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This was a stupid law from the start. Now, it is a stupid, dead law. Ohio banned making false statements in elections. In 2010, the Susan B. Anthony List erected billboards stating that former Cincinnati Congressman Steve Driehaus had voted for “taxpayer-funded abortion” by backing Obamacare, The Plain Dealer recounts. The group was charged with violating the law, but the complaint was dropped after Driehaus lost the election. After two lower courts held that the Susan B....

It’s too late to hire the veterans who battled on D-Day, but we can honor them with more than a moment of silence. A few survivors are alive to tell their stories – parachuting and wading into a blood bath on Normandy beaches – but they are retired now. Their descendants, by birth or by right, need work today. We can honor them by giving them jobs. It’s not enough, but it’s one way to lift up those who fell for American freedoms....

In Official Comm. of Unsecured Creditors of Allegheny Health, Educ. & Research Found. v. Price WaterhouseCoopers, LLP, No. 07-1397, the Third Circuit dealt with a now bankrupt nonprofit company’s committee’s action against a financial auditing company for breach of contract, professional negligence, and aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty. In remanding the district court’s grant of the defendant’s motion for summary judgment, the court held that Pennsylvania law requires an inquiry into whether the third party dealt with the principal in good faith....

As reported by the AP, President-Elect Obama’s chosen Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has run into bumps in his Senate confirmation process over previously unpaid taxes and employing an immigrant housekeeper who for a period lacked work papers. From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Geithner failed to pay self-employment taxes owed while he worked for the International Monetary Fund. He has since repaid the taxes, but whether the Senate agrees to expedite his confirmation remains uncertain....

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently ruled that a felony rape charge does not apply if the victim was voluntarily intoxicated. The decision stems from a case involving a Minneapolis man convicted of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. The defendant, Francios Momolu Khalil, was accused of taking an intoxicated woman to his home and sexually assaulting her. The unanimous decision reversed the lower court’s ruling by rejecting the lower court’s definition of a “mentally incapacitated person,” stating that it “unreasonably strains and stretches the plain text of the statue....

This post was updated on November 4, 2022. Attention, holiday shoppers! Get your credit cards ready for “Cyber Monday.” Online retailers, not wanting to miss out with eager Black Friday shoppers, dubbed the Monday after Thanksgiving “Cyber Monday,” a day dedicated to online deals and sales. Online shoppers spent $10.7 billion on Cyber Monday in 2021. That was down from a record-high of $10.8 billion spent in 2020. It may be safer to shop from home by avoiding crowded malls, especially during cold and flu season....

As your loved ones age, you probably are starting to have concerns about their future. End-of-life planning is easy to put off because it is emotionally challenging and may feel overwhelming. But the sooner you have the conversation, the easier it will be, and the more quickly everyone can put their minds at ease. Why You Need to Talk About Estate Planning Estate planning is an all-encompassing term that includes planning for end-of-life scenarios and dividing assets after a person passes away....

A Michigan federal court judge recently rejected claims filed on behalf of Detroit public school students that the state was denying the children their right to an education. The plaintiffs have vowed to appeal to the Sixth Circuit. While expressing remorse over the deplorable conditions that the Detroit public school students suffer, Judge Stephen Murphy III also explained that the plaintiffs were seeking to enforce a right that does not exist....

The U.S. government cannot not legally compel Microsoft to hand over customer emails stored in Irish servers under the Stored Communications Act, the Second Circuit ruled yesterday. It’s a major win for both tech and for privacy advocates. It is believed that Microsoft is the first company to challenge a domestic search warrant over data held in another country, according to Reuters. The Second Circuit unanimously ruled 3-0 in favor Microsoft, agreeing that the Department of Justice overstepped its authority when it tried to compel the software company to hand customer email records that were stored overseas in Dublin, Ireland....

Muhammad Ali won his first world heavyweight championship when he was just 22 years old. “I am the greatest! I shook up the world. I’m the prettiest thing that ever lived,” he declared after his victory. And he was more or less right. Ali would go on to win that title twice more, establishing himself as one of the most talented athletes of the 20th Century. But Muhammad Ali wasn’t just an athlete....

