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Last year, we brought you the bizarre story of an FBI sting into illegal gambling at some of the private villas at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. But how did the FBI get the probable cause necessary to support search warrants leading to their arrest? Illegally, according to lawyer and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein, who represents Wei Seng Phua, one of the defendants. Last week, a federal district court agreed with Goldstein that evidence obtained from the illegal search must be suppressed....

Robert ‘Joe’ Halderman (inset, right), the CBS news producer indicted for allegedly trying to shakedown $2 million from David Letterman in an extortion scheme over office trysts, pleaded ’not guilty’ this afternoon in Manhattan’s criminal court. According to the indictment (below), Halderman tried to extort Letterman over three weeks, starting September 9, 2009 and ending September 30, 2009. Particularly surprising is that Halderman, an Emmy-nominated news producer, worked on a variety of legal stories for CBS: Madeleine ‘Maddie’ McCann’s disappearance, Italy’s murder case against American foreign exchange student Amanda Knox, and the murder of a pediatric eye surgeon in Arizona....

Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk, made headlines earlier this year by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, well after the Supreme Court had ruled such couples had a fundamental right to marry. She refused to issue marriage licenses after the Supreme Court rejected her emergency stay application. She refused even as she was condemned by conservative leaders. She refused up until she was jailed. Kim Davis was good at refusing....

Personal Injury Action Involving Allegedy Defective Rifle In Katzenmeier v. Blackpowder Prods., Inc., No. 09-1146, a personal injury action arising out of an alleged defect in a muzzleloader rifle manufactured and distributed by defendants, the court affirmed judgment for defendants where 1) certain prior incidents of which plaintiff sought to introduce evidence were not “substantially similar” to plaintiff’s accident, and the district court did not abuse its discretion by refusing to admit the evidence; 2) defendant did not offer certain alleged hearsay testimony for the truth of what a proof house said, but rather to demonstrate the reasons for the company’s marking procedures; and 3) certain witnesses’ testimony was not so fundamentally unsupported that it could offer no assistance to the jury....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action alleging the improper towing of plaintiff’s vehicles under an ordinance that plaintiff contended was preempted by the California Vehicle Code, partial summary judgment for defendant is affirmed in part where due process did not require the city to provide advance notice each time it towed one of plaintiff’s trailers. Partial summary judgment for plaintiff is reversed in part where: 1) plaintiff could not plausibly assert a substantive due process violation; and 2) plaintiff could not make out a colorable procedural due process claim simply by asserting that the ordinance contravened state law....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Revett Silver Company can move forward with plans to build and operate a copper and silver mine in northwest Montana, part of which will be located on land managed by the U.S. Forest Service. Revett’s plans had been on hold as opponents pursued claims under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) that the proposed mine would endanger the bull trout and grizzly bear populations in the area....

In an action challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas’s protocol for execution by lethal injection, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs’ evidence of previous executions did not establish that the Arkansas protocol created a substantial risk of serious harm that the inmates would remain conscious after the administration of sodium pentothal; 2) plaintiffs failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact about whether the state planned to use intracardiac infusion in future executions; and 3) plaintiffs did not show that they faced a substantial risk of serious harm from the placement of central venous lines by unqualified state personnel....

A couple of weeks ago, it would not have been a big deal for a university to admit more children of alumni than any other university. But these are scandalous times, and now it is news because of the bribery scam that has rocked American colleges. Yet, haven’t privileged people always been able to buy their way into top schools? That may not be the story at places like the University of Notre Dame....

Not exactly the words you expect to hear from a district attorney in charge of prosecuting death penalty cases. But Larry Krasner is no ordinary DA. Philadelphia’s “progressive” prosecutor has made a quick name for himself: In his first week in office in 2018, Krasner fired 31 prosecutors; he announced marijuana would be decriminalized in the city a month later; he ended cash bail for misdemeanors and minor felonies; he set up a sentencing review panel and instructed prosecutors to offer shorter prison terms in plea bargaining; and he created a list of problematic Philadelphia police officers who used excessive force, racially profiled, violated civil rights, or lied while on duty....

