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Although marijuana may be legal for recreational use in some states, and for medicinal purposes in many more, taking marijuana products on a plane can still result in serious criminal penalties. After all, the friendly skies are governed by federal law, and federal law isn’t friendly with marijuana. While it has been widely reported that some airports, like LAX, are more lenient than others in the legal weed states, the inconvenience and risk of traveling with marijuana just isn’t worth it....

The Supreme Court reversed the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in a Miranda-based case this week, ruling that the government doesn’t have to read Miranda rights to prisoners during jailhouse interrogations about crimes unrelated to their current incarceration. The decision tossed the Sixth Circuit’s categorical rule that a prisoner questioned in private about events occurring outside the prison is the subject of a custodial interrogation under Miranda v. Arizona. In the case, Howes v....

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals is accepting comments for consideration regarding the reappointment of Federal Public Defender Thurston McKelvin. McKelvin, who is based in St. Croix, is the Federal Public Defender for the U.S. Virgin Islands. He has served multiple terms in the position. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals is considering McKelvin’s reappointment to a new four-year term and has appointed a committee to assist in its review. The Committee consists of nine attorneys from the U....

Action to Enjoin Municipal Prohibition on Military Recruitment Targeting Minors In US v. City of Arcata, No. 09-16780, an action by the U.S. seeking to enjoin the Arcata Youth Protection Act and the Eureka Youth Protection Act, prohibiting agents or employees of the federal government from engaging in military recruitment activities targeting minors, the court affirmed judgment on the pleadings for plaintiff where 1) the ordinances improperly sought to directly regulate the conduct of agents of the federal government; and 2) the ordinances discriminated against the U....

Conviction for committing sexual abuse against a Native American woman is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in excluding victim’s statement to sheriff, as the statements constituted other sexual behavior under Fed. R. Evid. 412(a)(1); 2) the evidence was sufficient to support the verdict against both defendants; 3) the court did not err in finding convicted offense involved conduct described in 18 U.S.C. sec. 2241(a) and that a four level enhancement under the sentencing guidelines was appropriate; 4) any error in sentencing defendant as a career offender was harmless as the court would have imposed the same sentence absent career offender status; and 5) the sentence was not unreasonable....

The state of Virginia filed a federal lawsuit today, charging that if Virginia citizens and residents decide not to buy health insurance, then they can’t be subject to the new federal health care and insurance law — the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) — because they are not not engaging in interstate commerce. Why did Virginia file its own federal health care lawsuit instead of joining the multi-state lawsuit filed by thirteen (13) other states challenging PPACA?...

Days before taking recess, the Supreme Court granted cert in a case that, with all the noise over the Voting Rights Act, Affirmative Action, and same sex marriage, skipped right past most of us. The case, Cline v. Oklahoma Coalition for Reproductive Justice, deals with a sloppily-drafted Oklahoma law that bans off-label use of two drugs to perform medical abortions. Proponents of the law argue that sticking to the on-label treatment procedure, or using surgical procedures, is safer for the patient, while opponents argue that this is an unconstitutional restriction on abortion....

With summer right around the corner, water parks are probably performing annual maintenance and inspections to make sure that their attractions are ready for the upcoming season. However, no matter how much work water park owners do, the simple fact is that water parks can be really dangerous. Waterslides, wave pools, wet grounds, children running around, and alcohol, all make water parks particularly prone to accidents. And when people get injured, if it was the result of the water park’s negligence, the injured person may be able to sue to recover money for medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering....

With the recent fallout of the revealed decades old sexual abuse scandal at Ohio State University involving the now-deceased sports doctor Richard Strauss, the state’s legislature has taken the first step towards making the state’s rape laws more victim-friendly. In short, Ohio’s legislature is being asked to consider a bill that would allow the victims of Richard Strauss to sue the university, similar to the law passed in Michigan to allow MSU sports doctor Larry Nassar and the university to be sued by the victims whose cases occurred too long ago and were barred by the statute of limitation....

