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In US v. Franklin, No. 09-2265, the Seventh Circuit decided first of two criminal matters involving the district court’s denial of defendant’s 18 U.S.C. section 3582(c) motion requesting a lower sentence in light of the new guidelines reducing the offense levels for crack cocaine crimes. However, because defendant’s case did not state that the 157-month sentence was based on the guidelines range for the purposes of section 3582(c), the district court’s denial of the motion is affirmed....

Over the last 30 years, there have been a number of trends that have swept America twice: platform shoes, Bushes in the White House, and 90210, just to name a few. One other reoccurring topic that hasn’t been on America’s radar during that time? Supreme Court challenges to eyewitness identification testimony. In November, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Perry v. New Hampshire, addressing whether due process protections against unreliable eyewitness identification evidence apply to all identifications made under suggestive circumstances, or only when the suggestive circumstances were orchestrated by the police....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has just granted Facebook a brief reprieve from an “embarrassing” upcoming class action trial where they are accused of illegally harvesting biometric “faceprint” data. The appellate court did so by granting a stay of the proceedings pending resolution of an appeal of the class certification. The case involves Facebook’s alleged violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. And, according to Facebook’s recent filings, it fought hard to get around the district court judge’s order that the social media company contact all affected class members via Facebook....

A recent Second Amendment challenge to a law restricting the sale of guns to adults under 21 will be dismissed for “mootness” because the plaintiffs have since aged out. On September 22, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated its own earlier decision that federal criminal statutes prohibiting federally licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns and handgun ammunition to people between 18 and 20 years of age violated the Second Amendment....

The National Rifle Association’s lawsuit against New York’s Governor Cuomo will be allowed to proceed after the state failed to get the entire case tossed out. According to the recent Decision and Order, issued by the Northern District of New York federal court, the NRA’s case meets the initial pleading threshold requirements to state a case against the governor for pressuring banks, insurers, and other regulated industries, to not do business with the divisive organization....

The IRS is investigating San Ramon, California, attorney Mary Nolan for tax shenanigans. As part of that investigation, it wants Nolan’s tax documents for 2005 to 2008. In 2010, the IRS executed a search warrant looking for the documents at Nolan’s residence, her business, and in her car. The IRS failed to locate the documents, but did find references to Nolan’s income tax preparer, accountant Mary Fouts. So the feds went to Fouts, who said she had given the records to Nolan’s civil tax attorney, Richard Guadagni....

Another Monday morning, another orders list [PDF]. Who made the SCOTUS certiorari cut, and who didn’t? There are a few notables on both lists, including a grant to a hand-written cert. petition. Meanwhile, we have a competitor for most humorous amicus brief, with legal satirist P.J. O’Rourke joining forces with Ilya Shapiro at the Cato Institute to mock a particularly egregious Ohio Election law. The brief contains twenty pages of sarcasm, name-calling, and promoting of free speech and political satire over hurt feelings and terrible statutes....

In a petition for review of a BIA order finding petitioner ineligible for adjustment of immigration status, the petition is denied where 8 U.S.C. section 1255(i) reasonably suggests that Congress considers aliens who accrue a period of unlawful presence more culpable than those immigration violators who do not, and thus, that the former are less deserving of relief under section 1255(i). Read Herrera-Castillo v. Holder, No. 08-9538 Appellate Information Filed July 27, 2009...

For the second time in as many weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to North Carolina’s efforts to change elections based on race. Last week, the High Court let stand a decision that the state’s voting laws unlawfully targeted African-American voters based on voter identification and other measures to keep them from the polls. This week, the Court struck down congressional boundaries that were drawn to pack more black voters into congressional districts....

Nothing tops experience when it comes to lawyerly success at the U.S. Supreme Court. That’s the finding – perhaps unsurprising - of a recent study by two political scientists who set out to measure how experienced lawyers stack up against inexperienced ones at SCOTUS. Michael J. Nelson of Penn State and Lee Epstein of Washington University in St. Louis (where she’s also a law professor) concluded that experienced attorneys have a 14-percent greater likelihood of winning a case....

