Adopting Sexual Assault Policy/ Same-Sex Marriage Legal/ Payment in Lieu of Taxes/ Career Criminal Law

Missoulian:  AG: Let's extend Missoula's model for sexual assault investigations, prosecutions statewide
Missoula County Attorney’s Office, Sexual Assault Policy & Procedure Manual

Missoulian: Supreme Court ruling affirms gay marriage in Montana
Obergefell v. Hodges
“The fundamental liberties protected by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause extend to certain personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy, including intimate choices defining personal identity and beliefs. See, e.g., Eisenstadt v. Baird, 405 U. S. 438, 453; Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U. S. 479, 484–486. Courts must exercise reasoned judgment in identifying interests of the person so fundamental that the State must accord them its respect. History and tradition guide and discipline the inquiry but do not set its outer boundaries. When new insight reveals discord between the Constitution’s central protections and a received legal stricture, a claim to liberty must be addressed. Applying these tenets, the Court has long held the right to marry is protected by the Constitution.”

Missoulian: Western Montana counties welcome federal Payments in Lieu of Taxes
State Payments
Montana Payments

Missoulian: High court strikes down 'vague' part of career criminal law
Johnson v. United States

Montana Audit/ Confederate Statutes/ Supreme Court Health Care Decision

Missoulian: Audit: 125 errors in state of Montana financial reporting
Department of Administration audit

Missoulian: US Capitol's Confederate statues prompt renewed debate
National Statutory Hall

Missoulian: The Latest: Roberts again votes to uphold health overhaul
 King v. Burwell
“Petitioners are four individuals who live in Virginia, which has a Federal Exchange. They do not wish to purchase health insurance. In their view, Virginia’s Exchange does not qualify as “an Exchange established by the State under [42 U. S. C. §18031],” so they should not receive any tax credits. That would make the cost of buying insurance more than eight percent of petitioners’ income, exempting them from the Act’s coverage requirement. As a result of the IRS Rule, however, petitioners would receive tax credits. That would make the cost of buying insurance less than eight percent of their income, which would subject them to the Act’s coverage requirement.”

Record Heat/ Highway Bill

Missoulian: Weather records shatter across western Montana as heat rises
The Past 100 Years: The 20th Century's Human Climate Conundrum 

Climate.gov

Missoulian: Senate panel passes 6-year highway bill, minus funding
S 808: Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015

Climate Change/ China Meeting/ U.S. and NATO

Missoulian: White House: Action needed now to slow climate change
President’s Climate Change Plan

Missoulian: Biden: US, China must cooperate despite intense differences
What You Need To Know About the 2015 U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and Consultation on People-to-People Exchange
“The seventh meeting of the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue (S&ED) and the sixth Consultation on People-to-People Exchange (CPE) will be held in Washington, D.C., June 23-24”

Missoulian: US to put military equipment in several European countries
Secretary of Defense Ash Carter Travel to Europe
“In this important month for the alliance, Secretary Carter will hear directly from ministers, defense leaders, and service members about the progress we have made since the Wales Summit to address the new security environment, including the challenges from Russia and NATO’s southern front, and discuss what we must do in the future to enhance the effectiveness of the alliance.”

Hotel Registries/ Spider-Man Toy

Missoulian: High court voids routine police check of hotel registries
 Los Angeles v. Patel

Missoulian: High court rules against Spider-Man toy inventor
Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC

“In 1990, petitioner Stephen Kimble obtained a patent on a toy that allows children (and young-at-heart adults) to role-play as “a spider person” by shooting webs—really, pressurized foam string—“from the palm of [the] hand.” U. S. Patent No. 5,072,856, Abstract (filed May 25, 1990).1 Respondent Marvel Entertainment, LLC (Marvel) makes and markets products featuring Spider-Man, among other comic-book characters. Seeking to sell or license his pa-tent, Kimble met with the president of Marvel’s corporate predecessor to discuss his idea for web-slinging fun. Soon afterward, but without remunerating Kimble, that company began marketing the “Web Blaster”—a toy that, like Kimble’s patented invention, enables would-be action heroes to mimic Spider-Man through the use of a polyester glove and a canister of foam. Kimble sued Marvel in 1997 alleging, among other things, patent infringement. The parties ultimately settled that litigation. Their agreement provided that Marvel would purchase Kimble’s patent in exchange for a lump sum (of about a half-million dollars) and a 3% royalty on Marvel’s future sales of the Web Blaster and similar products. The parties set no end date for royalties, apparently contemplating that they would continue for as long as kids want to imitate Spider-Man (by doing whatever a spider can).