This week, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in ACLU v. Alvarez challenging the Illinois Eavesdropping Act, which bans audio recording police officers in public places. The Illinois ban is one of the strictest in the country. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) claims that the law creates a double-standard; police can record citizens during interactions without the citizens’ consent, but citizens cannot record the police without risking a Class 1 felony and up to 15 years in prison....

We know it’s not OK to play favorites, but we’re not going to lie: the Second Circuit is one of our (or specifically, my) favorite circuits to cover. And how could it not be? With New York City in its jurisdiction, it would be hard not to have interesting cases coming out of the Second Circuit. So, as we leap into the new year, let’s take a moment to look back on the legal highlights of the Second Circuit in 2013:...

Carvalho v. Equifax Info. Servs., LLC, No. 09-15030, involved an action against credit reporting agencies alleging violations of the California Consumer Credit Reporting Agencies Act (CCRAA). The court affirmed summary judgment for defendants on the grounds that 1) because the face of plaintiff’s superior court complaint lacked any indication of the amount in controversy, it did not trigger the first thirty-day removal period; 2) because section 1785.25(a) was the only substantive CCRAA furnisher provision specifically saved by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, plaintiff’s section 1785....

With less than a month until the Supreme Court kicks off its 2012 term, we’re looking forward to the first case the Court will consider on First Monday: Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. If that name seems eerily familiar, it’s because the Court also considered the case last term, before sending the matter back to the parties for briefing on whether American courts should ever hear disputes for overseas human rights violations....

Few judges can hand down a benchslap with the same panache as our current law crush, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook. This week, Judge Easterbrook told District Judge Michael J. Reagan that he was three kinds of wrong for refusing to screen an Illinois prisoner Anthony Wheeler’s complaint alleging that prison officials had failed to provide effective medical care for his “golf-ball-size hemorrhoids,” leaving him in excruciating pain....

If you didn’t hear about Earl O’Garro, the former insurance broker who swindled the City of Hartford, it might not come as much of a surprise to find out that his appeal was denied. However, even if you had been closely following the story, it still likely wouldn’t come as much of a surprise that his Second Circuit appeal was denied. O’Garro had sought a reversal of his conviction and a remand or retrial, as a result of an allegedly improper jury instructions, or, alternatively, due to ineffective assistance of counsel....

The message on your greenbacks would seem to be unequivocal: “This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." Well, not all debts, as it turns out. Even before the coronavirus, more and more restaurants and stores were going cashless, in effect telling their customers, “Your money is no good here." These retailers cite several good reasons why they reject bills and coins: Increased employee productivity, improved customer convenience, easier bookkeeping, decreased risk of theft and burglary....

Last week, Above the Law reported on a most interesting clerkship rejection letter they called “rejection via resignation.” In the letter, Judge John Daniel Tinder of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit softly let an applicant down, stating: “Your credentials are outstanding. However, I recently decided that I will be leaving the court in 2015 so I will not be hiring any additional clerks.” A testament to the applicant’s resourcefulness, the “tipster” could not find any formal retirement announcements and let ATL know....

In two actions by, respectively, a city housing commission and a school district seeking to enjoin plaintiff’s construction of a halfway house, plaintiff’s appeal with respect to the school district’s action is dismissed where the district court’s determination regarding its own jurisdiction was non-reviewable. Dismissal of the housing commission action on abstention grounds is reversed where a federal court need not abstain from deciding a case involving the interpretation of a local land use ordinance....

The “Borg Cube,” as the locals like to call it, opened one week ago. Today was the first trial in the new courthouse. Lets hope the rest of the trials go more smoothly than this one. During the last of a series of trials for alleged Tongan Crips members, defendant Siale Angilau, 25, allegedly grabbed a pen or pencil and tried to charge the stand. A U.S. Marshall shot him multiple times in the chest....

The Supreme Court issued orders this morning granting review in two cases, and denied cert in Lambda Legal’s appeal in Adar v. Smith. In 2007, same-sex parents Oren Adar and Mickey Smith, sought an amended birth certificate for their Louisiana-born son. Despite a Louisiana law that provides for amended birth certificates to reflect adoptive parents’ names, Louisiana State Registrar Darlene Smith refused the request because the adoption could not have legally occurred in Louisiana....