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I remember the case vividly from law school. It was a stupid holding. The Supreme Court said that the federal government could regulate wholly intrastate matters, such as growing of wheat for personal use, because even wholly intrastate commerce creates a ripple in interstate commerce. When word of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act reached my inbox, my first reaction was “Yay, freedom!” Then I read it. There’s no way a law that declares that wholly intrastate manufacturing of firearms is outside the scope of Congress’ power can stand under commerce clause precedent....

In the realm of employment discrimination, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard the case of Jenny Evance, a nurse at Trumann Health and Rehabilitation Center , a nursing home in Trumann, Arkansas, run by Trumann Health Services, LLC. Evance sued her former employer and others after she was terminated, alleging federal claims of discrimination based on her gender, religion, and disability. The case highlights the rule for summary judgment motions in employment discrimination cases....

If you’re working at a fast-food restaurant and think your employer is violating wage laws, your chances of righting that wrong have diminished as the result of a recent U.S. Labor Department rule. That rule, set to take effect in March, makes it harder for workers in fast-food restaurants and other franchises to sue parent companies over violations by franchisees. Because many franchisees and contractors are small operations with limited resources, workers have often directed their efforts to recover wages at deep-pocketed parent companies....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is once again taking its act to the road. Next week, a three-judge panel from the court will hear oral arguments at two Arizona law schools. Circuit Judges Jay S. Bybee of Las Vegas, Richard R. Clifton of Honolulu, and M. Margaret McKeown of San Diego, will hear appeals of decisions from the district courts for Nevada and Arizona during both sittings. While the hearings are open to the public, a photo ID is required to enter the courtrooms....

In appeals from an attorney’s fees award in Muslim inmates’ civil rights suit arising from defendants’ refusal to provide them Halal meat, the fees award is affirmed where: 1) plaintiffs were prevailing parties, as they achieved a material alteration in the legal relationship between the parties, and the so-ordered settlement bore judicial imprimatur; and 2) the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s fee cap applied even though some plaintiffs were released from prison after the filing of the suit but before the successful resolution of the litigation....

In an action seeking Social Security disability benefits, the denial of benefits is affirmed where: 1) res judicata did not preclude Defendant from denying benefits because the previous ALJ’s decision did not constitute a final decision; and 2) the ALJ properly considered the relevant factors and the evidence in the record in making his credibility determination. Read Poppa v. Astrue, No. 08-4209 Appellate Information Filed June 23, 2009 Judges Judge Kelly delivered the opinion of the Court....

Happy New Year, Jen Shah? Probably not. The “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City" star was finally sentenced today in Manhattan after entering a guilty plea during the summer in her federal wire fraud case. While the reality star may not be celebrating, her sentencing seems to have reached the status of a national holiday across social media. Shah appeared in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday for sentencing, where she received a 6....

An Ohio inmate’s motion for a stay of his execution is granted and remanded for fact-finding and evidentiary hearings on the merits in light of Ohio’s revision of its execution protocol in May 2009 where the state experienced serious and troubling difficulties in executing at least three inmates, giving rise to at least two questions: 1) whether Ohio is fully and competently adhering to the Ohio lethal injection protocol given (a) their failure to have a contingency plan in place should peripheral vein access be impossible, (b) issues related to the competence of the lethal injection team, and (c) other potential deficiencies; and 2) whether these instances present sufficient new, additional factors to revive petitioner’s Eight Amendment claims otherwise extinguished by Cooey v....

When a judge says a case will be boring, you can believe it. Justice Neil Gorsuch said as much as he read the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in Upper Skagit Indian Tribe v. Lundgren. It was a dispute between a Native American tribe and a family over an adverse possession claim to an acre of land in Washington. It was not as high-profile as recent decisions over sports betting and mandatory arbitration, but it will make a difference in the near future....

We typically try to give you the highs and lows out of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals to lighten the load on your required reading list. Today, we’re recommending that you actually read at least a few pages of this escape clause insurance dispute because it is clear that Judge Neil Gorsuch had fun writing it. Insurance disputes? Fun? How is that possible? Maybe because it’s because the litigants are arguing over who should pay when a haunted house worker falls down an elevator shaft....

