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In Sides v. Cherry, No. 08-1982, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to a jury verdict in favor of the defendant-prison officials, in a former inmate’s 42 U.S.C. section 1983 suit, arguing that being restrained by handcuffs and leg irons throughout the trial denied him the right to a fair trial. As stated in the decision: “[T]he district court took several appropriate steps to comceal the shackles from the jury, including directing that (1) a jacket be placed over Sides’ hands, (2) an apron and boxes be placed around the plaintiff’s table, and (3) the jury be removed from the courtroom before Sides took the witness stand....

Another slow week for the Supremes, but on the bright side, the Nine returned to work today, holding their first conference since before the holidays. According to SCOTUSblog, opinions and orders are expected early next week, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we have another update on Utah, where the Feds just made things even more confusing, we’ll take a peek at next week’s docket, and then, we’ll talk teeth....

Except for oral arguments and the occasional back-page opinion attached to the order list, it’s been a quiet week at the Supreme Court. On December 1, the Court heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Elonis, the “Facebook threats” case. Last week, the Court heard another one of its more polemical cases, about whether UPS broke the law by not giving lighter assignments to pregnant employees, even though it had done so for injured employees....

Samuel Barajas is an unhappy drug smuggler. He was sentenced to multiple life sentences, followed by more prison time and supervised release (stand guard at the mausoleum!), after getting caught up in an investigation of Jesus Dominguez, the leader of the drug ring. Though the ring initially targeted and tapped the phones of Dominguez, the investigators eventually learned about a mysterious figure named “Samy,” later identified as Samuel Barajas. The investigators sought wiretaps on Barajas’ phone....

In a petition for access to criminal defendants’ presentence reports, the denial of the petition is affirmed where the reports were confidential, nonpublic documents, and petitioners did not show that they had a special need for access to them. Read US v. Green, No. 08-5215 Appellate Information Argued: March 12, 2009 Decided and Filed: July 13, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Rogers Counsel For Appellants: Herbert Sanford Moncier, Law Offices of Herbert S....

In a child pornography prosecution, denial of defendant’s motion to suppress evidence of child pornography found on his personal computer is reversed where a search of defendant’s computer exceeded the scope of the warrant and did not meet the Fourth Amendment standard of reasonableness. Read US v. Payton, No. 07-10567 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted November 19, 2008 Filed July 21, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Canby Counsel For Appellant:...

When churches get in trouble for sexual abuse, it’s usually about a cover-up. A new lawsuit in Oregon, however, is making the opposite claim. A woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for not keeping her husband’s history of child molestation secret. The woman, Kristine Johnson, is seeking $9.54 million in damages from the church for turning over her husband’s confession of child molestation to authorities. The church’s action, she claims in the suit, violated church doctrine that allows members to confess transgressions and repent before clergy and the official church court....

Create a personal finance statement. A great way to get a snapshot of your finances is by periodically preparing a personal financial statement, allowing you to compare the state of your personal finances as they fluctuate by year, month, or quarter. Prioritize your debts. Paying down debt is a perennial resolution favorite. But which should you pay first? By prioritizing your debts correctly, you can pay them down without inadvertently getting yourself in an even worse financial predicament....

An ADA plaintiff who sued the Minnesota Department of Health had a dismissal of his case affirmed against him after the appellate court first gave him hope by ruling that the lower court should have heard his case instead of dismissing it. However, it would later toss out his due process claims. Can’t win them all. Eric Wong and Paul Hansmeier Eric Wong is a man born with a debilitating disease that causes him great pain almost every time he moves....

When it comes to predicting decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, talking heads may soon be replaced by talking bots on the evening news. That’s because studies reveal that artificial intelligence predicts the court’s decisions more accurately than legal experts. In the 2002 term, an algorithm correctly predicted the court’s decisions 75 percent of the time. Rolling back 100 years, a machine-learning model correctly predicted 70 percent of some 28,000 decisions....

