University of Houston. (The peace sign was devised by British pacifists who combined the semaphore signs for N and D, standing for nuclear disarmament.) The proposed ban has drawn some wry comments from students. Quipped a twelve-year-old: "If they ban peace symbols, they'll have to ban basic geometry because of all its lines and circles...
...President is readying a package of reforms to fulfill his campaign pledge to improve Government ethics. The sweetener for Congress would be a pay raise, though Bush is unlikely to specify an amount. In exchange, Bush would probably call for a ban on speaking fees and strict limits on the use of campaign funds for office or personal expenses. He might call for an outright ban on political-action committees that are connected to labor or business groups. To head off a congressional outcry about the lost sources of campaign funds, the President may propose raising the $1,000 limit...
...Congress used a sledgehammer when it should have used a scalpel," explained Columbia University Law Professor Vincent Blasi. "It's difficult enough to define obscenity, but indecency is entirely in the eye of the beholder." Conservative Republican Senator Jesse Helms called the maintenance of the ban on obscene messages a "major victory for our children" but otherwise decried the ruling. "How many ruined lives will it take before the court and society realize the devastation that can result from dial-a-porn?" he asked...
...four key witnesses have recanted their pretrial testimony. Two of them admitted they had initially been swayed by hopes of sharing in the $7.5 million reward offered by the government. The court has been sharply criticized for agreeing to preconditions set by Lisbet Palme for her testimony, including a ban on tape recorders and television cameras. The prosecutors, whose case against Pettersson is built on circumstantial evidence, have yet to come up with a murder weapon or a motive...