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Incoming law school students are likely relieved to hear that after a record-breaking 2021, the number of law school applications has returned to the mean. Incoming 1Ls are less likely to face overenrolled classes, particularly considering that law schools were careful this cycle to delay acceptance letters in anticipation of another high-application year. 2021 Looks Like a Spike, Not a Trend We wrote about the large incoming law school class last year....

While the tax-filing deadline may have passed, sometimes after filing people discover that they made a mistake. While the IRS may not be widely known for being cool, they are actually not the worst when it comes to allowing you to correct mistakes (so long as you’re not a mob boss). Yes, there may be penalties, but it beats the alternative if you get busted for one of the many tax crimes....

In In re: Exide Technologies, No. 081872, the Third Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s affirmance of the Bankruptcy Court’s grant of the debtor’s motion to reject an agreement to sell substantially all of its industrial battery business, on the ground that the agreement was an executory contract, subject to rejection under 11 U.S.C. section 365(a), and that rejection terminated the debtor’s obligations under it. As stated in the decision: “The Bankruptcy Court here failed to properly measure whether either party had substantially performed....

Philadelphia’s ban on noncommercial advertising in its airport violates the First Amendment and is an unreasonable use of government power, the Third Circuit ruled recently. That ban came after the NAACP paid, in 2011, to display a noncommercial advertisement proclaiming “Welcome to America, home to 5 percent of the world’s people and 25 percent of the world’s prisoners.” The city then banned all noncommercial advertisements in the Philadelphia International Airport, ostensibly to maximize revenue and avoid controversy....

In an action alleging that defendant participated in the Sudan government’s violations of international law through genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, the dismissal of the complaint is affirmed where plaintiffs failed to establish defendant’s purposeful complicity in human rights abuses. Read Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, Inc., No. 07-0016 Appellate Information Argued: January 12, 2009 Decided: October 2, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Jacobs Counsel For Appellants:...

Many nonprofits actively seek out attorneys to serve as board members. Nonprofits appreciate an attorney’s legal perspective, good judgment, ability to negotiate, leadership, and financial contributions. Serving on a nonprofit can be a great opportunity for lawyers, too. It is a way to give back, make a real impact in your community, and work on personal and professional development. These benefits are not present when the attorney and the nonprofit are not the right match, however....

Faced with a possible hostage situation last week, police officers in New York City decided the time was right for Digidog to head in and assess the situation. Who is Digidog? Oh, only a half-terrifying, half-dopey-looking, faceless, robotic “dog” that can navigate tight, dangerous spaces. Has Black Mirror successfully predicted (again, annoyingly) what technology hath wrought? It’s definitely TV-MA, so we’re not going to post it here, but look up the episode “Metalhead....

Andrew Cohen published a two-part series in The Atlantic this week on the relationship between the Supreme Court and the military. In the second part, entitled, “Why Don’t the Justices Ever Visit Military Hospitals?” Rosen wrote: Friday, Cohen offered an update after receiving more information on the justices’ involvement with veterans from SCOTUS spokesperson Kathy Arberg. According to Arberg, the Court has participated in the Wounded Warriors Program – a community outreach program for hospitalized soldiers and their families – since 2008....

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to resolve a circuit split on substantial similarity tests in copyright law, to the disappointment of the owner of “the best-selling song in Iceland ever.” Johannsongs-Publishing Ltd. sued songwriter Rolf Lovland and several record companies over the song “You Raise Me Up” written by Lovland in 2001 and popularized by Josh Groban in 2003. It argues that the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ test for substantial similarity failed to find enough commonalities between “You Raise Me Up” and a 1977 song entitled “Söknuður,” while the Second Circuit’s “ordinary observer” test would have found infringement....

After a nice, long, break, the Supreme Court is raring to go again, starting the second half of its October 2014 term with oral arguments on January 12. The Court is apparently going to ease back into its job after vacation. This first week lacks the more polemical cases that we’ll see later, focusing instead on interpreting regulations and statutes. (When will we get to same sex marriage and abortion?!)...

