Supreme Court rules on deportations, speedy trials and more

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court today made it easier for the government to deport non-citizens convicted of crimes and ruled that the right to a speedy trial does not apply to the sentencing phase of a case.

The justices also kicked back to a lower court the case of an Iowa trucking company trying to recover $4.7 million in legal fees after a class action sexual harassment suit was thrown out.

The 5-3 ruling on a man who spent 23 years living in New York as a lawful permanent resident, said he can be barred from re-entering the country because of a 1999 conviction for attempted arson.

George Luna Torres had served one day in prison and five years of probation after pleading guilty in state court, but otherwise had a clean record since his parents brought him into the country from the Dominican Republic in 1983.

But the government argued that the state law conviction was equivalent to an aggravated felony for purposes of immigration law. Under immigration law, a lawful permanent resident can be deported or denied re-entry to the United States after being convicted of an aggravated felony. Those offenses include certain federal crimes as well as state offenses that share the same elements.

Luna argued that the federal crime of arson is different from the state version because it must involve interstate commerce. Writing for the court, Justice Elena Kagan said that is simply a technical difference needed to give Congress authority over arson crimes and not a meaningful distinction.

"The national, local or foreign character of a crime has no bearing on whether it is grave enough to warrant an alien's automatic removal," Kagan said. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen Breyer dissented.

The justices on Thursday also upheld the sentencing of Montana defendant Brandon Betterman, who waited in jail for 14 months before being sentenced on a bail-jumping charge. The court was being asked for the first time to extend the right to a speedy trial that is part of the Sixth Amendment to the sentencing phase of a case.

But Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said for the court that "the right does not extend post-conviction."

The Iowa trucking company that was trying to recover $4.7 million in legal fees from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after a class action lawsuit against the company was thrown out, got some good news.

The justices said lawyers for CRST Van Expedited Inc. may be able to recoup the money under a law that awards fees to the winning party. They returned the case to a lower court for further review.The EEOC sought relief for hundreds of female employees who were allegedly sexually harassed at work. An appeals court said the agency erred by suing before properly investigating their claims.