September 14, 2009
U.S. Supreme Court expected to take California prisons case
The U.S. Supreme Court has all but said it will accept jurisdiction of the legal battle over whether California's overcrowded prisons are the primary cause of unconstitutional medical care for inmates, but only after a three-judge lower court has issued its final order on the issue.
In a brief ruling late Friday, the high court denied the state's request for a stay pending its appeal to the Supreme Court of the three judges' mandate that the state reduce the population of its 33 adult prisons by 46,000 within two years.
The panel's Aug. 4 order gave Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his corrections chief, Matthew Cate, until Friday to submit a detailed plan on how the population cut will be carried out. The judges said that once they issue their order approving the mechanisms of the reduction, they will be willing to stay their implementation pending any appeal to the Supreme Court. But the judges denied the state's request of a stay of this Friday's deadline pending an appeal now. The state then sought a stay from the high court….
LINK - SacBee.com
