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On June 1, 2011, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals joined the ranks of the 4th Circuit in taking on the Obamacare lawsuits, asking whether Obamacare is unconstitutional. The oral argument was scheduled to take place at 1:30 before a 3-judge panel of the 6th Circuit. The three judges on the panel consist of two Republican appointed judges and one Democratic appointee: Judge Boyce F. Martin, Jr., a Carter appointee, Judge Jeffrey S....

Reports from today’s oral arguments at the United States Supreme Court explain that the justices kept their poker faces on when it came to partisan gerrymandering. Apart from Justices Sotomayor and Kagan’s clearly anti-partisan gerrymandering line of questions, there didn’t seem to be any indication of which side was winning. The Benisek v. Lamone case is a little bit different than the Gil case which was heard last fall. One significant difference that has been getting quite a bit of attention is the fact that this case focuses on a gerrymander in favor of democrats, while Gil’s gerrymandering favored republicans....

Scammers, monsters that they are, have found a new way to exploit people made vulnerable by the coronavirus pandemic. You may have heard that getting travel passports is difficult right now. So have the scammers. The pandemic has created bottled-up demand from people eager to finally travel again following more than a year of restrictions. The result has been 2 million applications in the pipeline and much longer waits than usual to receive the passports....

We’ll never know if the Toones’ claims were valid. Well, we have a pretty good idea, actually, thanks to the court’s dicta on the matter, but we can’t help but wonder if they would’ve had a chance to adduce additional evidence that would’ve supported their claims had they made it to discovery. Instead, their case becomes another reminder as to the importance of proper pleading and paperwork. The Toones also alleged that the subsequent transfers were invalid due to “robo-signing,” which made the transfers fraudulent, but alas, “bald allegations of robo-signing do not suffice under the Rule 8(a)(2) standard set by Iqbal....

BDT Prod., Inc. v. Lexmark Int’l, Inc., No. 08-6140, involved a challenge to the district court’s grant of defendants’ motion for attorney fees and imposition of sanctions to the extent of those fees, arising from a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant in a suit brought by its one-time partners claiming that defendant had misappropriated trade secrets in developing a printer tray that substantially resembled a tray developed by plaintiff....

In US v. Jandreau, No. 09-2839, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction for engaging in a sexual act with a minor, holding that the government was entitled to prove up its case with relevant evidence, which included the paternity evidence at issue, and the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting it. Frevert v. Ford Motor Co., No. 09-2531, involved an action against Ford Motor Company alleging wrongful discharge under the Missouri common law public policy exception to the employment at-will doctrine....

If you happen to flip through to the Discovery Channel this week, you’ll notice that it’s “Shark Week,” the station’s wildly successful tribute to the attorneys of the sea. In honor of our gilled-brethren, we here at FindLaw are celebrating shark week ourselves with a look at legal sharks throughout the profession. Don’t think that sharks are limited to private practice, either. There have been plenty of sharky lawyers on the Supreme Court throughout the years....

Justice Stephanos Bibas made it to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals by a Senate vote of 53-43. He won largely along party lines with only one Democrat crossing the aisle to vote for the Republican nominee. It was close during a week when four judges were confirmed to federal appeals courts. Critics said Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was rushing the process. But for Bibas, who has never been a judge, it was still a win....

Annalise and the Keating Five are back in this week’s “How To Get Away With Murder” to handle a familiar case: Who murdered that college girl they found in the water tank? Here’s a tweetable recap: #HTGAWM in 140 Characters: Defending Goth girl, gag order, battle of the experts, dead girl exhumed + preggers, Oliver has a new bf (sorry Connor), and #WhoKilledSam. Behind the drama, there were five lies that stuck out like legal sore thumbs in “HTGAWM’s” seventh episode, “He Deserved to Die”:...

In an action claiming abuse, mistreatment, and detention of Arab and Muslim aliens who were held on immigration violations in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an order partially dismissing the complaint is affirmed in part where there was no clearly established equal protection right to be free of selective enforcement of immigration laws based on national origin, race, or religion at the time of plaintiffs’ detentions....

Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where the district court resentenced defendant under the amendments to the crack sentencing guidelines, and thus, lacked authority to reduce his sentence below his amended guidelines range, and defendant could not show the alleged error in sentencing affected his substantial rights. Read US v. Murphy, No. 09-1164 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota.Submitted: June 8, 2009Filed: August 3, 2009...

Defendant’s conviction for conspiring to transport women in interstate and foreign commerce for the purpose of prostitution is reversed where the district court erred in failing to instruct the jury that defendant had to know that the women were transported in interstate commerce to be guilty of the offense. Read US v. Shim, No. 08-1834 Appellate Information Argued: May 12, 2009 Decided: October 8, 2009 Judges Per Curiam Counsel For Appellants:...

How does one define failure as a jurist? Is it an inability to perform one’s work without letting personal biases interfere? How about intellectual limitations or poor writing ability? Does an invisible career count? There are plenty of lists of “worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions” out there, but what about the minds behind those terrible decisions? Here are our suggestions for the worst of all time, with one small caveat: We’re leaving current justices off the list, because of possible partisan bias, the recency effect, and the notion that a person’s legacy isn’t cemented until it’s history....

Instead of people telling you how to make money, wouldn’t it be nice if they just gave you some? Sorry, we only give tips. This is a blog, not a bank. Besides, that’s what parents are for, right? Seriously, when you think about how to make more money, the best advice probably came from your parents. Remember “a penny saved, a penny earned?” A fool and his money are soon parted?...

Ed O’Bannon and other college athletes won’t get an en banc rehearing in the Ninth Circuit, the court announced today. O’Bannon, the once-upon-a-time star of the UCLA basketball team, sued the NCAA for antitrust violations after he discovered the association was licensing his image for video games, while preventing college athletes from making a dime off such deals. The Ninth Circuit gave the NCAA a partial win in September. Yes, the NCAA is subject to antitrust laws, the court found....

It’s rare when issues of jurisdiction actually sound interesting, but a recent case in California makes the grade. The Ninth Circuit affirmed in part a criminal judgment against a defendant in a murder case where jurisdiction over the defendant turned on whether or not the victim was Indian. This case reminds of the duality in the Continental United States between the US Government and the Indian Nations. A “Mexican Visitor” The case of U....

The City of Boston appears to be headed for defeat over its refusal to allow a private Christian organization to raise a flag at City Hall. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case, Shurtleff v. City of Boston, on Jan. 18, and the panel’s conservative majority appeared poised to rule against the city. The Christian group, Camp Constitution, sued the city after officials wouldn’t allow it to fly its flag for one hour as part of an event at City Hall Plaza in September 2017....

Felons aren’t supposed to have firearms. We all know that by now. But the Sentencing Guidelines take a felon firearm possessor’s intent into account. For example, there’s a six-level sentencing reduction for a felon who possessed a firearm solely for “lawful sporting purposes.” This week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals shed a little light on how district courts should apply the lawful sporting purposes provision. Rodney Mason was sentenced to 33 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm....

Remember the Atkins diet? One of the low carb diet’s most outspoken and enterprising exponents was Dr. Mary C. Vernon of Kansas – and now she’s headed to prison. The Tenth Circuit just upheld her criminal conviction for tax evasion and greenlit the penalty of $311,000. Now Vernon is headed to prison for three years and five months. It’s a fate worse than carbs. Dr. Mary Vernon became part of the Atkin’s diet scene in the 2000s after she co-authored a book with Robert Atkins himself....

In one of six similar antitrust actions challenging the practices of prescription benefits managers, that was transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation for coordinated proceedings, a transferee judge’s order vacating the transferor judge’s order compelling arbitration is vacated and remanded with instructions to reinstate the order compelling arbitration as the order violated the law of the case doctrine. Read Bellvue Drug Co. v. CaremarksPCS, Inc., No. 07-1151 Appellate Information...