A convicted sex offender who fled the country without notifying authorities did not violate the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled yesterday. Lester Ray Nichols had been on the sex offender registry in Kansas for a year when he up and moved to the Philippines. And that was just fine, the Supreme Court found, as SORNA did not require offenders to notify authorities when they left U....

You like your apartment. In these times of crazy rent increases, you want to have the security of not having to look for a new place. But your property owner just let you know they are selling the building. Maybe your landlord is selling your apartment building because the real estate market is great. Or maybe your old landlord decided to turn the rental property over to their kids, or maybe they passed away and have several rental properties to get rid of....

The Wiccans are at it again - and unlike their last challenge of the Five Faiths Policy in the Ninth Circuit, this time, they walked away semi-victorious. California prisons provide paid chaplains for members of certain faiths - the Favored Five, if you will. These five “conventional” or “majority” faiths include a representative of the Catholic, Protestant, Islamic, Jewish, and Native American faiths, (though one wonders how one representative can cover the gamut of Native American religions)....

Amy and Vicky are pseudonyms for two girls whose childhood sexual abuse was filmed and distributed on the Internet. Thanks to a novel legal path charted by their innovative attorneys, and a victims’ restitution statute, these women have made legal history by obtaining restitution from the pornography possessors, rather than the manufacturer. That novel theory, however, has fared differently across the various circuit courts. Amy and Vicky’s images are amongst the most widely distributed online, leading their lawyer to file for restitution in a number of jurisdictions....

For the new batch of appellate attorneys being sworn in this year, here are a few quick tips for practicing in the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. Moot court was enough to make some palms sweat, but appearing before the second-highest court level in the U.S. is a huge step up. When you get consumed by the bigger picture, like your argument or clients, it’s easy to forget the little things....

In the whirlwind of reports since Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, most of it has focused on President Trump’s list of possible replacements on the U.S. Supreme Court. There are 25 names on the list, which leaves a lot of room for speculation. Trump has said only that his nominee will come from the list, and that it will be a person who can serve for many years. For various reasons, some potentials are non-starters....

Opponents of the Affordable Care Act had better look out; in the battle over who’s going to punch their SCOTUS “frequent petitioner” card first, Abigail Fisher is a close second. Fisher, you might remember, was denied admission to the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 and then sued to get in, claiming the state’s policy of granting admission to UT to the top 10 percent of graduating students in the state resulted in racial discrimination....

Recently, John B. Nalbandian was confirmed by the Senate to take the bench on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He will be filling the seat vacated by Judge John M. Rogers. Nalbandian may not have prior experience as a federal court justice, but prior to his confirmation, he boasted a successful appellate practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally, he previously served as a law clerk to Judge Jerry Edwin Smith of the Fifth Circuit....

In a petition for review of the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s asylum application, the petition is granted where: 1) the evidence in the record would compel a reasonable factfinder to conclude that petitioner was mistreated because of his political opinion; and 2) the BIA needed to consider whether the threats, harassment, fines, detention, and beating that petitioner experienced rose to the level of persecution. Read Baghdasaryan v. Holder, No. 05-72416...

Massie v. U.S. Dep’t of Hous. & Urban Dev., 09-1087, involved a class action lawsuit against the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), seeking to compel action that they claim was unlawfully withheld by HUD. In reversing the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of HUD, the court held that section 311 did apply to HUD’s management and disposition of the property at issue in this case....

Surprise, surprise, it’s tax time again. There’s nothing better than having to gather piles of paperwork and getting confused by needlessly complex government forms. Even more exciting: if you make any errors, you may have to pay penalties! And if you are one of the new arrivals on the cryptocurrency scene, there are steps you will need to take to account for 2021’s crypto gains and losses. As cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum become more popular, they get more attention from the IRS....