A clerkship in the Supreme Court isn’t a bad way to jump-start your legal career. SCOTUS clerks decide what cases the Court will hear and how they’ll be decided. They often go on to become master litigators before the Court or to sit on the bench themselves. Many clerks get starting offers of more than $300,000 a year once they move into private practice. Who are these lucky clerks? Statistically speaking, white guys from Harvard or Yale....
The Second Circuit affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of an ERISA discrimination suit against health insurers Anthem on the grounds that the latter discriminated against mental-health patients by reimbursing them less than other patients. But the thrust of the disputed issue at law still remains red hot. The case was not dismissed on the merits so much as the circuit decided that psychiatrists, who brought the suit on behalf of their patients, lacked standing....
Osage Nation v. Irby, No. 09-5050, concerned an action by the Osage Nation seeking a declaratory judgment that the Nation’s reservation, which comprised all of Osage County, Oklahoma, had not been disestablished and remained Indian country within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. section 1151. As the court of appeals wrote: “The pivotal issue in this case is whether the Nation’s reservation has been disestablished, not Oklahoma’s tax policies. The district court held that the Osage reservation had been disestablished; that tribal members who work and live on non-trust/non-restricted land in Osage County are not exempt from state income tax; and that “[t]he Osage have not sought to reestablish their claimed reservation or to challenge [Oklahoma’s] taxation until recently,” and Oklahoma’s longstanding reliance counsels against now establishing Osage County as a reservation....
Earlier this month, the Second Circuit “tackled the tricky question of how to define originality in architecture,” reports Architect Magazine. Though standard copyright theory applies, determining originality in architecture can be difficult for courts. In finding its own path, the Second Circuit rejected the analysis of the Eleventh Circuit, and decided to go its own way. Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990 Though the Copyright Act, codified at 17 U....
In an action based on Defendant’s alleged refusal to pay maintenance and cure to Plaintiff for injuries he suffered while working on Defendant’s tugboat, the District Court’s order holding that punitive damages were available is affirmed where punitive damages for the willful and wanton disregard of the maintenance and cure obligation remain available as a matter of general maritime law. Read Atlantic Sounding Co., Inc. v. Townsend, No. 08-214 Appellate Information...
Lecaj v. Holder, No. 09-0768, involved a petition for review of the order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) and the decision of the Immigration Judge (IJ) denying petitioner’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. The court of appeals denied the petition on the grounds that 1) the IJ reasonably designated – and the BIA implicitly adopted – Montenegro as the country of removal in accordance with 8 U....
Transcript Panel 1: A blob wearing a winter hat and puffy jacket stands above a pile of items with tags on them, as if they’ve just fallen out of the jacket. Another blob looks on, hands on hips, looking angry. The thought bubble coming from the character caught red-handed says: “What happens if I get caught shoplifting?” Panel 2: Four colorful blobs stand around, all holding or wearing sunglasses with tags still on them....
In parties’ dispute over the terms of a stock purchase agreement entered into in 1989 and several modification of the agreement over the next decade involving a small number of shares in two automobile dealerships and whether the contract also gave plaintiff option to purchase remaining shares, summary judgment in plaintiff’s favor is reversed as extrinsic evidence is required to clarify what the parties meant because the contract as modified is reasonably susceptible to both parties’ interpretation and is therefore ambiguous regarding the survival of the options....
Colvin v. Caruso, No.08-2441, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment against a plaintiff-inmate, in his section 1983 suit against multiple prison officials, claiming that a 16-day denial of kosher food, multiple mistakes in administering a kosher meal program, and lack of Jewish services and literature violated his constitutional rights and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). The court affirmed in part and vacated in part, the judgment of the district court as follows....
Urinyi v. US, No. 09-3398, involved petitioner’s motion for leave to file a “second or successive” motion to vacate his conviction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. section 2255. The court of appeals denied the petition, on the ground that petitioner’s prior motion did not count when determining whether his proposed motion was “second or successive” under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, and thus petitioner did not require leave of the court to file the proposed motion in the district court....
New York City can’t scare smokers away from tobacco by ordering anti-smoking signs next to cigarette displays; that’s the federal government’s job. Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a 2009 city Board of Health resolution requiring tobacco retailers to display signs bearing graphic images showing the negative health effects of smoking, reports The Associated Press. Graphic cigarette labels have been a hot issue this year. In March, the D....
