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In an action seeking to quiet title and enjoin defendant from attempting to claim disputed waters for public use, district court judgment dismissing the suit is affirmed where: 1) the court erred in concluding the case is not ripe for adjudication as there is a live controversy; and 2) the court reached the proper result and the case must be dismissed as the suit against the Arkansas Attorney General in his official capacity is bared by the Eleventh Amendment and the Ex Parte Young exception does not apply....

Don’t send anyone to the polling place to drop off your mail-in ballot in Arizona. The state made it a crime, and a federal appeals court upheld the law. That could change since the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to take another look at it. But it’s still a serious crime in Arizona, carrying up to a one-year sentence and a $150,000 fine. Plus, “ballot harvesting” just sounds wrong....

Under Hobby Lobby, a closely held corporation with religious objections can refuse to pay for insurance coverage for birth control and instead request an exemption from the Affordable Care Act’s so-called “birth control mandate.” Does that logic extend to pharmacists and retailers who refuse to stock such pills? It would seem to, and a group of pharmacists just filed a brief advancing that point in an appeal by the State of Washington in the Ninth Circuit, where the state is seeking to have its birth control retail regulations upheld....

After two years of COVID restrictions, businesses are renewing the tradition of the annual office party this holiday season. Many of your co-workers may be looking forward to the company holiday party after being cooped up for so long. But if you’re an introvert, the prospect of spending time with a lot of people at a company event may give you a lump in your throat and a pit in your stomach....

Petition for review of BIA’s order vacating IJ’s grant of cancellation of removal denied Catwell v. Attorney General, 08-4208, concerned a petition for review of a decision of the BIA that vacated an IJ’s decision granting cancellation of removal, and instead entered a final order of removal against petitioner to Guyana. In denying the petition, the court held that the petitioner possessed more than a small amount of marijuana in his 2003 Pennsylvania state law conviction for possession with intent to distribute 120....

McComish v. Bennett, No. 10-15165, involved a challenge to the constitutionality of the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Act. The court of appeals reversed summary judgment for plaintiff, on the ground that the Act survived intermediate scrutiny because it bore a substantial relation to the State’s important interest in reducing quid pro quo political corruption. As the court wrote: “This is a challenge to the constitutionality of the “matching funds” provision of Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Act, Ariz....

In an action for breach of implied contract and defamation based on false statements allegedly made by plaintiff’s former employer on an NASD Form U5 regarding plaintiff’s termination, summary judgment for defendant is affirmed where: 1) defendant’s statements on the form were substantially true; and 2) plaintiff could not have reasonably expected that, after defendant began investigating plaintiff for forgery, defendant limited its right to terminate his employment through the nonspecific statements of two employees that “nothing bad would happen....

In a breach of fiduciary duty action brought under ERISA, district court judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) plaintiff failed to establish defendant’s status as an ERISA fiduciary as he did not allege or introduce evidence demonstrating that defendant exercised authority or control over the management of ERISA plan assets; 2) plaintiff was not entitled to a hearing prior to the dismissal of its breach of fiduciary duty claim against defendant, as the record demonstrates that no hearing was necessary and plaintiff did not request one; and 3) the court erred in holding that defendant was not personally liable for certain dishonored checks under New York’s Uniform Commercial Code, as plaintiff established that the checks did not indicate that defendant signed them in a representative capacity and defendant presented no evidence of an understanding between the parties that he had signed them in a representative capacity....

In an employment discrimination action, the dismissal of the complaint based on the res judicata effect of a prior state administrative proceeding is vacated where the state court’s dismissal was not a decision on the merits that would preclude the filing of a renewed state court action. Read Hanrahan v. Riverside Nursing Home, No. 09-0585 Appellate Information Argued: November 2, 2009 Decided: January 25, 2010 Judges Opinion by Judge Lynch...

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) created new guidelines for website accessibility in March. These are in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) that help provide effective communication, public accommodations, technical standards, and detailed standards for assistive technology. In short, your website needs to be accessible to people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA’s requirements for website accessibility generally include: Avoiding poor color contrastNot relying only on images or design to show informationProviding text alternatives for design or widget featuresCaptioning videosUsing online forms correctlyHaving keyboard navigation built into your websitePlain language content These are typical examples of website accessibility barriers....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging an unlawful search, judgment for defendants is reversed where: 1) officers may not remain in a home absent probable cause when consent to enter is granted but later revoked; and 2) the Fourth Amendment does not permit detention of an individual for the duration of an investigation based on a police hunch that the individual may provide aid to a suspect if allowed to leave police custody....

