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Planned Parenthood can’t get past the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. For the third time in as many months, the appeals court has handed Planned Parenthood a defeat. This time, the justices refused to reconsider a prior decision that upheld a law that restricts access to abortion pills. “This common sense law will help ensure that medication abortions are conducted in a safe, responsible manner and with appropriate protections for women,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge after the last decision in Planned Parenthood v....

Charles Dickens wrote that the law is an ass. In Oliver Twist, the author suggested that sometimes the law makes no sense. In the case of Mr. Bumble, he said “the law is a ass” for making a man legally responsible for his wife’s thievery. With apologies to Dickens, as well as Craig Williams and Shawn Walker, it appears no one was legally responsible for their 14 years in unlawful solitary confinement....

US v.Wettstain, 08-5707, concerned a challenge to defendants’ convictions for their involvement in a large-scale methamphetamine drug distribution ring and sentences of life imprisonment. The court affirmed for the most part, but vacated and remanded for resentencing a defendant’s life sentence on Counts II and IV and co-defendant’s life sentences on Counts III and IV. US v. Blanchard, 09-1284, concerned a challenge to a conviction of defendant for failure to account for and pay over-withholding and FICA taxes and making and causing the making of a false claim for a tax refund....

The Seventh Circuit decided two criminal matters involving issues of whether a death-row inmate is competent to participate in habeas proceedings and a defendant’s challenge to his conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Lastly, the court decided a plaintiff’s wrongful termination claim against her former employer under the FMLA. Holmes v. Levenhagen, No. 04-3549, involved a challenge to a district court’s determination that a defendant, convicted of first degree murders and sentenced to death, is competent to participate in the habeas proceeding....

If a patient commits suicide while in hospital care, does the decedent’s estate have a valid wrongful death lawsuit against the hospital? Not in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal this week from the family of a woman who committed suicide as a patient at Arkansas State Hospital. The woman, Brenda Shelton, hung herself in her hospital room in 2008. She was still alive when nurses found her but died several days later....

Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list. Today’s topic: appellate mediation in the Tenth Circuit. The Tenth Circuit Mediation Office, staffed by attorney-mediators, conducts mediation in civil appeals pursuant to Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 33 and 10th Circuit Rule 33....

Yes, you can get in a hit-and-run on the ski slopes, but if you do, don’t assume that the resort will be liable. The Second Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of a ski resort whose negligence, plaintiff claimed, caused his injury. The facts are interesting in this case, because it appears that plaintiff was blindsided and did not see the thing or person who collided with him, even for a moment....

Justice Ginsburg, speaking at the Second Circuit Judicial Conference last Thursday, said what everyone knows but no justice has spoken aloud until now: when it comes to running the Supreme Court, eight justices aren’t enough. Until now, the Supreme Court justices had largely played down the impact of a vacant seat on the Court – or they had remained mum. Justice Ginsburg, however, was a bit more forthright in her assessment....

In a petition for review of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s denial of rulemaking petitions filed by Massachusetts and California, the petition is denied where the Commission gave due consideration to the relevant studies, and thus the court was required to defer to their expertise in determining the proper risk level associated with the storage of nuclear material in spent fuel pools. Read New York v. Nuclear Reg. Comm’n, No. 08-3903...

Can police taser a person who doesn’t pose a threat of harm? The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Monday that police used excessive force and violated plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights in two separate tasering incidents, but then neutered that opinion by extending qualified immunity to the officers. We think the Ninth Circuit erred in granting qualified immunity, but you can decide for yourself if it was warranted. The first plaintiff, Malaika Brooks, was seven months pregnant when Seattle police cited her for speeding in a school zone....

The last presidential campaign brought to public view the impact of Super PACs, or Political Action Committees, as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC. And while the next presidential campaign is a few years off, we have some smaller elections going on around the country that are not immune from PACs. The New York mayoral election has garnered nationwide attention, mostly for the initial participation of Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner....

Sadly for the parents of a child in Illinois that lost his middle finger due to an injury at a Starbucks, the Seventh Circuit unanimously refused to overturn the lower district court’s grant of summary judgment dismissing the claim over the child’s lost finger. The court found that Starbucks could not be held liable due to the fact that the child was being supervised by his parents at the time of the injury....

The order from the New Jersey Supreme Court highlights the benefits involved. Law students who have already secured a position will not lose their ability to help their new firm. Law students can gain experience, and hopefully employment, by immediately practicing with supervision. Additionally, the need for low-cost legal services is increasing, some of which can be done by recent law graduates looking to gain experience. What Recent Grads Can Do New Jersey’s order allows recent graduates to enter appearances, draft pleadings, negotiate and enter into settlement agreements, and even provide legal counsel, provided a supervising licensed attorney oversees the work....

A recent 5 to 4 opinion of the High Court clarifies the Armed Career Criminal Act’s definition of violent crimes to include crimes that involve the minimum amount of force needed to overcome resistance. The ACCA imposes harsher mandatory minimum sentences for offenders that have a history of committing violent crimes. The case before the Justices involved Denard Stokeling, who pleaded guilty to charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm....

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Tenth Circuit’s interpretation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act on Wednesday. That law requires schools to provide disabled students with a free and appropriate public education, or FAPE. But to meet that standard, the Tenth had ruled, schools must confer an educational benefit that is “merely more than de minimis.” The law is “markedly more demanding” than that, the Supreme Court ruled this morning....

In an antitrust action alleging a conspiracy by major record labels to fix the prices and terms under which their music would be sold over the Internet, dismissal of the complaint is reversed where: 1) plaintiffs’ allegations were not required to exclude independent self-interested conduct as an explanation for defendants’ parallel behavior; and 2) plaintiffs were not required to mention a specific time, place or person involved in each conspiracy allegation....

For Supreme Court fans, and voracious readers, now’s a great time to step into a book store. Richard Collins, of SCOTUSblog, recently put together a list of 18 new and forthcoming SCOTUS-focused tomes, from traditional biographies, to discussions of the legal system generally, to Court histories, political jeremiads, and academic reports. Oh, and did we mention that Justice Breyer has a new book planned? His fourth since taking the bench, the new book is focused on American law and its connection to the rest of the world....

District court’s denial of a petition for habeas relief of a defendant convicted of attempted first degree murder and related crimes is affirmed as overnight incarceration of defendant’s counsel for contempt during trial did not violate defendant’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel nor was it a constructive denial of counsel. District court’s denial of defendant’s petition on ground of res judicata was neither contrary to, nor did it involve an unreasonable application of Supreme Court precedent....

Law firms and corporations across the country are implementing work from home policies in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. For those with the opportunity to do so, working from home is an essential part of the social distancing necessary to lower the spread of the novel coronavirus. Setting the significant health considerations aside, working from home has some advantages. Often, it is easier to get work done. You may be pleasantly surprised how easy it is to focus on work without the distractions present in the office....

District court’s sentencing of a felon convicted of possession of firearm to 84 months is vacated and remanded for resentencing where the the sentencing judge miscalculated the recommended range by starting with a base offense level of 20 under U.S.S.G. section 2K2.1(a)(4) based on defendant’s state conviction for reckless discharge of a firearm. Read US v. Gear, No. 07-4038 Appellate Information Appeals from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Western Division....