In the shadow of the U.S. Supreme Court, millions of Americans have marched on Washington to express political opinions on everything from abortion to war. But in the one place that their vote actually counts – the polling place – several states have declared political speech off-limits. Federal appeals courts have upheld such “speech-free zones” in various states. In Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky, it seems the U.S. Supreme Court may have something to say about that....

College athletes in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee who do not wish to vaccinate against COVID-19 for religious or medical reasons can take a victory lap this week. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that the First Amendment rights of student-athletes at Western Michigan University were “likely violated” by the school’s COVID-19 vaccine requirements. Sixteen students, beginning with four women’s soccer players, challenged the mandate after they were benched as a result of refusing vaccination....

St. Patrick’s Day weekend is always a risky legal time for revelers. In a haze of green beer and Irish Car Bombs, you might be tempted to take your impaired judgment to the streets. Well snap out of it! Here are five sobering legal tips to keep you safe this St. Patrick’s Day weekend: 1. Yes, DUI Checkpoints Are Legal. Nothing can kill your buzz quicker than being stopped at a DUI checkpoint....

Whether a Texas inmate lives or dies could depend, in part, on the work of John Steinbeck. In the upcoming term, the Supreme Court will hear the case of Moore v. Texas, a challenge to the sentence of Bobby James Moore, who faces execution for the murder of grocery store clerk, but who also suffers from severe intellectual incapacity. The case asks the Court to weigh in on the standard Texas uses when deciding if someone’s intellectual disability is so extreme as to disqualify them from a death sentence....

The Sixth Circuit is hearing several appeals from different states regarding the recognition of same sex marriages in other states. In Tennessee, the Sixth Circuit granted a stay of a preliminary injunction, and in Kentucky, the parties are filing appellate briefs. And while all this same sex marriage litigation is happening, three Kentucky death row inmates just want to sweat it out. Sweat Lodges for Prisoners? Three death-row inmates in Kentucky are seeking to practice Native American religious ceremonies in prison, specifically they “want a sweat lodge, pow wow and traditional foods,” such as buffalo meat, reports The Associated Press....

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals granted a petition for rehearing this week before the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), but tempered the ruling noting that the petitioner had never won in an immigration hearing, and would be unlikely to win a BIA rehearing. So what gives? Mamadou Nbaye entered the U.S. on a stolen French passport in 2005. He was intercepted. Nbaye sought asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture based on changed country conditions in Guinea, his country of origin....

It looks like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is out of options in its November 6 poll coverage lawsuit. Thursday, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Post-Gazette’s challenge to a state law that prevents reporters, and others not involved in voting, from entering polling places. Since the November 6 election would have been poll workers’ first attempt at implementing Pennsylvania’s new state-issued voter ID requirement, media outlets want to be able to film the new law in action....

Defendant’s conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition is affirmed where: 1) the discrepancy between the caliber of ammunition charged in the indictment and the caliber of ammunition offered into evidence at trial was a variance, not a constructive amendment, and the variance was not a reversible error because it did not prejudice defendant; and 2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s request for a mistrial where the prejudicial effect of the objectionable question was de minimis, if at all, and the court gave a proper curative instruction to the jury....

In cases arising from the federal investigation of the Bay Area Lab Cooperative (Balco) and its alleged distribution of illegal steroids to professional baseball athletes, orders quashing subpoenas seeking information regarding drug tests performed on baseball players are affirmed over the government’s appeal where: 1) the government failed to timely appeal one of the orders, which determined that the government failed to segregate intermingled data, and thus the order had preclusive effect on the other pending cases; and 2) Fed....

Defendant’s conviction and sentence for conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 100 grams of heroin is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion when it permitted defendant to represent himself, and defendant must be held to the choice he made; 2) although it is regrettable that the court did not explain a shackling decision, there is no plain error; 3) although the court erred in admitting evidence of overdose by defendant’s clients, the error was harmless; and 4) although some errors were made by the district court, imposition of a life sentence was substantively reasonable as the errors were harmless....