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Overturning a lower court’s ruling, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals brought back to life a former prison inmate’s free speech lawsuit. While an inmate in federal prison, Arkansas resident Rodney E. Bradley was disciplined after a letter he wrote complaining about his institutional parole officer was discovered. Bradley was found to have violated a prison rule against insulting behavior and received a reprimand and an activity restriction, which he argued violated his First Amendment freedom of speech rights....

Denial of plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in their suit against the county challenging the constitutionality of the Tennessee Adult-Oriented Establishment Registration Act is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in denying the preliminary injunction on the basis that plaintiffs did not demonstrate a substantial likelihood of success in their challenges to the definitions of “adult cabaret,” “adult-oriented establishment,” and “adult entertainment”; 2) the district court did not err in holding that a vagueness challenge is not likely to succeed on the merits as a narrowing construction sufficiently clarifies the parts this Act allegedly contaminated by vagueness; 3) plaintiffs’ claim that the Act’s requirements will result in a drastic reduction in the quantity and accessibility of speech is rejected; and 4) the issue of balancing of equities is moot as the district court correctly determined that plaintiffs have not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits....

This post was updated on March 30, 2022 Estate planning is never easy. Contemplating end-of-life decisions and inheritance questions can be legally and emotionally complex. Unfortunately, estate planning for a family member with special needs can make the process even more difficult. But there are ways to simplify estate planning for people with special needs. And knowing what to expect, including the potential perks and pitfalls, is the best way to start....

Howard Kieffer is kind of like Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in Catch Me If You Can, (without Leo’s movie star looks). Though he never attended law school or passed the bar, Kiefer gained admission to multiple federal trial and appellate courts, and managed successful law practices across multiple states. Courts frown on fake lawyering, so they were not kind when Kieffer’s lies finally caught up with him. In 2009, a jury in the District of North Dakota convicted the defendant of mail fraud, and making false statements....

The U.S. Supreme Court forewarned politicians about gerrymandering in two cases, but left final judgments for another day. In Gill v. Whitford, the High Court vacated and remanded a Wisconsin case on standing grounds. In Benisek v. Lamone, the Court declined to overrule an injunction in a Maryland case. Some observers said the Court punted on the issues, but the justices really teed up the cases for further proceedings. In one opinion, four members of the Court complained of the “worst partisan gerrymanders on record....

Petitioner’s petition for review of the BIA’s denial of his application for withholding of removal is denied where Petitioner’s state child endangerment conviction was a “crime of moral turpitude”, because the offense required a conscious disregard of a substantial risk to a child in his care. Read the full decision in Hernandez-Perez v. Holder, No. 08-2644. Appellate Information: Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals.Submitted March 10, 2009Filed June 16, 2009...

A federal appeals court said that Home Depot must face trial for a supervisor’s off-duty murder of a company employee. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said employers are responsible for workers who tortiously abuse their supervisory authority – even when it occurs away from work. The appellate panel said it is the same as when a worker drives a company car. “Both entrustment with a chattel and entrustment with supervisory authority set employees apart from the general public,” Judge David Hamilton wrote in Anicich v....

In an action by a Chapter 7 debtor alleging that the bankruptcy trustee and her agents breached a contract that was entered into during the course of the underlying bankruptcy case and was directly related to the administration of bankruptcy estate assets, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) the bankruptcy court had subject matter jurisdiction over plaintiff’s state law breach of contract claim; and 2) the bankruptcy court’s approval of the acts plaintiff alleged breached the contract entitled the defendants to derived quasi-judicial immunity....

The 5-4 opinion in Williams-Yulee v. Florida Bar was a bit of a surprise. Chief Justice Roberts sided with the Court’s four liberals to conclude that a state canon of judicial ethics prohibiting judicial candidates from personally soliciting campaign donations was constitutional. What made more sense is that Justice Kennedy, the author of the Court’s opinion in Citizens United v. FEC, dissented from this judgment. It’s clear that Roberts made the right call, but his reasoning leaves something to be desired, and indeed, carries some weighty implications for future free speech decisions....

