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Defendant’s conviction for retaliating against a witness is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in declining to sever the trial of defendant and his codefendants because granting severance would have thwarted principles of judicial economy; and 2) certain statements by the victim satisfied the excited-utterance exception to the general prohibition against hearsay evidence. Read US v. Pursley, No. 06-1107 Appellate Information Filed August 21, 2009...

The hours waiting. The surly employees. The depressing (if there is any) decor. The fees that always seem to get more expensive. A trip to your DMV is never fun. Ever. This is even before the coronavirus pandemic hit. But what do you do if your driver’s license is expiring? With office closures or fears of entering offices during the pandemic, it’s no longer just hopeless boredom while waiting in the DMV that people have to dread....

The first thing to know about shed hunting is that it has nothing to do with searching for small storage buildings. The term shed hunting refers to a different kind of shed: deer antlers. (And yes, “shed” is indeed a noun. The American Heritage Dictionary defines this kind of shed as “something, such as exoskeleton or outer skin, that has been shed or sloughed.”) All male members of the deer family shed their antlers annually, usually in the late winter or early spring, and that is when shed hunters emerge in quest of quality antlers....

In 2015, researchers published a seminal study that said most lawyers are liberal. The Political Ideologies of American Lawyers was based primarily on data about lawyers and their political contributions to America’s major political parties. It revealed what most political analysts knew already: lawyers lean slightly to the left. But times, like parties in power, change. Perhaps it’s time to take a look at your firm’s contributions to politics. Practical Politics As a practical matter, the 2015 study looked only at law firms listed in Martindale-Hubbell....

In a First Amendment action claiming that the CIA was required to allow former employee Valerie Plame Wilson to publish a memoir about her tenure at the agency, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) plaintiff, and not the agency, permitted the classified information at issue to be revealed to the public; and 2) further, the public disclosure did not deprive the information of classified status, and the agency demonstrated good reason for adhering to its classification decision....

Love him or hate him, there’s no denying Woody Allen always gets into awkward situations. His off-beat, deer-in-the-headlights look has been the face of his humor for generations. His off-center, abnormal behavior, on the other hand, has been tragically unfunny. That Dark Side Paradoxically, the four-time Oscar-winner is probably most famous for his split from his wife and later marriage to her adopted daughter Soon-Yi. Mia Farrow told the ugly story in her memoir, “What Falls Away....

New York and Connecticut gun control laws prohibiting the possession of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines do not violate the Second Amendment, the Second Circuit ruled Monday. The laws were passed following the December, 2012, school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. In the attacks, 20-year-old Adam Lanza used three semiautomatic weapons to kill 20 children and six adults, firing 156 shots in less than five minutes. The ruling upholds the core provisions of both laws, which were some of the only gun control legislation successfully enacted after the Sandy Hook attacks....

People often don’t know that Justice Stephen Breyer edged out a judge on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for his spot on the U.S. Supreme Court. It was 1994, and Justice Harry Blackmun announced his retirement. Just one year prior, President Bill Clinton appointed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Court, instead of Stephen Breyer. His job interview apparently didn’t go well because of a bike accident – something he’s known for getting into....

Peggy Blizzard was hired as a part-time Associate Accounts Payable Clerk in the Business Office at Marion Technical College (MTC) in 1992. She was promoted to Accounts Payable Clerk 1 in 1996, and terminated from that position in April 2008, when she was 57. Blizzard sued MTC, claiming that her termination was based on age discrimination. This week, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals found that there wasn’t a large enough age gap between Blizzard and her replacement to prove support the age discrimination claim....

Many of us don’t think twice when friends ask to borrow our car. We trust them. But, what happens when they get into an accident? Are you liable for the damage, even if you weren’t driving? Vicarious Liability I have good news and bad news. Let’s start with the bad news. When you loan someone your car, you become liable for their actions through vicarious liability. For example, California Vehicle Code section 17150 states, “Every owner of a motor vehicle is liable and responsible for death or injury to person or property resulting from a negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of the motor vehicle … by any person using … the same with the permission of the owner....

