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Plus, Copyright Infringement, Criminal, and Constitutional Matters US v. Blagojevich, 10-2359, concerned a district court’s denial of motion to intervene brought by newspaper organizations and other media groups, iIn the criminal prosecution of former Illinois Governor Blagojevich, claiming that the names of jurors should be released as soon as the jurors are seated, rather than being released at the end of trial. In reversing the district court’s denial and vacating the deferred-disclosure order, the court held that before it can be determined whether the district judge abused his discretion in thinking that the presumption in favor of releasing jurors’ names as soon as they are seated has been overcome, a hearing must be held so that the justification for and alternatives to the delayed release can be addressed....

A recent opinion of a panel of justices at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal is sending the ADA case against Domino’s Pizza’s website and app back to the district court to be litigated. The case had been dismissed because the district court simply didn’t seem to know what to do with the case. It explained that because the DOJ had not promulgated regulations on what constituted ADA compliance when it came to a public accommodation’s website, the court could not actually do anything....

Fernandes v. Holder, No. 07-72415, involved a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision denying his application for asylum and withholding of removal on the ground that he filed a fraudulent asylum application and was not credible. The court denied the petition on the grounds that 1) the IJ’s consideration of petitioner’s motion to reopen did not violate the BIA’s remand order; and 2) the BIA’s adverse credibility determination was supported by substantial evidence....

In a Voting Rights Act (VRA) action by minority citizens of Washington state who lost their right to vote pursuant to the state’s felon disenfranchisement provision, summary judgment for defendants is reversed where: 1) plaintiffs had standing because a decision invalidating Washington’s felon disenfranchisement provision would redress plaintiffs’ injury in that it would restore their right to vote; 2) a failure to show that a state had a history of discriminatory voting practices did not negate a showing under the VRA that the current voting practice at issue was discriminatory; and 3) plaintiffs demonstrated that racial minorities were overrepresented in the felon population based upon factors that could not be explained by non-racial reasons....

Ferguson is burning. The first night’s casualties are in: dozens of burned and looted businesses in Ferguson, two police cruisers burned, bottles and rocks tossed at police officers and reporters alike, riots, sixty-one arrests, and more National Guard troops on the way, reports CNN and The New York Times. And the riots weren’t confined to Ferguson: reports of riots and looting popped up in even the most far away places, like Oakland, California, where protestors shut down the I-580 freeway, looted, and set fires as well, reports the San Francisco Chronicle....

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has revived a pair of federal lawsuits filed as a result of the water contamination scandal in Flint, Michigan. The cases were filed on behalf of injured residents to receive compensation for their personal injuries. The cases are against the city and local officials, as well as against the state and state officials. Though the court revived the pair of lawsuits, the claims against the state and governor have been dismissed due to immunity....

In college, we once represented Indonesia at the National Model United Nations Conference. Throughout the conference, students from Germany kept asking us, “Why are you killing people in East Timor?” The crazy thing was that we weren’t killing people; we weren’t actually from Indonesia. But the German kids, who were firmly committed to role playing, kept glaring at us as though we condoned genocide. It was awkward. We suspect that the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference was equally uncomfortable for whoever had to argue that women should not be admitted to the Illinois bar in front of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during the conference’s Bradwell v....

Unless there’s some kind of Christmas miracle in the next 10 days, Hobby Lobby will not get an injunction as a gift from Santa the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals this year. Hobby Lobby doesn’t want to comply with the Affordable Care Act birth control mandate, which becomes effective January 1. It asked the appellate court to enjoin the law. Thursday, the Tenth Circuit denied the crafty chain’s motion for a preliminary injunction, finding that Hobby Lobby failed to demonstrate “entitlement to such relief....

With all the power the gun lobby holds, it’s a rare instance when a gun law gets challenged and upheld. Last week, in Kwong v. Bloomberg, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals defied the odds and held that two New York laws regulating residential handgun licensing fees were constitutional. N.Y. Admin. Code § 10-131(a)(2) is Constitutional The N.Y. Admin. Code § 10-131(a)(2) imposes a $340 licensing fee to keep a handgun in one’s residence and the license is good for three years, after which it would need to be renewed....