In a First Amendment challenge to a prison policy prohibiting the receipt of certain Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) materials by prisoners, a preliminary injunction against the policy is affirmed where the policy was not sufficiently narrowly tailored because effective rules had been developed that allowed prisoners to receive a broad range of UCC-related materials while still limiting fraudulent filings. Read Jones v. Caruso, No. 07-2393 Appellate Information Submitted: March 4, 2009Decided and Filed: June 23, 2009...

For the last week, one of the top posts on The Washington Post’s website has been retired Justice John Paul Stevens’ “Justice Stevens: The five extra words that can fix the Second Amendment,” an excerpt from his upcoming book, “Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution.” Personally, I can’t wait to read the book, even if there is no doubt in my mind that I’ll disagree with at least one-sixth of it....

Widespread media support for the reporter’s privilege has been garnering attention this week after more than two dozen media outlets signed on to an amicus brief filed with the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that New York Times reporter James Risen should not have to testify before a grand jury about the sources for his 2006 book, State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration....

Completing CLE requirements are never at the top of any lawyer’s “to-do” list, but the Oklahoma State Bar might change the tide with their cleverly named CLE courses. Here are three CLE courses you should check out or at the very least, admire the creative titles: Date: March 28, 2014 from 12:30-3:50 p.m. No one ever wants to be “that guy (or gal)” in any situation, so this CLE discusses who are considered workplace bullies and how and where it can occur....

Facebook is a great way for friends and family to share parts of their lives with one another. But, the company also has certain responsibilities that it owes to its users, and it doesn’t always live up to consumers’ expectations. From lawsuits involving discrimination in the way it advertises to those alleging that it inflated the number of views on videos, Facebook is no stranger to controversy and lawsuits. But, one of the most concerning claims against Facebook are the allegations that it improperly shared users’ data with a political consulting firm....

The first day of school in Wolcott, Conn. is August 29, but two public school employees in the central Connecticut town might be more focused on “back to court” than “back to school” this week. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that parents of a biracial student can proceed with deliberate indifference claims against educators who they claim stood by while white students hurled racial epithets at their 5-year-old, reports Thomson Reuters News & Insight....

Before he died last year, Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote his last opinion for the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal. The appeals court said that employers may not pay women less than men based on prior salaries when hiring for the same job. It was a significant and divided decision. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the decision, but not because of that legal issue. Apparently, dead judges can’t have opinions....

Defendant’s conviction for threatening to assault a federal law enforcement officer is affirmed where: 1) the Federal Protective Service (FPS) officers reasonably exercised their investigative and protective authority pursuant to 40 U.S.C. section 1315 when they left federal property to surveil defendant’s vehicle; 2) defendant’s conduct, by tailgating the FPS officers’ marked police vehicle and making hand gestures simulating firing of a handgun, provided the FPS officers with probable cause to arrest defendant regardless of her presence on non-federal property; 3) district court properly affirmed the magistrate judge’s ruling denying motion to suppress as defendant’s response to the officer was spontaneously volunteered and unresponsive to the officer’s question....

Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where district court properly denied defendant’s motion to have his sentence retroactively amended pursuant to the amended Sentencing Guideline section 2D1.1, as defendant was not sentenced on the basis of a crack cocaine quantity but instead under the unamended Guidelines’ career offender provision. Read US v. Jackson, No. 08-3188 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, South Bend Division....

Sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm is reversed where the district court erred by not determining the status of defendant’s 2004 state sentence, as defendant and the government agreed to a recommendation that defendant would receive concurrent time with any state sentence he was serving. The case is remanded so that the court may supplement the record to determine the status of defendant’s 2004 sentence and whether the federal sentence should be ordered to run concurrent with it, as well as with his sentences from 2001....

Defendants’ convictions for violating government restrictions on communications and other contacts with Sheikh Omar Ahmad Ali Abdel Rahman, a high-security federal prisoner, are affirmed in part where: 1) defendants concealed their efforts to obtain statements from Rahman to publicize on his behalf; 2) Rahman’s attorney agreed to the restrictions and thus could not collaterally attack their constitutionality; and 3) a reasonable jury could have found that defendants participated in a conspiracy to murder persons abroad....