“Civil regulatory scheme” or “criminal punishment”? How would you classify a newly instated requirement that all sex offenders wear an ankle monitor at all times, check in with officers at the parole board when needed, and if they violate the rules, be subject to criminal penalties? If that sounds a lot like parole to you, you’re not alone. The New Jersey Supreme Court has held that the state’s 2007 Sex Offender Monitoring Act (SOMA) amounts to ex post facto punishment when applied to those who had committed their crimes before the law was enacted....

In an action seeking relief in a tax dispute with the government, district court’s dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is affirmed where defendant brought the suit suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of a tax, and thus the Anti-Injunction Act applied and deprived the court of jurisdiction. Read Pagonis v. US, No. 08-2798 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota....

Herrera-Molina v. Holder, No. 07-0985, involved a petition for review of a February 23, 2007 decision of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), reinstating a prior order of deportation. As the court of appeals wrote: “Petitioner William Herrera-Molina seeks review of a February 2007 decision of the United States Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”), reinstating a prior order of deportation for illegal entry, entered in July 1985 against Herrera-Molina....

Justice Antonin Scalia, as usual, is mad. This time, his wrath is directed at his colleagues and their persistence in making decisions that, he argues, should be left to Congress. In a speech to the Federalist Society in Bozeman, Montana, he told listeners, “It’s not up to the courts to invent new minorities that get special protections,” reports The Associated Press. He continued, and possibly foreshadowed the rash of NSA cases headed to the court (the most recent case was punted on standing), by stating, “Of all the three branches, we are the one that knows the least about the nature of the threats to the country, and we have the least ability to find out about it....

The Supreme Court ruled this morning that Puerto Rico cannot rely on its own bankruptcy legislation in order to restructure its public utility debt. In a five-to-two vote, from which Justice Alito abstained, the Court held that the federal Bankruptcy Code pre-empted Puerto Rico’s attempts to deal with its public debts under its own bankruptcy laws – even though the Code excludes Puerto Rican municipalities from its protections. The ruling comes as Puerto Rico grapples with a fiscal crisis caused, in part, by $72 billion dollars in outstanding public debt, $20 billion of which is from its public utilities....

You have a cell phone, and most likely a contract for the service plan that goes with that cell phone. So when you run into problems with your wireless provider, are you tempted to use your legal know-how to challenge the arbitration clause in your cell phone contract? If you are, keep in mind that the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, like the Supreme Court, favors arbitration clauses. This Seventh Circuit arbitration case hits close to home because we can remember a time where we faced a similar battle....

In plaintiff-travel agencies’ lawsuit under Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act alleging a conspiracy to eliminate the practice of paying base commissions by various airlines, district court’s dismissal of the amended complaint is affirmed, as the plaintiffs’ claims against United Airlines were discharged in bankruptcy and the claims against the remaining defendants failed to allege sufficient facts to plausibly suggest a prior illegal agreement. Read Tam Travel, Inc. v. Delta Airlines, Inc....

Conviction for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) defendant waived his right to challenge the district court’s actions with respect to a juror question concerning juror’s experience with drug users; 2) defendant’s Batson challenge is rejected as the government provided race neutral reasons for its strikes; and 3) the evidence was sufficient to support defendant’s conviction. Read US v. Booker, No. 08-3561 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa....

Conviction for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in using Eighth Circuit Model Jury Instruction 4.05A on the credibility of cooperating witnesses as opposed to defendant’s proposed non-pattern instruction on the issue; 2) the court did not abuse its discretion by giving Model Instruction 3.11 on reasonable doubt; 3) the court did not err uin applying a preponderance of the evidence standard to determine the drug quantity attributable to defendant for sentencing purposes; 4) the court’s refusal to grant defendant a downward variance for acceptance of responsibility did not wrongfully punish him for exercising his constitutional right to stand trial; and 5) the court properly considered and applied the 18 U....

In defendant’s appeal from a district court order finding him mentally incompetent to stand trial, the order is reversed where: 1) the magistrate judge erred in relying too much on defendant’s actions two years prior to the current competency determination, particularly in light of defendant’s actions since that time; and 2) the magistrate judge erred in relying on defendant’s desire to be found competent as evidence of his incompetence to stand trial....