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Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca was with a group of boys throwing rocks when a border patrol agent shot him. Allegedly, they were throwing rocks at Agent Jesus Mesa because he was trying to stop a young man who had run across the border. The agent shot across the Rio Grande river, killing Hernandez on Mexican soil. He was 15. The U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear the case. It will be the second time for the plaintiffs, but not the first time a border patrol agent has killed a Mexican national....

It’s rare to get a unanimous decision out of the Supreme Court these days. But when it comes to secrets, the Supreme Court seems good at keeping them. For now. On March 4, the Court cleared the way for the FBI to argue in a class action brought by a group of American Muslims that their case must be dismissed because of national security interests. The plaintiffs in the FBI v....

In Goelzer v. Sheboygan County, No. 09-2283, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants in plaintiff’s suit against her former county employer for her termination two weeks before she was scheduled to begin two months of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), claiming the employer interfered with her right to reinstatement under the Act and retaliated against her for taking FMLA leave....

Tesla’s founder and CEO Elon Musk is known for his controversial tweets, ranging from criticism to gender pronouns to predicting close to zero new coronavirus cases in the United States by April 2020. Most of his tweets do not generate repercussions beyond heated online debates—but there was one tweet in 2018 that cost him and his company $40 million, and still haunts him today. In August 2018, Musk tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private at $420 per share, which was a premium to the trading price at the time....

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals upheld three former Philadelphia police officers’ employment discrimination judgments last week under the Supreme Court’s “cat’s paw” theory memorialized in Staub v. Proctor Hospital. The case, McKenna v. City of Philadelphia, went to trial as a Title VII discrimination claim filed by three terminated police officers, William and Michael McKenna, and Raymond Carnation. All three officers alleged that they were disciplined in retaliation for protesting the discriminatory treatment that the Philadelphia Police Department (Philadelphia PD) afforded their African American colleagues....

On December 1, in one of the most anticipated cases so far this year, the Supreme Court will hear Elonis v. United States, also known as the “Facebook threats” or “rap lyrics” case. Here’s our prior coverage: 3rd Cir. Re-Examines 1st Amendment True Threat Exception Supreme Court to Hear ‘True Threat’ Facebook Rant Case Rap lyrics, however, have very little to do with the case. Anthony Elonis made a series of increasingly threatening statements on Facebook, aimed variously at a co-worker, his ex-wife, the amusement park he was fired from, an unspecified school, the local sheriff’s department, and the FBI....

If you haven’t heard of the latest Uber driver scandal, you might want to think twice before hailing a ride-share at the airport or after a big event if you see that there is “surge” pricing in effect. A recent report details how some Uber drivers across the country have been gaming the Uber system to create artificial surge pricing at airports and special events. Basically, a group of drivers will all simultaneously turn off their apps outside airports or large events and wait for prices to increase before turning their apps back on and then accepting rides at higher rates....

An employee’s Facebook comments – including the f-word directed at a supervisor’s mother – days before a union vote were protected by labor laws, a federal appeals court ruled. The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals said that the Facebook post was “vulgar and inappropriate,” but it was not beyond the protections of the National Labor Relations Act. The appeals court said in National Labor Relations Board v. Pier Sixty that the employee should not have been fired under the “totality of the circumstances....

Defendant’s drug and firearm sentence is affirmed where the district court did not plainly err in determining that defendant qualified as a career offender based on his prior convictions under California Health and Safety Code section 11351.5, which constitutes a controlled substance offense. Read US v. Charles, No. 08-50086 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted August 3, 2009 Filed September 9, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Callahan Counsel Benjamin Lee Coleman, Coleman & Balogh LLP, Los Angeles, CA...

Defendant’s firearm possession sentence is affirmed where: 1) Defendant’s unconvicted conduct provided the District Court with an appropriate ground for departure under U.S.S.G. section 4A1.3(a)(2)(E), and 2) Defendant’s criminal history and propensity to recidivate placed him outside the heartland of typical cases considered in drafting the Guidelines. Read US v. Robertson, No. 08-3126. Appellate Information APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS(D.C. No. 2:07-CR-20153-KHV)Decided June 19, 2009...

