Justices reject states’ appeal over cap on tax deductibility
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland to the 2017 tax law that capped federal tax deductions for state and local taxes.
The lawsuit had previously been dismissed by lower courts. It argued that the Republican-led tax law, signed by then-President Donald Trump, unfairly singled out high-tax states in which Democrats predominate.
The law caps a deduction for state and local taxes, known as SALT, at $10,000. The lawsuit claimed that lawmakers crafted the provision to target Democratic states, interfering with the states’ constitutionally granted taxing authority.
Legislation to raise the cap has passed the House of Representatives but not the Senate.
High court won’t hear New York City teacher vaccine dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is declining to wade into a lawsuit filed by four New York City public school employees over a policy that they be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Lower courts had previously allowed the policy to go into effect while litigation continued, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor had also rejected an emergency request that the policy be put on hold. The justices said Monday they wouldn’t get involved in the dispute. As is typical the justices did not say anything in rejecting the case, and it was one of more than 100 the court turned away.
New York City began requiring public school employees to be vaccinated in the fall of 2021. Courts had declined to bar the city from enforcing their policy, which applies to some 150,000 employees and has religious and medical exemptions.
Three of the teachers involved in the case have been fired and a fourth has taken extended leave.
Court denies Penobscot appeals over river regulation
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined an appeal by the Penobscot Indian Nation in its fight with Maine over ownership and regulation of the tribe's namesake river.
It was a bitter defeat for the tribe that sued a decade ago, claiming the Penobscot River is part of its reservation.
A federal judge previously ruled that the reservation includes islands of the river's main stem, but not the waters. There were appeals to a panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of appeals and then to the full appeals court.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme court, without comment, declined to hear the tribe's appeals over river regulation.
The Penobscots sued in 2012 after then-Attorney General William Schneider issued an opinion that the tribe's territory was limited to islands.
The tribe said the lawsuit was necessary to protect tribal authority over its ancestral river. But state regulators argued that a win by the tribe would create "a two-tiered system" on the Penobscot that would be a detriment to the general public.
The ruling came as the Maine Legislature was considering several measures that relate to tribal sovereignty.
