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The Ninth Circuit settled a long-standing dispute between federal authorities and Nevada ranchers on Friday, ruling that the Hage family had illegally grazed cattle on federal land without a permit. But the most noteworthy fight wasn’t between renegade ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management, it was between the judges of the Ninth Circuit and District Court Judge Robert C. Jones, who “grossly abused his power” and allowed his “well-established and inappropriately strong” feelings against federal agencies to bias his rulings....

After casting our ballots, many of us proudly share online photos of ourselves with an “I Voted” sticker attached to our shirt, cheek, or forehead. There’s nothing wrong with proclaiming your good citizenship with that kind of selfie. But if you’re thinking of posting a selfie with a ballot, you might think again. Take the case of a Wisconsin man, Paul Buzzell, who faces a felony charge with a maximum jail sentence of 3 1/2 years for posting a marked school-board election ballot on social media....

Oberlin College recently received a $44.4 million jury verdict against it as a result of an alleged racial profiling incident at a bakery near campus. The incident led to the arrest of three students and to big student protests at the bakery. In short, the jury found the college liable for helping student protesters engage in libel and interfere with the bakery’s business. That business, which used to pull in an annual revenue around $900k, saw that revenue halved as a result of the protests, in addition to it being branded as racist by the student protesters....

In an appeal from the District Court’s order finding the Government of the Virgin Islands in contempt for violating a consent decree relating the assessment of commercial real property taxes, the order is affirmed where the government failed to create a functioning Board of Tax Review that consistently held hearings and reached determinations on appeals. Read the full decision in Berne Corp, et al. v. Government of the Virgin Islands, No....

When does a truthful statement amount to obstruction of justice? How about this colloquy, between a prosecutor and baseball not-Hall of Famer Barry Bonds: Prosecutor: Right. Prosecutor: Did Greg [Anderson] ever give you anything that required a syringe to inject yourself with? Bonds: I’ve only had one doctor touch me. And that’s my only personal doctor. Greg, like I said, we don’t get into each others’ personal lives. We’re friends, but I don’t – we don’t sit around and talk baseball, because he knows I don’t want – don’t come to my house talking baseball....

Our beloved mascots might be the only thing we can rely on in this topsy-turvy world of professional sports. Players, managers, and even owners come and go. Uniforms and logos change. If you’re lucky, your team will build a new stadium every decade or so. And if not? Your team’s owner will use your local government’s refusal to finance said new stadium as an excuse to hijack your team to a new city or state....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a conversion claim against Coca-Cola this week in a dispute over expropriated property. The appellate court ruled that an Israeli family that lost its land to the Egyptian government during an anti-Jewish campaign failed to state a cause of action against Coca-Cola for wrongful possession of the property. Beginning in 1962, the Egyptian government sequestered and then nationalized property belonging to the Bigio family, including the land on which Coca-Cola operated its bottling plant, the Bigios’ factory equipment, and the manufacturing companies R....

Reinstating an age discrimination case, a federal appeals court said “suspicious circumstances” surrounded the termination of a former FedEx manager. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said Gerard Howley, who had worked for the company 21 years, never had a reprimand until a new supervisor took over. A short time later, the new supervisor piled on warnings and then fired Howley for poor performance. The appeals court didn’t buy it....

It’s news when a congressman’s bribery convictions are overturned, but that’s because sometimes the news and politics are backwards. In United States of America v. Fattah, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals threw out four bribery convictions against Chaka Fattah. The real news, however, is that the appeals court affirmed 13 other corruption convictions – each carrying a 10-year sentence. If you do the math, it was not exactly a win for the decades-long congressman....

In a trademark infringement action alleging improper use of a trailer hitch designer’s name, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) the complaint did not allege facts sufficient to show that defendant’s use of the name created a likelihood of confusion as to the source of its products; and 2) the fair use defense applied because the use of the name was descriptive. Read Hensley Mfg. Inc. v. ProPride, Inc....

