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The Supreme Court often appends opinions related to prisoner litigation to the end of its semi-weekly order list. Generally, if the Court is going to deny a cert. petition to a prisoner on habeas or direct appeal, it summarily does so in the order list, but if an issue is important enough, one or more members of the Court will address it in an opinion or statement. Today’s statement, issued by Justice Kagan, and joined by Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor in a cert....

Less than three weeks ago, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit allowed a Trump administration rule pulling federal funds from health clinics that provide abortion referrals to go into effect. Last week, though, Chief Ninth Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas put the ban on hold again, ruling that the question would go to an en banc rehearing. “Upon the vote of a majority of nonrecused active judges, it is ordered that these cases be reheard en banc pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 35(a) and Circuit Rule 35-3,” Judge Thomas wrote....

You may not use your phone book anymore, but does that mean that a city should be allowed to force the phone book publishers to pay for their own demise? A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled this week that phone books may be obsolescent, but they’re still entitled to First Amendment protection. The publishers sued, arguing that the ordinance unconstitutionally infringed upon their free speech rights. The district court rejected the plaintiffs’ challenge and granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants....

In an action for misappropriation of trade secrets against credit reporting agencies engaged in the practice of permitting lenders competing with plaintiff to purchase pre-screened consumer reports containing “trigger leads” compiled by plaintiff, dismissal of the action is affirmed where: 1) the Fair Credit Reporting Act preempted state law claims based on pre-screened reports; and 2) plaintiff failed to identify the legal basis for defendants’ alleged duty and obligation to maintain the confidentiality of trigger leads....

In In re: Whirlpool Corp., No. 09-3777, the Seventh Circuit dealt with both an appeal and a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging district court’s order for Whirlpool to disclose communications between its attorneys and outside advertising agencies, arising from an action for trademark infringement against Whirlpool relating to a clothes dryer. As stated in the decision: “At the time there was uncertainty about whether rulings on the attorney-client privilege could be appealed as collateral orders, because Mohawk Indus....

Six-year-old B.H. went to the school office, twice in three days, complaining of irritation in her genital area and that it “burned” when she urinated. The initial visit to the office led to a phone call with the girls’ mother, who informed the school that her daughter had issues with chronic bladder infections. The second visit led to a trip to the school nurse. Nurse Sliwowski, one of the defendants in this case, took B....

Seattle was ahead of its time when it gave for-hire drivers the chance to unionize in 2016. Unfortunately for Uber drivers and others, their lawsuit challenging the city ordinance was also premature. In Clark v. City of Seattle, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said their claims are not ripe. The for-hire drivers said the ordinance violated the National Labor Relations Act and their First Amendment rights. Not now they don’t, according to the appeals court....

In a prosecution for driving under the influence (DUI), denial of defendant’s motion to suppress is affirmed where a momentary checkpoint stop of all vehicles at the entrance of a national park, aimed at preventing illegal hunting – which is minimally intrusive, justified by a legitimate concern for the preservation of park wildlife and the prevention of irreparable harm, directly related to the operation of the park, and confined to the park gate where visitors would expect to briefly stop – is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment....

Defendant’s money laundering conspiracy sentence is vacated where the record lacked a sufficient factual basis to conclude that defendant participated in the alleged conspiracy with the requisite knowledge of the concealment element of the crime charged. Read US v. Garcia, No. 08-1621 Appellate Information Argued: September 30, 2009 Decided: December 1, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Lynch Counsel For Appellant: Jonathan I. Edelstein, New York, NY For Appellee: Brent S. Wible, Brendan R....

Conviction and sentence for money laundering, bank fraud and bank embezzlement is affirmed where: 1) there was sufficient evidence that could lead a rational trier of fact to find that when defendant received the three fraudulent loans, he knowingly participated in a scheme and had an intent to defraud the bank; and 2) the district court did not err in calculating the amount of loss and in calculating his criminal history level, and properly applied the various enhancements in computing the Advisory range under the Sentencing Guideline....

A federal judge added 6 months to disgraced politician Vincent Fumo’s sentence today, increasing the former Pennsylvania state senator’s total sentence to 61 months. The judge also ordered Fumo to pay an additional $1.1 million in restitution, in addition to the $2.8 million he has already paid. A unanimous jury convicted Fumo in 2009 of conspiracy, fraud, obstruction of justice, and tax violations for using state employees and consultants for political and personal purposes....