Updated September 12, 2019: On Wednesday, September 11, the Supreme Court issued a stay of Judge Tigar’s national injunction. Two justices dissented from issuing the stay. On September 9, U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar reinstated a national injunction blocking a rule that would make ineligible any asylum seekers who first passed through another country without applying for U.S. asylum there. The rule could affect tens of thousands of migrants and refugees and make it extremely difficult for many to obtain asylum....

Conviction for distribution of cocaine base and a sentence of 300-months’ imprisonment affirmed US v. Johnson, 09-3558, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for distribution of cocaine base and imposition of a 300-month sentence. In affirming both the conviction and the sentence, the court held that, because any error in admitting defendant’s prior conviction was harmless, the question of whether Rule 404(b) permitted it need not be addressed. Similarly, it need not be decided whether the admission of prior drug sales evidence was error....

Defendants’ securities fraud sentences are affirmed where: 1) the district court was required to resentence defendants de novo following the reversal of a portion of defendants’ convictions by another panel of the court of appeals; 2) based on the district court’s alternative ruling, under which it did sentence defendants de novo, their sentences were reasonable. Also, there was no error with regard to denials of defendants’ motions for a new trial and to compel discovery....

In US v. Washington, No. 08-3313, a cocaine base distribution prosecution, the court reversed the denial of petitioner’s 28 U.S.C. section 2255 motion to vacate, correct, or set aside his sentence, holding that 1) counsel’s failure to understand the basic mechanics of the sentencing guidelines and, in particular, his failure to advise petitioner regarding the impact of relevant conduct on his potential sentence prior to meeting with the probation officer, amounted to constitutionally deficient performance under Strickland; and 2) petitioner was prejudiced as a result of the above failures because the facts he conceded at his presentence interview disqualified him from obtaining a two-level reduction pursuant to the 2007 Crack Cocaine Amendments....

The term “Fictitious Business” gets thrown around quite frequently. While some might mistake it for a shady business that is “made up,” it actually is a legal term for a form of registration required of businesses in certain situations. So how does one know whether they need to file a fictitious business statement? The simplest way of explaining how to determine if one needs to file a fictitious business statement is to ask whether they plan on running the business under an assumed name....

Editor’s Note: We’re continuing to update this post to reflect new information released by bar exam authorities. Last update: May 15, 2020. We doubt there’s anyone out there who is hoping that Summer 2020 will be canceled because of COVID-19. But for those who planned to take the bar exam this summer, there’s even more at stake. Each jurisdiction is handling the situation according to many factors, including the severity of the outbreak in that state....

The Tenth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the use of testimony by victims’ relatives in recommending the death penalty to a defendant this week. Defendant Rocky Eugene Dodd was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder in Oklahoma state court and then received two death sentences. The two victims were his neighbors who were found in their apartment with their throats slit. The prosecution case was all circumstantial – there were no eyewitnesses, no confession, and no DNA linking Dodd to the killings....

Will District Judge Jed Rakoff’s controversial SEC settlement rejection set the tone for a bolder, badder judiciary? In 2011, Rakoff blocked a settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Citigroup over a mortgage-bond deal because the SEC didn’t provide the court with facts “upon which to exercise even a modest degree of independent judgment.” In the opinion, which described the $285 million settlement as “pocket change,” Judge Rakoff noted that “there is an overriding public interest in knowing the truth,” and the SEC “has a duty … to see that the truth emerges....

Meet Gary Peel. Gary was once an attorney of note in the Madison County, Illinois area. In fact, he once had a case in front of the United States Supreme Court that dealt with attorney advertising and “specialist” claims. Though he didn’t argue the case, he was the censured attorney, and the heavily-fractured plurality decision is quite the interesting read, especially if lawyer advertising restrictions intrigue you. He is currently in prison....

With the pandemic making a return to in-person schooling dubious, incoming college first-years are still in a state of uncertainty as to how their first year of university education will look. What if your school is insisting on in-person instruction and you don’t feel safe heading to campus? What if you don’t want an online college experience and want to defer your admission until next year, so you can get the full four years of on-campus living?...