Conviction for possession of firearms in furtherance of drug trafficking is reversed and remanded where the district court erred in its jury instruction on possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug crime as the instruction would allow the jury to convict on a lesser finding, and affected his substantial rights. Read US v. Rush-Richardson, No. 08-2414 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa....

The Virginia magistrate system allows citizens to bring criminal charges against one another — and that’s just what is happening to Portsmouth City Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke, who has been accused of a misdemeanor violation of the city charter. How is this possible, and what does it mean for Portsmouth? From Facebook to Filing Charges Portsmouth citizen Tommy Dubois, who brought the charges against Lucas-Burke, argued to a magistrate judge that Lucas-Burke violated the Portsmouth city charter when she advocated for the firing of the town’s police chief....

Obstruction of justice covers a broad range of criminal charges that can be filed when a suspect somehow impedes or stands in the way of a criminal investigation or prosecution. So what are the most common charges associated with obstruction of justice? Lying to Officers While you certainly have the right to refuse to answer police questions or ask for an attorney to be present, but you don’t have a constitutional right to lie to law enforcement....

Edgar Lopez-Hernandez, a Mexican citizen, pleaded guilty to being in the United States without permission after he had been deported. He had five previous convictions — including one for attempted armed robbery — which placed him in the 57- to 71-month guidelines range. Based on Lopez-Hernandez’s convictions, as well as 41 prior arrests that didn’t result in convictions, the district court sentenced him to 71 months in prison. On appeal, Lopez-Hernandez told the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals that the district judge shouldn’t have considered his 41 arrests that had not resulted in convictions during sentencing....

To remove a lawsuit from state court to federal court under the federal removal statute, 28 U.S.C. 1446 requires a defendant to file a notice of removal within 30 days of being served. The Circuit Courts of Appeals are divided regarding how the removal statute should be applied when multiple defendants are served on different days. The Fourth and Fifth Circuits subscribe to the first-served rule. The Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh Circuits have chosen the later-served rule, giving each defendant 30 days after that defendant is served to remove the case to federal court....

With all the attention paid to Neil Gorsuch’s Supreme Court nomination, and with no oral arguments scheduled until late February, you could be forgiven for losing sight of the Court’s important upcoming cases. But we haven’t. The Supreme Court still has plenty of important and interesting arguments ahead in the coming months. Here are three we’re looking forward to. It’s not often than you come across a case involving preschool children, recycled tire scraps, and the wall between church and state....

The unsettled question of involving freedom of speech in schools and social media sites became a bit more settled this week, at least in Pennsylvania. On June 13, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of two students who created vulgar online parody profiles of their principals, holding that the students could not be disciplined by the schools for off-campus speech. The cases were both similar and at the end of the day, the essential question was the same: Are public schools in violation of constitutional rights of free speech if they punish students for online speech activities when away from school grounds?...

In a petition for review of the Board of Immigrant Appeals order denying Petitioner a continuance of removal proceedings pending his appeal to the Administrative Appeals Office of the denial of his I-140 visa application, the petition is granted, where the BIA abused its discretion by denying the continuance. Read Ahmed v. Holder, 06-71631 Appellate Information Argued April 8, 2009 Filed June 24, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Thompson Counsel...

An interesting case was affirmed for the defendant ski-resort at the Sixth Circuit recently, offering refresher insights into the proper means and technique of statutory interpretation. The case involved a lady in a wheelchair on a ski-lift tramway. Despite the prosaic facts, the plaintiff offered some curious legal theories in her injury claim. Statutory Interpretation: Plain Language, Please A wheelchair bound passenger boarded a mountain tramway on her family vacation in 2012....

In an employment discrimination action, dismissal of the complaint for lack of jurisdiction is reversed where district courts have diversity jurisdiction over appeals from state administrative agency decisions when state law places such appeals in state trial courts. Read BNSF Rwy. Co. v. O’Dea, No. 08-35075 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted June 1, 2009 Filed July 16, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Fernandez Concurrence by Judge Fisher Counsel For Appellant:...