Edith Windsor, 83, spent 44 years with her late spouse Thea Spyer. Though they were engaged in 1967, they were not legally married until 2007, when the couple traveled to Canada to be wed. Though, at the time, New York itself did not allow same-sex marriages, the state did legally recognize the Canadian marriage. Alas, while New York recognized their legal marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act required the federal government not to....
Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the government’s motion to dismiss is denied as defendant’s appeal was not barred by his waiver of appeal rights as it fell within the scope of an exception contained in the plea agreement; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in imposing defendant’s sentence as the sentence is not unreasonable and is within the applicable Guidelines range. Read US v....
Conviction and sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in denying defendant’s request for a Franks hearing as the warrant application established probable cause; 2) the evidence was sufficient to support defendant’s convictions for conspiracy and possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute; and 3) the court did not err in enhancing defendant’s sentence for obstruction of justice based on its specific findings that defendant perjured himself at trial....
At one time or another, you may have witnessed a pickup blowing out thick clouds of black exhaust smoke, apparently on purpose, and wondered if it’s legal. It’s called “rolling coal,” and it is indeed a thing. Coal rollers are diesel pickup owners who trick out their vehicles in ways that allow them to belch smoke whenever the mood strikes. Often, that means targeting people and things they don’t like, such as Black Lives Matter protesters, bicyclists, or electric cars....
District court’s grant of petition for habeas relief on the ground that the trial court violated the Double Jeopardy Clause by convicting defendant for both the felon in possession statute and the felony firearm statute is reversed as current jurisprudence allows for multiple punishment for the same offense provided the legislature has clearly indicated its intent to so provide and recognizes no exception for necessarily included or overlapping offenses. Read White v....
After the bad news, Wayzaro Walton got some good news. And then she got some better news. Walton came to the United States illegally with her family when she was four years old. The bad news was she got convicted for felony shoplifting and other crimes four decades later. The good news was she later received a state pardon. Then a federal appeals court stayed a deportation order against her, and that was the best news....
What happens when a television station forgets to bleep the swear words? Fox Broadcasting learned the hard way after two incidents in 2002 and 2003 where Cher and Nicole Richie cursed on live television. After the incident, the Federal Communications Commission enacted a new law, saying that it would fine stations that allowed such incidents to occur. Then, Fox did the expected – it sued the Federal Communications Commission. The case eventually made it to the Second Circuit....
This case in four words: loose lips claim clips. But then there was booze. As the police officers walked out with the weapons, Block drunkenly voiced his objection to the seizure of his property. He continued to demand the return of his guns on the way to jail. If that weren’t enough, after he befriended his cell mate over games of chess, he confided that he wished he had hidden his weapons in the baby’s room instead....
In a case that must be considered a sign of the times, an exasperated Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals panel recently vacated a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals regarding an immigrant’s application for waiver of inadmissibility. The BIA, an administrative agency, chose to ignore a binding federal appeals court opinion in favor of an opposing view held by the U.S. Attorney General. Judge Frank Easterbrook, a longtime member of the Seventh Circuit appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote the unanimous decision lambasting the BIA for its failure to adhere to its constitutional obligations....
Despite a mountain of scientific data proving that vaccines don’t cause autism, the vaccination debate rages on, leaving businesses to wonder how best to keep their customers and staff safe. And after the St. Lucia Coast Guard quarantined an entire cruise ship with 300 people aboard in response to a measles diagnosis, you might be wondering how far you can go to prevent an outbreak at your small business? Can you refuse to serve customers who refuse to get vaccinated?...
It was a blow when your employer laid you off due to the coronavirus pandemic back in March. But you’re collecting a $500 weekly unemployment check from your state and now you’re receiving an extra $600 in federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) money from the CARES Act. You’re making more money now that when you were working. Even so, in ordinary times you’d probably welcome a return to regular employment — after all, the PUA money runs out on July 31 and your unemployment checks will end later in the year....
