Supreme Court Notebook

NYC ban on after-school worship services stands WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court has rejected an evangelical church's plea to overturn New York City's ban on after-hours religious worship services at public schools. The justices on Monday left in place a federal appeals court ruling that upheld the city's policy. The Bronx Household of Faith is an evangelical Christian church that has held Sunday services at P.S. 15 in the Bronx since 2002. The church services have been allowed to continue pending the outcome of the school's lawsuit against the city. The church says the city allows many groups to use school buildings after hours. But the city says that it risks blurring church-state separation if it allows worship services in public schools. The city says that roughly five dozen congregations used public schools for their religious services in 2009. Supreme Court rejects body-in-luggage appeal HOUSTON (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has refused the appeal of a San Antonio man condemned for the 2005 slaying of a pregnant Lubbock woman whose body was stuffed inside a piece of luggage found at the Lubbock city landfill. Rosendo Rodriguez was condemned for the death of 29-year-old Summer Baldwin. She's identified in court documents as a drug-addicted prostitute 10 weeks pregnant. The 31-year-old Rodriguez was a Marine reservist training in Lubbock. He contended the slaying was in self-defense, that he choked her when she came at him with a knife. He said he went to a Walmart, purchased the suitcase, put her body in it and tossed it in a trash bin. The high court decision Monday is on Rodriguez's direct appeal following his conviction. Other appeals are likely. Published: Tue, Dec 6, 2011