Before going too far down polygamist road, it’s important to know that it is an equal opportunity practice. “Polygamy” is not marriages between one man and multiple women; that would be “polygyny.” Polygamy is the practice of one spouse marrying more than one other spouse – at the same time. In Utah, however, people think it’s all the same. So can you be a polygamist and a lawyer? The answer may surprise you....

Argueta v. Holder, No. 09-4021, concerned a petition for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals affirming the judgment of the immigration judge denying petitioner’s application for special rule cancellation of removal under the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act. The court denied the petition on the ground that the court found nothing in the applicable statutory and regulatory provisions that temporally limited the discretionary factors the agency may consider in deciding whether to grant cancellation of removal to an applicant who was statutorily eligible for that relief....

Got a speeding ticket? Your insurance could go up. Got a DUI? Definitely get ready to pay more each month. What if you got a parking ticket or other non-moving violation? Will non-moving violations cause your insurance rate to go up? A non-moving violation is exactly what it sounds like. You violated some kind of vehicle code or traffic law, but your car wasn’t moving at the time, or the violation didn’t involve the movement of the car....

We always think of the “best interest of the child” as the critical issue in a child custody case. In an international custody battle, however, the most complicated issue may be which country’s court system should decide the case. ICARA implements the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The Convention – to which both the United States and Australia are parties – “entitles a person whose child has wrongfully been [retained in] the United States … to petition for return of the child to the child’s country of ‘habitual residence,’ unless certain exceptions apply....

Challenge to Rent Control Ordinance In Guggenheim v. City of Goleta, No. 06-56306, an action against the City of Santa Barbara claiming that its rent control ordinance was a taking of plaintiffs’ property without compensation, and asserting numerous other claims, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendants where 1) leaving the ordinance in place impairs no investment-backed expectations of plaintiffs, but nullifying it would destroy the value these tenants thought they were buying; and 2) the ordinance protected owners of mobile homes from the leverage owners of the pads have, to collect a premium reflecting the cost of moving the mobile home on top of the market value of use of the land, which was a legitimate government purpose, related to but distinct from lowering housing prices for all renters....

The Supreme Court saved the U.S. government a lot of money this week. A lot. We’re talking billions here. (Maybe the politicians didn’t have to abandon the debt ceiling after all?) Tuesday morning, the Court announced that hospitals can’t rely on equitable tolling to extend the time limit for appealing Medicare reimbursements. The Court explained that the reimbursement amount health care providers receive for treating inpatient Medicare beneficiaries is adjusted upward for hospitals that serve a disproportionate share of low-income patients....

Kenseth v. Dean Health Plan, Inc., No. 08-3219, concerned a plaintiff’s suit against her HMO pursuant to ERISA, arising from the denial of coverage for a surgical procedure to resolve the severe acid reflux related to her original vertical gastric banding surgery for morbid obesity. The court affirmed in part the district court’s grant of summary judgment to defendant on plaintiff’s claims for equitable estoppel and for alleged violation of state law limit on exclusions for preexisting conditions....

We might have found Justice Scalia’s replacement. No, we’re not talking about Merrick Garland, any of the potential justices proposed by Donald Trump, or even Justice Clarence Thomas, who broke his ten-year silence by piping up at oral arguments to defend Justice Scalia’s approach to the Second Amendment. Nope, Justice Scalia’s shoes may have been filled by a woman who shared the bench with him for the past seven years: Justice Sonia Sotomayor....

We’ve all heard the phrase “Justice is blind.” While many of us question whether that adage is as true in practice as it is in theory, certain cases make us realize that the law can be blind to the bright line distinction between right and wrong. For example, if a prisoner is sexually assaulted by prison guards, shouldn’t he be able to hold the government accountable? Last year, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that, if the assault didn’t occur during an arrest, search, or seizure, such a claim wasn’t cognizable....

Minnesota has joined the small but growing list of states seeking to broaden legal representation to low-income clients by allowing legal paraprofessionals to give legal advice. In some cases, paralegals may even represent clients in court proceedings if supervised by an attorney. The pilot program, which the Minnesota Supreme Court recently ordered, will begin in March 2021. The pilot will last until 2023. At that time, the committee overseeing the program will determine whether changes are needed....