Supreme Court turns back appeal of media ownership laws News
Supreme Court turns back appeal of media ownership laws

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Monday let stand without comment a lower court ruling that overturned new FCC regulations that would have allowed greater media consolidation. Several major media conglomerates, including News Corp. [corporate website], Clear Channel [corporate website], and Viacom [corporate website], originally sought the rules in order to allow a single company to own more media outlets in a market [Bloomberg report]. Consumer advocates challenged the laws [Reuters report], fearing they would hurt diversity in viewpoints. The Third Circuit then ruled [backgrounder; opinion PDF] that the FCC "has not sufficiently justified its particular chosen numerical limits. . . for ownership of media within local markets." AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

South Africa becomes first country on continent to legalize same-sex marriage

Same-sex marriages became legal in South Africa on November 30, 2006 as the country's Civil Union Act, 2006 went into effect, making South Africa the only country on the African continent to legalize same-sex marriage. Read the Civil Union Act, 2006.