If you didn’t hear it the first time, the U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals really doesn’t like the state of the law on abortion. The last time the appeals court ruled on abortion in Alabama, the justices begrudgingly struck down the state’s second-trimester abortion ban. But they made it loud and clear they didn’t want to do it. They called the law that recognizes a woman’s right to abortion an “aberration of the constitutional law relating to abortion....
Peter Deppe, a college football player, got a bad call. When his college pulled his scholarship, he went to another school. Then that school withdrew its scholarship under an eligibility rule. So he did what any athlete does after a bad call; he challenged the rule. In Deppe v. NCAA, that didn’t work. “Year-in-Residence” Rule Deppe had promise as a punter for Northern Illinois University, but a new coach signed another punter in 2015....
In an action alleging that the Americans with Disabilities Act required public transit systems to make certain modifications to their programs for disabled riders, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) if the Attorney General was not permitted to make rules about scheduling paratransit trips by vehicle type, then neither could he make rules that effectively required paratransit systems to schedule trips by vehicle type; and 2) the Department of Transportation’s public transportation regulations did not adopt and incorporate the Department of Justice’s regulations wholesale....
Crime Watch used to mean an organization of neighbors who watched out for each other. But times have changed. Californians, for example, now have something called Police Scorecard. It’s a new website that keeps watch on law enforcement by assigning grades to 100 large police departments in the state. According to the organization, 49 percent of the people who were killed or injured by police were also unarmed. That’s 100 percent bad for the victims....
The Obama administration isn’t technically involved in the Defense of Marriage (DOMA) appeal that’s making its way up the federal court ladder, but it wants the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to act quickly on the case. This week, the Department of Justice asked the Ninth Circuit the speed up review of Judge Jeffrey White’s February decision declaring DOMA unconstitutional, and to apply strict or immediate scrutiny to its DOMA analysis, reports the San Francisco Chronicle....
Foot Locker stepped on its employees, but didn’t expect them to kick back. In Osberg v. Foot Locker, Inc., the plaintiffs won a $180 million judgment against the company for misleading them about their pension plan. The company appealed, saying it was an unfair windfall to more than 10,000 employee claims that were time-barred. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the arguments, saying the claims were not barred because the workers could not reasonably determine when they had been wronged....
Election Day is here, and as we hit the ballot box, some overzealous campaigners may be accused of illegal tactics and charged with federal election crimes. Election crimes like voter fraud, ballot stuffing, and illegal financing may seem like harmless and minor issues to some, but authorities take the offense very seriously. Here’s how to spot the three types of federal election crimes, as described by the FBI: 1. Voter/Ballot Fraud This occurs when a voter intentionally gives false information when registering to vote, such as a false name, a false address, or other false information....
One of the most iconic roles from the Golden Age of Hollywood is Judy Garland’s Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. In addition to being a good story, the movie gave generations of children Halloween costume ideas, including the famous pigtails, picnic basket, and Depression-era gingham pinafore dress that can make any child look like Dorothy. That dress has now become the focus of a lawsuit. The Most Logical Place for Hollywood Memorabilia ....
Azie v. Holder, No. 09-1346, concerned a petition for review of the denial of petitioner’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture (CAT) protection. The Eighth Circuit denied the petition, holding that 1) petitioner, through counsel, had ample opportunity at her hearing to raise her lack of comprehension or inability to coherently respond, but did not; and 2) the record reflected that the Immigration Judge’s credibility finding was supported by specific, cogent reasons....
It’s just plain common sense: You don’t tug on Superman’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, and you don’t ask cops to touch your butt in the courthouse, even if you’re a judge. But last year, one Cook County judge made headlines for his alleged inappropriate behavior. And now, more details have come to light, including the allegation that after Judge Mauricio Araujo had his attempt to kiss an officer thwarted by her stiff-arm technique, he actually asked her to “touch my butt....
Since the Sherman Antitrust Act, federal law has prohibited price-fixing as a general rule. But under Section 568 of the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, universities that are “need-blind” (meaning that they don’t factor an applicant’s ability to pay into admissions decisions) are allowed to work with their competitor schools to help determine need-based financial aid given to students. The idea behind the antitrust exception to the Sherman Act is to allow eligible, participating universities (the “568 Presidents Group”) to work together to establish common principles for assessing financial need....