In 2007, Kareem Ibrahim joined a plot to blow up John F. Kennedy Airport (“JFK”), in New York, along with Abdul Kadir, Russell Defreitas and Abdel Nur, who were tried separately. Ibrahim’s co-conspirators were convicted of terrorism-related counts, and the Second Circuit recently affirmed their convictions and sentences. On Friday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction of Kareem Ibrahim. The defendant raised six arguments on appeal, none of which the Second Circuit found convincing....
Judgment of the district court affirming Provider Reimbursement Board’s (Board) dismissal of plaintiff’s request that their assigned Medicare financial intermediary reopen and reconsider several issues in the hospital’s cost report from 1998 is affirmed where: 1) the evidence in the record supports the Board’s dismissal of plaintiff’s challenge to the Supplemental Security Income Fraction; and 2) district court did not abuse its discretion in denying plaintiff’s two discovery motions. Read Little Co....
In a dispute involving the termination of disability benefits, district court’s grant of summary judgment for defendant is reversed and remanded where defendant’s initial termination letter and subsequent letter denying plaintiff’s appeal were both insufficient to meet ERISA’s requirement that specific and understandable reasons for a denial be communicated to the claimant. Read Love v. National City Corp. Welfare Benefits Plan, No. 08-1722 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division....
In Malonga v. Holder, No. 09-2218, a petition for review of the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s application for withholding of removal, the court granted the petition where 1) the court could not say the record shows more than periodic instances of mistreatment that did not rise to the level of persecution and other incidents that could not be clearly connected to a protected ground; 2) the court could not tell from the BIA’s opinion whether it considered petitioner’s political activities after he left the Congo; and 3) the BIA’s pattern and practice analysis failed to account for the risks petitioner argued he would face as an actual or imputed political dissident....
As a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, Michel Davis served for half a year in Iraq and three years in Afghanistan. And while he was fighting abroad, taxes were piling up on his Philadelphia home. Eventually, Davis’s home was foreclosed upon, despite his repeated attempts to limit delinquent property taxes and penalties under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act – requests that were repeatedly denied. Davis sued, arguing that the denial of relief under SCRA violated his rights....
Last week, the Supreme Court decided that closely-held corporations had religious rights under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”), which were violated by the contraception mandate in the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), in the much-publicized Hobby Lobby decision. In reaching that decision, the Court noted that filing a Form 700 accommodation “constitutes an alternative that achieves all of the Government’s aims while providing greater respect for religious liberty.” Yet, days later, the same Court granted an emergency injunction of a non-profit Illinois college contesting the Form 700 accommodation, which according to them – the solitary act of filling out a form – violates their religious liberties....
The United States piracy statute is pretty poetic. And ambiguous. On April 1, 2010, the USS Nicholas was on a counter-piracy mission in the Indian Ocean when, lit to disguise itself as a merchant vessel, it encountered Somali “pirates” shortly after midnight. The pirates approached the ship on attack skiff. From their posts on the Nicholas, crew members could see by way of night-vision devices that one of the defendants was armed with a loaded rocket-propelled grenade launcher, while two others carried AK-47 assault rifles....
The Supreme Court takes bureaucratic hassle into account when making tax refund decisions. The Court ruled in a 6-3 decision on Monday that Indianapolis does not have to refund sewer project costs assessed to residents who ended up paying more than their neighbors due to a change in the City’s financing plans, because the City had a rational basis for distinguishing between property owners who had already paid their share of project costs and those who had not, reports The Washington Post....
As the calendar changes from one year to the next, many people find themselves searching. Some are searching for resolutions, or means of personal fulfillment. Others are searching for a new calendar. Police officers are usually searching for evidence of misdeeds And with that wish in mind, let’s take a look back at our top 4 favorite Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals unreasonable search challenges from 2011. Dog-Eat-Dog World. In a warrantless search case, a couple who advertised a litter of American bulldog puppies received an unexpected – and warrantless – visit from Louisville Metro Animal Services (LMAS) because they didn’t have a breeder’s permit to sell the pups....
