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Last month, TV stars Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were among dozens of parents, coaches, and school administrators indicted in an elaborate admissions bribery scheme to get underqualified kids into elite universities. The pair made their first appearances in a Boston federal courtroom yesterday, though neither entered a plea. Both are charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, but what does this scandal have to do with the mail?...

Richard Posner, a former fan favorite at the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, can’t get a break. He retired from the bench in 2017 at the top of his game. He served 35 years and was respected throughout legaldom. By some accounts, Posner was the most entertaining judge in U.S. history. But he abruptly left the appeals court and took up the cause of pro se litigants. Since then, he can’t get a judge to buy his arguments in his biggest case....

Three cheers for perennially popular federal Circuit Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit who took the time, once again, to stand again on his soap-box decrying legalese in court opinions. The judge lamented overly prolix sentences and wordplay in court opinions. We admit, the habit is hard to break. Posner’s most recent anti-jargon pontificating comes as no surprise: Posner has long been a maverick in the legal community calling for the abolishment of some of the profession’s more prized institutions, the Bluebook....

The busy bees over on First Street have been working extra hard this week, issuing orders in two cases, hearing oral arguments in six cases, and releasing four opinions today. The four Supreme Court opinions released today are: The Court also granted certiorari in two cases yesterday, Ryan v. Gonzales and Tibbales v. Carter, both dealing with the rights of capital defendants. One of the denials, however, was far more interesting than either of the grants; the Court denied Louisiana’s motion to file a bill of complaint with the High Court to challenge the inclusion of undocumented immigrants in census totals....

You might be forgiven for sometimes forgetting that there are nine Justices on the Supreme Court. After all, when it comes to getting attention in the news, not even the “Notorious RBG” can surpass Justice Scalia’s reach. Love him or hate him, Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia is by far the most well-known of The Nine. That popularity, or notoriety, has spawned a whole Scalia industry. There are Scalia books, Scalia dolls, Scalia op-eds, Scalia operas....

Even though he’s never been a judge, Mark Bennett will be one of the most experienced among his peers when he takes his seat on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. That’s because Bennett will join the panel at the seasoned age of 65. He is the oldest Trump appointee, and older than 80 percent of Obama’s appellate choices. The Senate confirmed Bennett to take the place of Judge Richard Clifton, who was almost the same age as Bennett when he assumed senior status....

If tax rates are determined relative to a person’s income and assets, then you’d think everyone would want to be in the top bracket. The more you pay in taxes, theoretically, the more money you must be making, and owing the Internal Revenue Service a lot should be considered a sign of success. But in reality people and businesses try to pay the least they can in taxes. For example, Donald Trump, who loves to boast about his wealth, is refusing to release his tax returns to the public or even reveal what tax bracket he is in, according to The New York Times....

John Roberts and Alfred Postell both graduated Harvard Law School in 1979. After graduation, Roberts went on to clerk for Judge Friendly, while Postell practiced tax law in a prestigious firm. Their lives diverged as they advanced. John Roberts became Deputy Solicitor General, a Supreme Court litigator, federal judge, and eventually Chief Justice. Postell was overtaken by schizophrenia. He lost his job and his home. The two still remain close, at least physically....

The Troy Davis case has prompted America to once again debate the merits of the death penalty. Following Davis’s execution last night in Georgia, we’re pondering a different question: Would a Supreme Court stay of execution have yielded a different outcome or merely delayed Davis’s death? Davis was convicted and sentenced to death in the 1989 shooting of an off-duty police officer. For over 20 years, Davis appealed his conviction, claiming that he was innocent....

Defendant’s Sentence Reversed as Prior Convictions Satisfy the Requirements of the ACCA US v. Fife, 09-2310, concerned the government’s challenge to the district court’s determination that defendant’s prior convictions did not satisfy the requirements of the Armed Career Criminal Act and therefore that he was not subject to the increased sentence under that Act, in a prosecution of the defendant for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition....