Arizona Supreme Court Justice Andrew Hurwitz was confirmed for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday in a voice vote, reports The Associated Press. Though Justice Hurwitz had support from Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl, (his Republican, home-state senators) many Senate Republicans were opposed to his nomination because Hurwitz had expressed admiration for the Roe v. Wade reasoning in a 2002 law review article, reports Politico. Sen. Chuck Grassley noted, “I think by any fair measure, it is impossible to read Justice Hurwitz’s article and not conclude that he wholeheartedly embraces Roe, and importantly, the constitutional arguments that supposedly support it....

We’ve written here before about “environmental personhood,” the idea that the best way to protect bodies of water and other natural resources is to give them the same rights as humans. These efforts typically have sought to give a designated human group the power to act in the best interests of the natural resource much like a parent or legal guardian. While it might sound intriguing, the argument has not gained much legal traction in the U....

Do police officers who kill suspects deserve protective anonymity? That is a question the Florida Supreme Court is mulling after two Tallahassee officers made that argument after killing armed suspects in two separate incidents. A grand jury cleared the officers of wrongdoing in those events, which occurred in 2020, and neither side alleges that their conduct was an issue. However, the officers claim their identities should stay secret due to Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 2018 to expand the legal rights of crime victims....

District court’s denial of claimant’s application for supplemental security income is affirmed where: 1) it was permissible for the ALJ to discount the opinion of treating physician that was inconsistent with the physician’s clinical treatment notes, and physician’s conclusory opinions with respect to the ultimate determination of disability was not supported by evidence; and 2) ALJ’s formulation of claimant’s mental residual functional capacity was supported by evidence on the record. Davidson v....

The Supreme Court corollary to “pics or it didn’t happen” should be “briefs or it isn’t real.” Just in case you were pinching yourself – doubting that the Court might actually decide on same-sex marriage – we finally have briefs. Tuesday, the House of Representatives Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) submitted a brief defending the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). And, it’s kind of a doozy. Bedrock principles of federalism make clear that the federal government has the same latitude as the states to adopt its own definition of marriage for federal-law purposes and has a unique interest in treating citizens across the nation the same....

Driving while rocking out to your favorite tunes is perfectly legal when you’re blasting your car stereo. But is it illegal to drive while using headphones or earbuds? Using headphones or earbuds behind the wheel may seem safe on the surface – after all, you’re technically complying with all those “hands-free” laws that keep popping up in more states and local jurisdictions nationwide. Right? It actually depends where you’re driving. Since there’s no federal guideline banning driving with headphones, it’s all up to state laws....

In an inmate’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action claiming that defendants denied him access to his legal papers, resulting in his habeas petition being untimely, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where petitioner’s claims were barred by collateral estoppel because, by denying petitioner’s Rule 60(b) motion in the face of his denial of access claim, the habeas court necessarily decided that petitioner was not illegally denied access to his legal materials....

Clever people in the vaping industry appear to be taking a page from a cannabis industry playbook in an attempt to skirt regulators. You may be aware of Delta-8, a widely popular cannabis product that many regulators and lawmakers think should be illegal. The gist of the controversy about Delta-8, which supposedly can create a mild high and provide pain relief, is that the product exists because of a legal loophole....

People often say that insanity is repeating the same action with the expectation of a different result. So is the Tennessee legislature insane for considering a measure that the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled unconstitutional? The Tennessee House of Representatives Finance Committee approved a measure on Monday that would require mandatory drug-testing as a condition to receiving welfare benefits, reports The Associated Press. That’s not shocking; Tennessee is a red state, and drug-testing among welfare recipients is a popular conservative policy....

After a Florida man allegedly killed his wife, he reportedly posted photos of her body on Facebook. Derek Medina, 31, turned himself in to authorities and confessed to fatally shooting his wife, Jennifer Alonso. A Facebook page with the name Derek Medina showed a grisly photo of a woman lying on the floor with her arm and face drenched in blood, Reuters reports. The Facebook post could be a smoking gun for proescutors, but is it admissible?...