Court refuses to review Ryan case

WASHINGTON, May 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday refused to review the conviction of former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan Sr.

Ryan, a Republican, was forced to retire in 2003 because of scandal and was convicted in 2006 of federal corruption charges. He began serving a six-year prison term last year.

His petition to the high court complained of a "cascade of errors" during his trial, SCOTUSblog.com reported.

In other action, the Supreme Court asked the Bush administration for its opinion on whether U.S. citizens have the right to sue Iraq for Saddam Hussein's misdeeds.

The U.S. solicitor general's office has opposed such suits in the lower courts when U.S. citizens have tried to sue the present Iraq government because of harm done to them under the Saddam regime.

The high court made no announcement Tuesday on whether it would review the issue.

(No. 07-977, Warner, Ryan vs. U.S.; and No. 07-1090, Republic of Iraq vs. Beaty et al.)