A Kansas social worker convicted of enslaving mentally-ill residents of a group home, and forcing them to engage in sexual acts and nude farming as part of their “therapy,” cannot appeal his 30-year prison sentence on the grounds of ineffective counsel, reports The Associated Press. The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the former social worker, Arlan Kaufman, did not qualify for a certificate of appealability. Authorities initiated an investigation of the Center, and learned that, over a period of more than 15 years, the Kaufmans had directed the severely mentally ill residents to perform sexually explicit acts and farm labor in the nude, while maintaining that these acts constituted legitimate psychotherapy for the residents’ mental illnesses....

For a small business getting a handle on federal environmental law can seem like a huge headache. But the Environmental Protection Agency has resources for small businesses to help you run a thriving business that makes a minimal environmental footprint. There are tax credits and even prestigious awards for businesses that work with the environment in mind. If you are so inspired, running a green business can be part of your theme, brand, and marketing strategy....

Small businesses can always use a few good tax write offs. So we recently came up with 5 tax write offs for 2010. Let’s jump right in: Create jobs, get a deduction If you hired new workers between Feb. 3, and Dec. 31, 2010, that didn’t merely replace people who left and who had been unemployed for more than 60 days, you can save 6.2% of your payroll tax. You can also get another $1,000 business tax credit in 2011 if you keep the new employees for 52 weeks or longer....

Reporting on a depressing case of child pornography was just too much for us, so we’re trying to even things out, if possible, by letting you in on other judicial related news from around the 7th Circuit … New Law School Dedication Indiana Tech is dedicating its new law school in Fort Wayne on September 14, 2013, reports the Daily Reporter. The charter class began session on August 26th. For the dedication ceremony, Judge Easterbrook of the Seventh Circuit is speaking, along with Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller....

In the wake of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter permanently banned Donald Trump from its platform. Other social media companies, including Facebook and YouTube, quickly followed suit. Perceiving a coordinated campaign to censor conservatives, two states — Florida and Texas — passed laws restricting the power of social media platforms to moderate content and, in Florida’s case, deplatform political candidates who violate their terms of service....

Lui v. Holder, No. 08-3651, concerned a petition for review of the BIA’s order removing petitioners to Hong Kong, denying them relief from removal in the form of adjustment of status, and denying them the alternative relief of voluntary departure. The court of appeals denied the petition, on the grounds that 1) petitioners did not argue that they qualify for any exception to the exhaustion requirement as to their argument that the Immigration Judge improperly considered certain documents; and 2) although it was improper for the BIA to determine that petitioner had no qualifying relative, there was no reason to remand the matter because the improperly found fact was extraneous....

In US v. Bergman, No. 08-1472, the court of appeals remanded defendant’s conviction for conspiracy to commit murder, holding that defendant was not represented by counsel when the court declared her competent to stand trial, and thus the district court needed to consider whether it could make a retrospective competency determination. In Richie v. Workman, No. 08-5091, a capital habeas matter, the Tenth Circuit affirmed the grant of petitioner’s habeas petition as to petitioner’s murder conviction, and the denial of the petition as to his kidnapping for extortion, robbery with a firearm, unauthorized use of a debit card, and larceny of a vehicle convictions, on the grounds that 1) petitioner was entitled to an instruction on the lesser included offense of second-degree depraved-mind murder; and 2) petitioner’s argument that several jurors were biased against him for not testifying but concealed this bias during voir dire was not supported by admissible evidence....

Yvette Vangorden was no pushover when the bank came after her for a credit card debt. She settled the dispute for about a third of the original amount, paying $571 and change to get rid of it. About five years later, however, a debt collector came after her for some purported balance. In Vangorden v. Second Round, Ltd., she sued for unfair debt collection practices. This time, the debt collector should have settled....

In a pair of long-awaited decisions that are sure to create confusion and inspire much more litigation, the Ninth Circuit finally decided two football videogame likeness disputes with two separate and seemingly-conflicting opinions. Jim Brown dominated the NFL for the Cleveland Browns in the 1960s. His likeness has appeared in many recent editions of the Madden NFL series as a historical, Hall of Fame, or “All-Madden” player, though Electronic Arts, the publisher of Madden, has taken some steps (such as changing the jersey number) to differentiate the otherwise similar avatar....