Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 26, 1992 TAG: 9203260157
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The justices said Congress, in adopting a law on logging rights that expired in 1990 after one year in effect, did not impermissibly interfere with federal court powers.
The decision was expected to clear the way for 16 Pacific Northwest timber sales worth more than $30 million to industry and the federal government.
In other decisions, the court:
Made it easier for prosecutors to win multiple convictions against some defendants, particularly those accused of criminal conspiracies. The justices unanimously upheld drug convictions of a man tried in related federal cases in Oklahoma and Missouri.
Ruled, 7-2, in a case from Illinois that children from troubled families may not use federal law to sue state officials who fail to protect them.
Bolstered the authority of Amtrak, the national passenger railroad, to force private freight railroads to sell portions of their track. The 6-3 decision upheld Amtrak's acquisition of 49 miles of track in Vermont from the Boston and Maine railroad.
The spotted-owl ruling, a victory for the Bush administration, appears to have limited impact now, although environmentalists said it could have a bigger impact in the future.
Patti Goldman of Public Citizen, one of the groups seeking broader environmental protections, said the underlying issue "has the potential to be significant. But as the court ruled, it's very narrow."
A larger battle between loggers and those trying to save the spotted owl from extinction is pending in lower courts.
U.S. District Court Judge William Dwyer in Seattle banned logging across all national forests that are home to spotted owls and ordered the U.S. Forest Service to develop a plan to protect the 3,000 remaining pairs of the threatened bird.
by CNB