Supreme Court won't hear appeal from Marshall Islanders

The Supreme Court won't hear an appeal from the indigenous people of the Marshall Islands over whether they can sue the federal government again for blowing up and irradiating the land during nuclear tests in the 1940s and 1950s. The high court on Monday turned away the appeal from the people of Bikini Atoll and Enewetak Atoll, both part of the Marshall Islands. Between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, then a U.S. protectorate under the United Nations. The blast was equal to exploding 1.6 Hiroshima atomic bombs a day for 12 years. The federal government agreed to pay the people of Enewetak $385 million and the people of Bikini $563 million for the loss of their land. But only a token amount has been paid so far. The islanders have sued to get the rest of their money, but the courts have thrown out their lawsuits.