After a computer virus infected a Philadelphia court system, lawyers were scrambling to file lawsuits and other documents. The First Judicial District shut down computers on May 21 to prevent the virus from spreading. The court also shuttered its website and e-filing programs. For newer attorneys who never filed physical papers before, it was a rude awakening. Suddenly, they were learning how to do it old-school style. Indefinite Problem Scanning and electronic filing don’t work in courts that don’t have the tech....
Getting your case to the Supreme Court is not easy. Many litigants file a petition for certiorari and vie for the Supreme Court’s attention, but only a select few get it. So what do you do if you think your case should be heard by the Supreme Court? California Lawyer Magazine has written a helpful article on maximizing your chances of SCOTUS hearing your case. The article also has small quiz you can take at the end of it, for California MCLE....
On Jan. 3, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changed its regulations to allow retail pharmacies to fill prescriptions for abortion medication, expanding access to the procedure as more states move to ban or restrict it after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year. Mifepristone, taken in combination with misoprostol, blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed for pregnancy to continue. Administered during the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, it is a safe and effective method for terminating a pregnancy....
Atlantic City is New Jersey’s second-city of gambling, so why shouldn’t New Jersey be able to offer visitors that same perks that Nevada receives? No, no. New Jersey isn’t asking for those extra-perky perks. The Garden State just wants sports gambling. Except sports betting violates federal law in most states. The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA), also known as the Bradley Act, makes it unlawful to bet, gamble, or wager “on one or more competitive games in which amateur or professional athletes participate, or are intended to participate, or on one or more performances of such athletes in such games....
First, it was the University of Montana School of Law; now it’s Santa Clara University Law School’s turn. Santa Clara University Law School is turning 100 and celebrating in style with judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unlike last week’s Ninth Circuit hearings in Montana that featured retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor sitting by designation, the Santa Clara Ninth Circuit connect will be a bit more theatrical....
Constitutional violations are injuries in and of themselves and prisoners asserting them do not have to allege a concomitant physical injury, the Sixth Circuit ruled on Monday. That means that such suits are not prohibited by the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which prohibits prisoners from asserting 1983 claims alleging only mental or emotional injuries. A violation of one’s First Amendment rights is a separate injury, not limited by the PLRA’s preclusion....
“… keep and bear arms …” To think, just six years ago, folks were debating the meaning of commas, militias, and whether there was a right to individual ownership of firearms. Now, the issue is what those four words mean, and whether “keep” and “bear” imply two separate rights, one of ownership, and one of open or concealed carry. The practical impact of the distinction is paramount: do states have to allow citizens to carry weapons in public if they choose....
Rivera-Cuartas v. Holder, No. 07-74999, involved a petition for review of the BIA’s order removing petitioner from the U.S. The court of appeals granted the petition, on the ground that Arizona Revised Statutes section 13-1405, which criminalizes sexual conduct with a minor under eighteen years of age, did not constitute an aggravated felony for the purposes of immigration law. Rodriguez v. Maricopa Cty. Cmty. Coll. Dist., No. 08-16073, concerned a Title VII action claiming that defendant public university administrators failed to take immediate or appropriate steps to prevent a professor from sending allegedly racially harassing emails....
The Ninth Circuit decided two cases pertaining to California legislation impacting health-related government benefits. Dominguez v. Schwarzenegger, No. 09-16359, was an action to enjoin California legislation that reduced the state contribution to wages paid to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) providers because it was preempted by Section 30(A) of the Medicaid Act. The court of appeals affirmed an injunction for plaintiff on the grounds that 1) both the legislature and the Department of Social Services recognized that reimbursement rates–that is, providers’ wages and benefits–were directly correlated to ensuring that services were consistent with efficiency, economy, and quality of care, and sufficient to ensure access to services under the IHSS program; 2) since the court of appeals determined that the State should have studied the impact of its decreased contribution to providers’ wages and benefits prior to passing Cal....