District court order granting defendant’s motion to suppress statements made by him to FBI agents while in custody is affirmed where: 1) defendant was entitled to the prophylactic bar prohibiting police questioning when he refused to sign the waiver-of-rights form, and the court did not err in finding that the agents violated this prophylactic bar; and 2) the Supreme Court’s ruling in Davis, requiring that a suspect clearly and unambiguously invoke his rights in order to regain them after having waived them, does not apply....

Defendants’ wire fraud convictions and sentences are affirmed where: 1) 18 U.S.C. section 1343 did not require an intent to cause pecuniary loss; 2) “preponderance of the evidence” was the appropriate standard of proof for determining the amount of loss caused by the conspiracy; and 3) the district court correctly found the scope of relevant conduct under U.S.S.G. section 1B1.3 in attributing losses to defendants as a result of their conspiracy convictions....

The severe winter storm and bitter cold that swept through Texas and much of the South caused widespread suffering. So far, nearly 80 people are dead, and millions went days on end in subfreezing temperatures without electricity and water. It was the result of utility infrastructure that was unable to handle the surprisingly cold temperatures. We’re staying out of the debate over whose fault it is. For some of those Texans lucky enough to keep the lights on, however, there was no silver lining....

Following the recent mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas, a bipartisan group of Senate negotiators announced that they reached a deal on gun safety measures. This means that Congress could pass significant gun-control measures for the first time in decades. Federal Gun Control Framework The legislation is still a work in progress and is not fully comprehensive, but gun-control advocates argue that it still has the potential to prevent future mass shootings....

As the new Supreme Court term gets ever closer, we can start to see how the upcoming months might play out: some intriguing criminal cases, important debates about race and the justice system, a fascinating free exercise issue involving used tires, and very little labor law. Of the 31 cert petitions the Court has granted for the new term, only one directly involves labor and employment law issues: National Labor Relations Board v....

Last Saturday marked the sixth month anniversary of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death. That’s six months since he died in his sleep on a Texas hunting retreat, six months since his body was laid out in the Supreme Court’s Great Hall, six months since his law clerks were transferred to other chambers. But even though Justice Scalia is gone, his chambers are still open for business. A recent article on Justice Scalia’s legacy by the National Law Journal’s Tony Mauro begins with this interesting tidbit: despite the months and months that have passed since Justice Scalia’s death, his chambers are open, with his staff members “still slowly boxing up decades of Scalia’s documents and memorabilia....

In March, as law firms began shuttering their offices and laying off associates and implementing pay cuts, there was fear the legal industry would soon experience the kind of economic collapse it suffered in 2008-09. A few months in, and the news is perhaps better than expected. While there’s still a long way to go, law firms are largely surviving. Large law firms have enough cash to weather the economic effects of COVID-19 for another few months, according to a recent survey of mostly large law firms by Wells Fargo Private Bank....

Recently, a massive unpermitted growing operation was raided by police in Riverside, California. That raid discovered approximately 40,000 marijuana plants, valued at $20 million. And if you’re thinking, “hey, isn’t marijuana legal in California?” You’re probably not alone. Marijuana might be legal in California, but that doesn’t mean that California residents can just grow as much marijuana as they please. And while there are several large and legal marijuana growing businesses in the state, in order to do so commercially requires permitting, as well as quite a bit of legal compliance work to stay legal and be able to legally sell it....

Beverly Stayart is annoyed that online search returns for her name abbreviated name – “bev stayart” – may lead to a search assist for “bev stayart levitra.” Which could then take the searcher to a website for erectile dysfunction drugs. In fact, Bev – a Wisconsin resident – is so upset about her name being connected with ED meds that she sued the Internet (well, technically, a few search engines) for misappropriating her name....

Action Claiming that Plaintiff Was Wrongfully Convicted of Rape and Kidnapping In Bryson v. Oklahoma City, No. 09-6143, an action claiming that plaintiff was wrongfully convicted of rape and kidnapping, the court affirmed the district court’s order denying defendant’s motion for indemnification from Oklahoma City, and granting summary judgment in the city’s favor, holding that 1) plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to support a finding of deliberate indifference by the city; and 2) plaintiff was not the real party in interest on an individual defendant’s indemnification cross-claim....