Merrick Garland, chief judge of the D.C. Circuit and President Obama’s pick for the Supreme Court, submitted his completed questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. The questionnaire is a routine part of the Supreme Court nomination process – and, given the unprecedented fight over Garland’s nomination, part of the White House’s attempt to pressure the Senate into acting. (The Judiciary Committee hadn’t even requested that Garland complete the questionnaire.)...

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action based on an unlawful search, the denial of defendants’ summary judgment motion based on qualified immunity is affirmed in part where two of the defendant-officers violated plaintiff’s clearly established rights, but reversed in part, where another defendant was a mere bystander to his colleagues’ conduct. Read Hopkins v. Bonvicino, No. 07-15102 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted October 20, 2008 Filed July 16, 2009...

In 2011, the United States engaged in drone strikes in Yemen that killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an al Qaeda leader, and al-Awlaki’s son – both U.S. citizens. The killing was authorized by a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memorandum (“OLC Memo”), examining the legality of such an authorized killing – that is, how U.S. criminal law and Constitutional law applied to the killing of U.S. citizens abroad who are deemed “enemy combatants....

The Eleventh Amendment: often misunderstood, infrequently used, yet sitting there in plain sight, just after the Bill of Rights. The U.S. Supreme Court has given scant guidance over the years, but we know at the least that states can’t be sued for monetary damages unless they consent (or unless another amendment, like the Fourteenth, overrides the Eleventh Amendment). The definition of what qualifies as an “arm of the state” came across the Second Circuit’s desk last week, and the court decided that a community college doesn’t qualify for Eleventh Amendment immunity....

Sacha Baron Cohen can trick even the trickiest politicians. But former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore says Cohen has gone too far, and is threatening a defamation suit if he doesn’t like the way he is portrayed in an upcoming episode of “Who Is America?” a Showtime series which debuted last week to modest reviews. Moore is already involved in a defamation lawsuit against four women who raised +30-year-old allegations of sexual misconduct during his recent unsuccessful U....

Justice Thurgood Marshall was a party pooper. Or perhaps a Scrooge or a Grinch, if you’re looking to describe him within the holiday vernacular. Apparently, the revered Justice Marshall, intent on keeping church and state apart, declined the annual invitation to the Supreme Court Christmas Recess Party. That’s right, we said Christmas. And we meant it. While most government offices – and private sector offices, for that matter – enjoy a “holiday party” at the end of the year, the Supreme Court holds a Christmas Recess Party....

U.S. ex rel. Summers v. LHC Group, Inc., 09-5883, concerned a challenge to the district court’s judgment denying a plaintiff’s motion under Fed. R. of Civ. Proc. 59(e) to alter an earlier judgment of dismissal, in the plaintiff’s suit against her former employer, a corporation engaged in the business of providing in-home health services to patients insured by Medicare, pursuant to the False Claims Act. In affirming the judgment, the court held that violations of the procedural requirements that qui tam actions be filed under seal, imposed on qui tam plaintiffs under the False Claims Act, preclude plaintiff from asserting qui tam status....

Happy Monday, everyone. We’re kicking this week off with four more Supreme Court opinions, most notably a decision in the warrantless GPS tracking case, U.S. v. Jones. Today, the Court ruled that the government executed an unreasonable search when it attached a GPS tracking device to a suspect’s car, and tracked the car for 28 days without a warrant. While the Court was unanimous that warrantless GPS tracking constitutes an unreasonable search, the Nine were split as to why it was an unreasonable search....

US v. Livesay, No. 09-5080, involved defendant’s appeal from the district court’s order committing him to the custody of the Attorney General while expressly leaving open the possibility of his release, either conditionally or unconditionally, at a later date. The court of appeals affirmed, holding that the district court was correct when it concluded that it was not statutorily authorized to afford defendant a conditional release, even if it wished to do so....

In a drug possession prosecution, the denial of Defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment is affirmed, where: 1) warrantless inspections of commercial trucks advance a substantial governmental interest and are necessary; and 2) the Arkansas Motor Carrier Act provides a permissible warrant substitute. Read the full decision in US v. Ruiz, No. 08-3360. Appellate Information: Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.Submitted on June 8, 2009Filed on June 18, 2009...