The Nation : Rights Suits Limits Eased

The Supreme Court made it easier for people to seek damages for civil rights violations, ruling that states cannot impose a time limit on the filing of discrimination suits against public officials. The justices, in a 7-1 ruling in a New Mexico case, said filing deadlines for lawsuits filed under federal civil rights laws must be the same as personal injury actions. The ruling came in a case filed two years and nine months after an incident involving an allegedly unlawful arrest and beating in 1979.