The Supreme Court has once again overruled the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, this time in a warrantless entry case. The Court issued a per curiam opinion Monday morning in Ryburn v. Huff, finding that officers who entered a suspect’s home without a warrant while investigating a threatened school shooting acted reasonably under the rapidly-escalating circumstances, and were protected by qualified immunity. In 2007, Burbank police went to then-high school student Vincent Huff’s home to question him about a rumored letter in which Vincent allegedly threatened to “shoot up” the school....

Unordered Merchandise Statute Action In Sanford v. MemberWorks, Inc., No. 09-55502, an action under the Unordered Merchandise Statute, as well as state-law claims for conversion, unjust enrichment, and fraud, arising out of plaintiffs’ alleged billing for membership in a product discount program, the court affirmed the dismissal of the complaint where 1) plaintiff’s claims in this action arose out of the same allegations in her state-court case against defendant, which plaintiff had settled; 2) it was not unreasonable to expect the party who placed the phone calls to defendant to have personal knowledge of the relevant facts, and thus the district court properly denied plaintiff’s motion to amend to state a RICO claim; and 3) nothing defendant allegedly mailed to plaintiffs fit within the definition of “merchandise....

Finding the right people for your small business is a key to your success. But you also don’t have any time. Is it worth your hard-earned money to hire a recruiter? The answer, of course, depends on your precise needs. Here are some options to consider when you need to bring more people in but cannot make more time to find them yourself. Contract Recruiters You do not need to create a human resources department....

Defendant’s conviction for possession of a firearm by a felon is affirmed where: 1) officers had reasonable suspicion to stop the SUV in which defendant was riding; and 2) there was sufficient evidence to show that the defendant constructively or actually possessed the gun. However, the sentence of 387 months’ imprisonment is vacated and remanded where, although the district court was correct that a conviction for residential entry in Indiana qualifies as a “violent felony” for the purposes of the Armed Career Criminal Act, defendant’s conviction for criminal recklessness in Indiana does not qualify....

Defendant’s child pornography conviction is affirmed where: 1) a search warrant application contained sufficiently detailed descriptions of the images defendant sent to permit the issuing judge to make an independent finding of probable cause; and 2) a sixty-day extension granted for examining defendant’s computer did not prejudice defendant and the officers performing the search did not show a reckless disregard of proper procedure. Read US v. Mutschelknaus, No. 09-1106 Appellate Information...

Right now, the data from this blog is coming from a server in New York City. The only reason any of us know this is because our servers were temporarily offline after Hurricane Sandy. In fact, you almost never know where the data you are accessing, legally or illegally, is coming from. MacDermid sued Deiter and choose Connecticut as its venue. However, Deiter had only worked for the company’s branch in Ontario, Canada during her entire tenure....

If the U.S. Supreme Court were like the Moon, we could predict with precise accuracy where it was going because of the laws of gravity. But the justices tug and pull in unpredictable ways sometimes, and they don’t always follow the law. Sometimes, they make it. That opportunity will roll around again in late February. That’s not a prediction; it’s just that some pivotal cases are on the docket involving public employees, privacy, and political insignia....

“Pneumatics!” begins Chief Justice Roberts’ annual year-end report on the federal judiciary. In 1893, The Washington Post heralded the pneumatic tube as a brilliant way to move documents around a large building. When the Supreme Court building was constructed in 1931, Cass Gilbert incorporated pneumatic tubes in order to distribute information to the press. The lesson, buried at the end of this historical journey: It took 38 years for the Court to embrace this new technology....

Murderous drug lord, or just a myth? Those are two faces of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, as described by lawyers in a New York courtroom. He is on trial for multiple counts of alleged drug-trafficking and murder. “Money, drugs, murder, a vast global trafficking organization, that’s what this trial is about,” prosecutor Adam Fels told jurors as the courtroom drama began. “El Chapo” “El Chapo,” a nickname for the 5'6" Guzman, means “Shorty....

Labor Day is right around the corner, a welcome day off from work (for many of us) and a time to reflect on the rights of workers won by the labor movement, like the 40-hour work week and minimum wage. Minimum wage laws, in particular, have been getting a lot of attention recently as states and cities continue to raise the floor of what employers must pay. With federal, state, and local laws overlapping, it may be difficult to determine what the minimum wage is where you work....

Welcome to FindLaw’s DUI Law series. If you have been charged with a DUI, know someone who has, or just want to know about the law and how to protect your rights during a DUI stop, please come back each week for more information. Whether you’re heading back to your college campus this fall or arriving at a university for the first time, chances are you’ll find yourself at a party with alcohol....