Immigration, abortion, race rulings due at Supreme Court

Immigration activists rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in WashingtonThe U.S. Supreme Court is heading into its home stretch, with major rulings due by the end of the month on President Barack Obama&;s unilateral immigration plan, racial preferences in university admissions and a restrictive Texas abortion law. Producing decisive rulings has been complicated by the fact that the court has been down one justice since conservative Antonin Scalia died in February, leaving it evenly split with four conservatives and four liberals. The court appeared divided along ideological lines when it heard arguments on April 18 over whether Democrat Obama exceeded his constitutional powers in bypassing the Republican-led Congress with a 2014 plan to spare millions of immigrants in the country illegally from deportation and give them work permits.

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IAAF votes to keep Russia banned, Rio participation in balance

IAAF President Coe and head of the IAAF taskforce on Russia, Andersen attend a news conference after the IAAF council meeting in ViennaBy Mark Trevelyan and Jack Stubbs VIENNA/MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian athletes&; hopes of competing in the Rio Olympics are now at the mercy of the IOC after world athletics&039; governing body unanimously upheld its ban on the country for systematic doping on Friday, saying not enough progress had been made in reform. Russia, a superpower of track and field, had lobbied furiously to avert the prospect of a Summer Olympics athletics program taking place without its athletes, and argued that it was taking all the steps required of it to dispel charges of state-sponsored drug abuse. President Vladimir Putin denied on Friday that Russian authorities had ever colluded in doping, and urged authorities not to use sport to push an anti-Russian agenda.

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Russian doping whistleblower given Olympics hope

Man casts his shadow following press conference by IAAF's President Coe as part of 203nd IAAF council meeting in MonacoBy Mark Trevelyan VIENNA (Reuters) – Yulia Stepanova, the Russian former drugs cheat whose whistle blowing revelations helped expose the massive doping problem in her country, could be allowed to compete in the Rio Olympics as an independent athlete, the IAAF said on Friday. Stepanova, an 800-metres runner described as "a courageous athlete" by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), went into hiding after revealing the details of the problem, and now lives in the United States at a secret location. With the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) extending its ban on Russian athletes on Friday, and with her mother country highly unlikely to have selected her anyway, Stepanova was hoping to compete under the flag of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

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