The nation in brief

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Court OKs college-admission race focus

AUSTIN, Texas -- A federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday that the University of Texas can continue using race in its undergraduate admissions, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court.

A 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled 2-1 that barring the university from using race would hurt diversity on campus. The ruling came in a lawsuit filed in 2008 by Abigail Fisher, who is white and was denied admission.

"We are persuaded that to deny UT Austin its limited use of race in its search for holistic diversity would hobble the richness of the educational experience," the panel found.

The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2013. But rather than issue a landmark decision on affirmative action, the high court voted 7-1 to tell a lower appeals court to take another look at Fisher's lawsuit.

Fisher's attorneys said they plan to appeal.

"It is disappointing that the judges hearing my case are not following the Supreme Court's ruling last summer. I remain committed to continuing this lawsuit, even if it means we appeal to the Supreme Court once again," Fischer said in a statement.

Florida GOP abides Congress map ruling

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Republicans who control Florida's Legislature said Tuesday that they will not appeal a ruling that found the state's map for congressional districts unconstitutional.

But Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford said in a joint statement that they want to postpone drawing a new map until after the 2014 elections.

Gaetz and Weatherford said changing district boundaries now would cause election problems, noting that absentee ballots for the state's Aug. 26 primary have already been sent to overseas voters.

"Any attempt to change the districts at this late stage of the 2014 elections process would cause chaos and confusion and would threaten the rights of our deployed military voters," the statement says.

A circuit judge ruled last week that the Legislature illegally drew Florida's congressional districts to primarily benefit the Republican Party. Judge Terry Lewis ruled that two of the state's 27 congressional districts were invalid and that the map must be redrawn. Florida's congressional delegation is split currently between 17 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

2 ex-Utah attorneys general arrested

SALT LAKE CITY -- Two former Utah attorneys general were arrested on an array of bribery charges Tuesday stemming from cozy relationships with several businessmen.

Republicans John Swallow, 51, and Mark Shurtleff, 56, were arrested at their homes Tuesday morning, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said at a news conference at the FBI office in Salt Lake City, in which he detailed payoffs involving gold coins, swanky resorts and other luxury gifts.

"This is a sad day for Utah," Republican Gov. Gary Herbert said in a statement. "The entire situation, regardless of how the legal process plays out, is a black eye for our state."

Court records show Swallow faces 13 charges, including felony bribery charges, while Shurtleff faces 10 counts that include bribery. The most serious charges for each man come with a maximum penalty of 15 years in state prison.

Gill said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges will likely be filed against both men and others.

Both men have denied all the allegations.

House votes to cut $1.1 billion from IRS

WASHINGTON -- The House has voted to cut the Internal Revenue Service's budget by $1.14 billion in another blow to the tax agency.

The action came late Monday in a pair of votes on amendments offered by Republicans Paul Gosar of Arizona and Bill Huizenga of Michigan. Both proposals were passed by voice vote as part of a broader spending bill. A voice vote means that lawmakers aren't on the record supporting or opposing the cuts.

The changes would leave the IRS with a budget of $9.8 billion for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, 13 percent below this year's funding level and 21 percent below the administration's request.

Huizenga said he's trying to use the spending limit to force changes at the IRS, maintaining that the cuts will make the agency focus better and contending that the "arrogance" of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen is a sign of the agency's troubles.

Democrats, who have supported the agency and said the cuts would enable tax cheating, allowed the amendments to be adopted without forcing a roll-call vote.

A Section on 07/16/2014