Jamal Cornelius borrowed more than $25,000 to attend an information technology program, only to end up working at Taco Bell with a debt he couldn’t afford to pay. That’s also how he ended up as a plaintiff in Manriquez v. DeVos. Cornelius and others sued to stop the Secretary of Education from collecting against some 60,000 students for loans they say are “worthless.” A federal judge granted them relief by issuing a preliminary injunction in the case....

Ledezma-Garcia v. Holder, No. 03-73648, involved a petition for review of the BIA’s order removing petitioner from the U.S. based on his commission of an aggravated felony of sexually molesting a minor. The Ninth Circuit granted the petition, holding that 1) the 1988 law that made aliens deportable for aggravated felony convictions did not apply to convictions prior to November 18, 1988; and 2) neither Congress’s overhaul of the grounds for deportation in 1990 nor its rewrite of the definition of aggravated felony in 1996 erased that temporal limitation....

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear three LGBTQ cases last week, and the advocates are already making their arguments. No, it’s not an accelerated briefing schedule. These advocates are making their cases in the court of public opinion. From lawyers to law professors to journalists to the everyday court-watcher, the opinions are in. Of course, the Supreme Court doesn’t really care about any of that. The real legal question is actually two questions in one: Does Title VII protect people based on their sexual orientation and gender identity?...

Missouri’s campaign finance reform law protects against political corruption, an attorney argued to the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. Without the voter-approved restrictions on campaign contributions, the deputy attorney general said, political action committees and other entities could circumvent the law. Section 23 of the Missouri Constitution limits contributions to $2,600 per donor. What’s more, Ryan Bangert said, 70 percent of the voters can’t be wrong. Unfortunately for them, a trial judge said something different....

The case between Nestle Waters and Mountain Glacier could be called “the water wars,” except for one thing. There was a cease-fire when Mountain Glacier filed for bankruptcy and the case was stayed. Now reorganized, the company wants back into the fight. Nestle Waters said Mountain Glacier waived its claims, but the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said there will be another battle in Nestle Waters North America, Inc. v....

IHOP didn’t seriously change its name to IHob; that was just to get customers’ attention. But the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals got some serious attention from the International House of Pancakes in a labor case. Along with many other restaurants, IHOP may have to change its wage practices. In a consolidated ruling with Marsh v. J. Alexander’s LLC, the Ninth Circuit said the plaintiffs have claims against their employers for allegedly taking their tips and underpaying them....

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is once again taking its show on the road. The court will hold a special session on Wednesday, January 18, 2012, at the University of California (UC) Irvine School of Law. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, and Circuit Judges Kim McLane Wardlaw and Richard A. Paez will hear arguments tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. in the law school’s Robinson Courtroom at 401 East Peltason Drive. While the hearing is open to the public, a photo ID is required to enter the courtroom, and there will be security checks with hand-wand magnetometers at the courtroom entrance....

There’s not much in the way of outstanding jurisprudence coming out of the Third Circuit this week, but there are two interesting cases, and one of them comes with fries. A Case of the Crab Fries® In the latest rash of Crab Fries® litigation, Chickie’s and Pete’s (CPC) has sued Dominic, Inc.’s Tony’s Restaurant (Dominic) of trademark infringement, reports Courthouse News Service. First we need to make one thing clear: Crab Fries® are not the next “chili cheese fries” or “carne asada fries” – there is no crab in Crab Fries® – just crab seasoning....

The God-fearing people of Oklahoma can breathe a sigh of relief today, safe in the knowledge that their car license plates do not require them to endorse pantheistic, pagan beliefs – at least according to the Tenth Circuit. Those Oklahoma plates declare the state, once largely set aside as a tribal reservation, as “Native America” and depict a native man shooting an arrow into the sky. One Oklahoman Christian took offense at the image, claiming it forced him to communicate a pantheistic message in violation of his free speech and free exercise of religion....

Judgment of the Benefits Review Board awarding benefits to defendant under the Black Lung Benefits Act is affirmed where: 1) defendant’s second claim for benefits is not barred by res judicata as long as he has demonstrated a material change in his condition; 2) substantial evidence supported the ALJ’s finding that defendant established a material change in conditions, and that he is totally disabled by pneumoconiosis caused at least in part by coal mine employment and thus entitled to black lung benefits....