In some other developments Monday at the Supreme Court, the court:
• Rejected an appeal by four men who challenged Florida's ban on adoption by gay couples, avoiding another contentious fight over gay rights.
• Asked for the Bush administration's views in a case that questions whether the state of Utah can keep thousands of tons of radioactive waste out of the state, or if the federal government has exclusive control over the transportation and storage of nuclear waste.
• Set aside a South Carolina ruling granting Robert Lee Nance a new trial. Justices ordered the lower state court to review its decision in light of their ruling in Florida v. Nixon, which held that death row inmates should not automatically get new trials if lawyers made a strategic decision not to pursue a vigorous defense.
• Let stand a lower court ruling that allowed Missouri's Ku Klux Klan chapter into the state highway litter cleanup program. The state had not wished to partner with the group because it discriminates based on race.
• Declined to consider the proper standards for allowing individuals to file class-action lawsuits against corporations, in a case accusing six health maintenance organizations of fraud.
• Let stand a lower ruling that allows Florida state prosecutors to pursue charges against two fired America West pilots accused of being drunk in the cockpit.
• Let stand a lower ruling that said the California Public Employees' Retirement System must proceed with its securities fraud lawsuit on behalf of WorldCom Inc. bondholders in federal, rather than state, court.
• Let stand a lower ruling that Major League Baseball did not have to rehire 10 umpires who were still out of work following a 1999 mass resignation.
• Said it would not speed up a decision on whether to consider a challenge to President Bush's authority to name William Pryor to a federal appeals court while the Senate was on a break.
• Rejected an appeal from a Norfolk, Va., gun dealer, Bob's Gun & Tackle Shop, over a federal agency's authority to demand information about transactions involving used firearms.
• Refused to consider a challenge to an ordinance that requires employers that do business with the city of Berkeley, Calif., to pay workers a so-called living wage.
