High court reviews Costco sale of Swiss watches

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is weighing whether Costco and other discount sellers can offer cut-rate goods from foreign manufacturers without violating U.S. copyright laws.

The justices heard argument Monday in a dispute between Costco and Swiss watch maker Omega over a line of watches that Costco sold for a third less than they cost elsewhere.

The case has important implications for discount sellers like Costco and Target as well as eBay, Amazon and other companies that form an estimated $58 billion annual market for goods that are purchased abroad, then imported and resold without the permission of the manufacturer. U.S.-based sellers and consumers benefit from the common practice of manufacturers to price items more cheaply abroad than in the U.S.

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Court order blocks Okla. amendment on Islamic law

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking a state constitutional amendment that prohibits state courts from considering international or Islamic law when deciding cases.

U.S. District Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange ruled Monday morning in Oklahoma City following a brief hearing. It prevents the state election board from certifying the results of Tuesday’s general election in which the amendment was approved by 70 percent of the voters.

The order will remain in effect until a Nov. 22 hearing on a requested preliminary injunction.

It was issued in a lawsuit filed by the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma. Muneer Awad said during the hearing that the law stigmatizes his religion.

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Regional court: Release Niger’s detained president

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — A regional court in West Africa has called on Niger’s military government to release the nation’s detained former president.

The announcement came Monday from the Court of Justice for the Economic Community of West African States, a group of 15 nations with its own peacekeeping force. The decision asks Niger to release former President Mamadou Tandja, who was deposed last February in a military coup after he stayed in office months beyond his legal mandate.

During the coup, uniformed men stormed the presidential palace and kidnapped Tandja, who remains under house arrest.

Niger, a desperately poor country on the edge of the Sahara Desert, has a long tradition of strongmen seizing power by force since independence from France a half century ago.

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Court lets NFL complaint go to state court

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court won’t stop a Minnesota state court from getting involved in a fight between the NFL and Minnesota Vikings defensive linemen Kevin Williams and Pat Williams over violations of the league’s anti-doping policy.

The high court refused Monday to hear an appeal from the National Football League.

The players took the weight-loss supplement StarCaps, which contained an unlisted but banned diuretic that can mask the presence of steroids. The federal courts threw out the players’ appeal of their NFL suspensions, but said there were issues that should be considered in state court.

The NFL wanted the entire lawsuit thrown out, saying the players’ union contract and federal law trump state law in this case.

The two players argued that the NFL’s testing violated Minnesota workplace laws.

Minnesota state law requires that an employer give an employee who tests positive for drug use the right to explain the positive test. The NFL’s policy says a positive result won’t be excused because a player was unaware he was taking a prohibited substance.

Attorneys for the NFL had argued it should be allowed to enforce its anti-doping policy because it was a product of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the players union. The agreement is governed by federal labor law, which they argued pre-empted the state laws.

The case is National Football League v. Williams, 09-1380.

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High court turns down early health care challenge

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned down the first preliminary challenge to President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul.

The decision Monday to reject an appeal from a former Republican state lawmaker in California was no surprise because a federal appeals court has yet to consider the case. The high court almost never reviews cases before the issues have been aired in lower courts.

Of more significance is the sign that all the justices took part in rejecting the appeal. New Justice Elena Kagan refused to say during her confirmation hearings whether she would take part in the court’s deliberations over the health care law. Kagan was Obama’s solicitor general before joining the court.

The court has noted Kagan’s absence in more than two dozen other cases, suggesting that she voted on the health care appeal.

Kagan has stepped aside from cases in which she was involved as a Justice Department official before joining the court.

Justice Clarence Thomas also apparently voted on the case. Some critics have called on Thomas to step aside from the health care cases because his wife, Virginia Thomas, has been an outspoken opponent of the law in her role as founder of the conservative advocacy group Liberty Central.

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The case is Baldwin v. Sebelius, 10-369.

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Dutch court bans eviction of squatters

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch courts have ordered Amsterdam to suspend plans to evict squatters from empty buildings, ruling that a new law banning squatting is in conflict with European human rights treaties.

Police were set to carry out the first evictions Tuesday under the ban that took effect Oct. 1.

But Monday’s rulings by appeals courts in Amsterdam and The Hague call into question whether the law can be enforced.

Squatting in unoccupied buildings has long been tolerated. In 1971, a Dutch court ruled that entering an unused building was not trespassing. The new law allows landlords to ask police to clear their property.

The Hague court said that under the European Treaty on Human Rights a person cannot be forced from a home unless a judge has affirmed the eviction is legal.

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