More than two years after a New York jury found ‘Cannibal Cop’ Gilberto Valle guilty on counts of conspiring to kidnap and eat women and for illegally using his access to a police database to scope out potential victims, Valle has been cleared of all charges. The particular case is perhaps one of the more gruesome “thought police” cases to reach national recognition. In the months before his arrest, Gilberto Valle sat at his New York Police work computer and dove headfirst into a dark corner of the Internet where he consorted with other similarly minded fetishists who fantasized about kidnapping, torturing, raping, killing, and eating women....
It’s inappropriate for a supervisor to tell his subordinate that her husband was “not taking care of [her] in bed.” That’s a one-way ticket to a sexual harassment lawsuit. It’s also inappropriate to record your boss without his knowledge or permission. That’s a one-way ticket to termination. Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a Rochester Police Department employee’s hostile work environment claim, finding that the circumstances surrounding inappropriate statements that started and ended during her employment were sufficient to warrant a trial....
Dwumaah v. Attorney General, 09-4140, concerned a petition for review, by a citizen of Ghana, of a final order of removal by the BIA. In denying the petition, the court held that substantial evidence supports the finding that DHS met its burden of proving that the petitioner falsely claimed citizenship on at least two occasions in connection with federal student loan applications. In re Goody’s Family Clothing Inc., No. 09-2168, concerned a challenge to the district court’s affirmance of the Bankruptcy Court’s decision to award “stub rent” as an administrative expense to three of the debtors’ landlords in Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceedings....
In US v. Russell, No. 07-2354, the Sixth Circuit addressed defendant’s contention that district court committed several errors in his conviction and sentence for drug and firearm related offenses. Ultimately, the court rejected all of defendant’s claims as meritless. In particular, the court rejected defendant’s claim of implied juror bias as he failed to demonstrate the bias under any standard of review. Moreover, although one of the jurors was a paralegal at a tribal prosecutor’s office, there are no facts in the record to suggest that the juror’s positions created the sort of exceptional circumstance which would raise concerns....
In plaintiff’s action against a county school district under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, 20 U.S.C. section 1681(a), alleging that defendants knew that an elementary school teacher sexually harassed students at another county but allowed him to obtain a teaching job at another school, district court’s dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where: 1) at the time the teacher abused the plaintiff, the defendants lacked the requisite control over him to establish deliberate indifference liability under Title IX; and 2) defendants did not owe a duty to plaintiff enforceable under Illinois tort law....
Booze. Exotic locations. Communism. This case has it all. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that consumers are smart enough to figure out that Havana Club Rum is made in Puerto Rico, not Havana. In a geographic battle for the ages, French liquor producer Pernod Ricard sued Bacardi, the Bermuda-based rum giant, alleging that Bacardi’s Havana Club rum label was a false advertisement and misleading. Pernod Ricard’s motivation behind the false advertisement lawsuit was not just the best interest of American rum consumers; Pernod has been fighting Bacardi in U....
The Uber’s here? Hold on, let me grab my machete. As of September 1, 2017, it is legal to carry a knife with a blade longer than 5.5 inches in many places in Texas. Though there are exceptions carved out, Texans are now allowed to openly carry Jim Bowie knives, Rambo knives, daggers, swords, and yes, even machetes. It’s curious for those folks with an open carry license for guns: how will they decide which to bring?...
Things are a bit clearer in the rear view mirror. When a judge is presiding over a trial, and a juror swears, under oath, that he can’t bear to look at the child porn that will be presented at evidence, and he had previously given indications that he couldn’t be fair and impartial, you recuse him, right? It seems clear in retrospect. It seemed clear to the Sixth Circuit court too, which issued an opinion subtly benchslapping the trial judge and reversing the conviction....
A petition for review of BIA’s final order of removal of a German citizen is denied as, petitioner’s convictions under 18 U.S.C. sections 371 and 1001 (making false statements to an agency of the U.S. and conspiracy for failure to provide accurate financial records in connection with a grant he received from the government) constituted aggravated felonies as defined at INA section 101(a)(43)(M)(i), rendering him ineligible for cancellation of removal. Read Kellermann v....