Has anyone ever time-lined Judge Posner’s benchslaps? I wonder what the longest time frame sans benchslap has been. Probably not very long, and on Monday, he made the latest benchslap to a judge, attorney and plaintiff – no one was safe. Obviously, the parties didn’t read our post on how to avoid a benchslap, or about that attorney who faked an illness because this case is the most deserving – that we’ve read – that called for benchslaps all around....

Prosecutorial misconduct did not render a murder trial fundamentally unfair according to the Third Circuit, affirming the lower court. What kind of misconduct are we talking about? The misconduct included repeated suggestion that the defendant’s freedom would threaten the jurors’ safety, the suggestion that the defendant’s discarded firearm would endanger children, and repeated showings of images of a bloodied corpse the defendant had shot. Awsa Mills was indicted and convicted for the 2001 shooting and murder of victim Clement which took place in the victim’s yard....

The Supreme Court had a lot of high-profile cases on its plate this term. One of them is being closely watched by hundreds of thousands of people whose lives in America hang in the balance - the “Dreamers” - who benefit from the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA). A recent CBS News poll found that 85% of Americans are in favor of allowing children brought to the United States illegally to stay in the country....

With the obvious caveat of oral arguments not being a perfect or even good predictor of opinions to come, the tone in Tuesday’s oral arguments in DHS v. MacLean seemed to be sympathetic towards Robert MacLean, the Air Marshal whistleblower, rather than his former employer, the Transportation Security Administration. The legal issue is the conflict between the federal whistleblower law, which encourages employees to come forward when there is a “danger to public heath or safety” and the Aviation and Transportation Safety Act, which has its own national security goals and allows the government to make “Secret Security Information (SSI)” semi-classified, preventing its disclosure....

As expected, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a New York law restricting the carrying of guns outside the home is unconstitutional. New York is one of several states requiring individuals to show “proper cause” for a license to carry a handgun outside their homes. Writing for the majority in the 6-3 opinion, however, Justice Clarence Thomas said New York’s law violates the Second Amendment. This was the first time the court examined how the constitutional right to bear arms applies to guns in public places....

While it is usually no shock when SCOTUS rejects highly controversial cases, that was not the case this week when it rejected the appeals in Barber v. Bryant, and Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant. This pair of cases challenged Mississippi’s controversial “religious freedom” law HB 1523, which permits individuals and businesses to deny service to LGBT individuals if the individual or business sincerely holds the beliefs or convictions that marriage should only be between a man and woman, that premarital sex is wrong, and/or that gender can only be determined by anatomy at birth....

Tired of waiting for the return of the Court? The first official business of the 2013 term is here, with the Supreme Court issuing an orders list granting certiorari in eight cases. Recall that their summer backlog consisted of about 2,000 petitions, so we’d expect to hear more next week. As for this week’s business, from overrated boxing movies to fee-shifting issues in IP cases, here are the first four (of eight total) grants:...

In a consolidated appeal involving a widespread drug conspiracy, defendants’ convictions and sentences are affirmed where: 1) district court’s conviction of defendant-Alvarez is supported by sufficient evidence from which the jury could have found that defendant conspired to distribute narcotics; 2) court did not err in giving the jury “ostrich” instructions as it was an accurate statement of the law and evidence supported issuing such an instruction; 3) district court did not err in finding defendant-Alvarez to be a minor participant rather than a minimal one in granting her a two-level reduction in sentencing; court did not err in imposing a two-level increase to defendant-Alvarez’s offense level for obstructing justice as the court found all of the elements of perjury; and the sentence was reasonable; 4) defendant-Decker waived his objection to the court’s drug quantity calculation; and 5) defendant-Garcia has no non-frivolous issues for appeal and therefore his counsel’s motion to withdraw is granted....

Motion for reduction of a crack cocaine sentence US v. Taylor, 10-2329, concerned a challenge to the district court’s dismissal of defendant’s motion under 18 U.S.C. section 3582(c)(2) for a reduction of his crack cocaine sentence, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. In affirming the dismissal, the court held that, although the district court had subject matter jurisdiction to consider the request, defendant is not eligible for relief because the relevant retroactive amendment to the Sentencing Guidelines did not actually have the effect of lowering the sentencing range applicable to him....