Patients' Rights: Vote on an amendment to a Democratic bill to define patients' rights that would bar lawsuits against employers with 50 or fewer employees.

Mr. Bush has taken a stand against additional Federal gun control and recently signed state legislation that would bar lawsuits against the firearms industry.

"The State Legislature has now barred lawsuits by individuals kept in prison beyond their release dates," one note reads.

Opponents object to provisions that would bar future lawsuits and even prevent merchants from opting out of significant portions of the proposed settlement.

The December 1998 settlement barred new class-action lawsuits for two years.

The section allows judicial review only of a final order of deportation, barring earlier lawsuits to stop illegal actions by the Immigration Service.

The Supreme Court barred lawsuits against states for violating federal laws.

On Tuesday, the Senate rejected a Republican amendment that would have barred lawsuits against employers in disputes about health care benefits.

Today, by a vote of 53 to 45, the Senate rejected a Republican proposal that would have barred lawsuits against employers with 50 or fewer employees.

Scalia has taken a broad view of the Eleventh Amendment, which bars certain lawsuits against states in the federal courts.