Supreme court will not order new Mississippi elections in NAACP case

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2013/may/20/supreme-court-mississippi-elections-naacp

The US supreme court will not order new legislative elections in Mississippi over complaints about the timing of the state's redistricting, under one of several decisions that were handed down on Monday.

Also on Monday, the court affirmed the authority of federal regulators to try to speed local government decisions on proposals to build or expand cell-phone towers. The court voted 6-3 to uphold an appeals court ruling in favor the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The case involves complaints to the FCC by telecommunications companies and the wireless industry that local authorities are delaying the placement and construction of wireless service facilities. The FCC said that local jurisdictions generally should act on applications within three months for existing structures and five months for new towers.

The court also said that it will hear a new case on the intersection of religion and government in a dispute over prayers used to open public meetings. The justices said they would review an appeals court ruling that held that the town of Greece in suburban Rochester in upstate New York violated the constitution by opening nearly every meeting over an 11-year span with prayers that stressed Christianity.