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Today’s Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals case serves as a reminder that factual interpretation is a subjective art, and an appeal might not provide relief from an immigration fraud ruling. Saladin Abdel Jawad, a Jordanian citizen, has been in the U.S. for 25 years since his non-immigrant visitor visa expired. He and his ex-wife had five children in the U.S. before divorcing in 1998. Despite being approved for an immediate-family visa, Jawad has been deemed removable....

Even though the Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate took a blow in Hobby Lobby, the Obama administration is still out there trying to preserve it – and head off any future problems. On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services issued new proposed rules about the procedures religious employers can use to get exempted from providing contraceptive coverage in their employer-sponsored health plans. Heading up to the Supreme Court are several challenges brought by nonprofit organizations to the ACA’s religious exemption....

Some federal judges are the very model of a modern major general; then there’s federal district court judge John Adams. He’s definitely a model of something, just not anything modern. Judge Adams was appointed by the second President Bush, and seems to have earned himself a reputation as a judge who just can’t seem to pull himself away from his cases, even when he really should. A prime example comes courtesy of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the U....

Republican leaders are appealing last week’s Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys filed the appeal on behalf of House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy on Friday, reports The Washington Post. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled last Wednesday that the DOMA Section 3, which restricts the federal government’s interpretation of the word “spouse” to only include a “person of the opposite sex who is a husband or wife,” was unconstitutional as applied to Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals staff attorney Karen Golinski...

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action for deliberate indifference to a prisoner’s medical needs, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where the standard for analyzing a claim of deliberate indifference to the health or safety of a convicted prison inmate held in state custody as a violation of the right of the inmate to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment is also applicable to claims brought by pretrial state detainees under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, and there was no evidence in the record from which a reasonable juror could conclude in the affirmative....

In an action for fraudulent inducement and breach of contract, district court judgment against defendants is affirmed where: 1) defendant’s failure to file a postverdict motion under FRCP Rule 50(b) forfeited all of their claims regarding insufficiency of the evidence; and 2) the court did not abuse its discretion when instructing the jury during the damages phase; and 3) the defendants failed to properly preserve an objection to the court’s decision to not give the Party-In-Interest jury instruction during the liability phase of the trial....

CRS Recovery, Inc. v. Laxton, No. 08-17306, involved an action alleging theft of Internet domain names. The court of appeals vacated summary judgment for plaintiffs, on the grounds that: 1) California law applied because Virginia did not have an interest in its law applying given how the parties were situated; 2) the district court begged the factual question as to whether plaintiffs lost the domain name at issue due to theft or fraud in characterizing defendant’s control of the name as a “seizure” when the circumstances of the transfer were unclear; and 3) further factual development was necessary regarding the precise circumstances through which plaintiff lost control of the domain names....

In plaintiff’s lawsuit against her former employer claiming that the school district failed to accommodate her seasonal effective disorder and constructively discharged her in violation of the ADA, judgment of the district court is reversed in part and affirmed in part where: 1) district court’s grant of summary judgment on the failure-to-accommodate claim is reversed as plaintiff satisfied all three elements required for the claim; and 2) district court’s grant of summary judgment on the constructive-discharge claim is affirmed as plaintiff failed to show that the conditions of her employment even approached the intolerable levels normally required in constructive-discharge cases....

The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) rewards those who are committed to a life of violent crime with longer prison penalties. The courts, however, often grapple with how to apply the Act. This week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals addressed the scope of predicate, “violent” offenses under the ACCA, and decided escaping custody qualifies as a violent crime. Keith Baker, a convicted felon, was convicted in 2010 of being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition....

Drivers have a First Amendment right to flash their headlights to warn others about an upcoming speed trap, U.S. District Judge Henry Autrey has ruled. Autrey made waves in Missouri last week after he granted a preliminary injunction that bars the city of Ellisville from enforcing its ordinance against flashing headlights at a speed trap warning. Given the novelty of the issue, it’s possible that the Eighth Circuit will eventually hear an appeal of the case....

For years, economists, politicians, and others have been warning about the dangers of the student loan debt bubble. With current students and graduates collectively more than $1 trillion in debt, experts warn of the damage to the economy if all those debtors started defaulting. Partly driving this looming debt crisis is the belief that it’s way too hard to discharge financially ruinous student loan debt in bankruptcy proceedings. New research, however, shows that it might not be as hard as we’ve all thought....

In plaintiff-James River Insurance’s case seeking a declaration that it had no duty to defend or indemnify two lawyers who were sued for malpractice, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-Kemper Insurance is reversed with instructions to enter the declaratory judgment requested by the plaintiff as James River’s policy does not apply since it excludes coverage of conduct covered by a prior insurer, and all the wrongful acts alleged in the malpractice suit arose from events that took place in Kemper’s policy period....

Late last week, a district court in Michigan held that the state’s constitutional provision and implementing laws the defined marriage as “the union of one man and one woman” violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. In making such a holding, that court joined countless other courts across the nation, but unlike many of those courts, the district court denied the state’s request for a stay pending appeal....

Edith Windsor, who won a pioneering case for same-sex marriages, has died. She was not a lawyer, but she won a case that secured her legacy in civil rights history. Two past presidents honored her after news of her passing. “Few were as small in stature as Edie Windsor – and few made as big a difference to America,” said former President Barack Obama. Defense of Marriage Act Windsor, married to a woman, was the lead plaintiff in a legal challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act....

Equitable tolling in defendant’s habeas petition Robertson v. Simpson, 07-6191, concerned a challenge to the district court’s denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief filed one month beyond the one-year statute of limitations, holding that defendant failed to meet his burden of proving that he was entitled to equitable tolling. The court remanded the matter for a determination of whether defendant’s attorney’s cocaine use and possible misadvice constitute sufficient extraordinary circumstances to entitle defendant to equitable tolling....

Habeas Petition in Assault Matter In Smith v. Mitchell, No. 04-55831, a prosecution for assault on a child resulting in death, on remand from the Supreme Court for reconsideration, the court of appeals reinstated its order reversing the district court’s denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, where no rational trier of fact could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that petitioner caused the child’s death, and the state court’s affirmance of the conviction was an unreasonable application of Jackson v....

Back in August, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Occupy Nashville v. Haslam. On October 8, the court issued its opinion reversing the district court’s order. The Sixth Circuit found that Nashville police and city officials were entitled to qualified immunity. Facts in Brief With no public notice, comment, or even the presence of the public, the City of Nashville, Tennessee, unilaterally changed city policy to establish a 10 p....

Hitting the high seas this summer? A cruise can be a wonderful way to relax, see some gorgeous sunsets, and visit new places around the world, all with free food and an open bar. Sounds perfect, right? But be careful. Between slip-and-fall injuries, food poisoning, measles outbreaks, and, sadly, the occasional overboard death, cruise ships aren’t perfectly safe. So here are some legal considerations to keep in mind when taking a summer cruise....

When you’re just opening the doors to your small business, you’re probably thinking more about dollars and cents rather whether a patent or a trademark makes more sense. But considering your intellectual property may be your business’s most valuable asset, protecting those ideas, images, and creations should be at the top of your entrepreneurial to-do list. So if you’re wondering where to get started in securing your intellectual property rights, here is some of our best IP advice for new small business owners, from our archives....

The Notorious RBG made herself a bit more notorious earlier this month, after she repeatedly criticized Donald Trump in the press, saying he was a “faker” and joking about moving to New Zealand should he become president. After a swift backlash from the left and the right, Justice Ginsburg apologized, saying that “judges should avoid commenting on a candidate for public office” and promising that “in the future I will be more circumspect....