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Warning: Defending hydroponic “gardeners’ in the Eighth Circuit just got harder. In 2008, Nebraska police officers visited David McIntyre’s home to inquire about a trailer McIntyre purchased from a person of interest in a missing person case. Based on the smell of raw marijuana in his home and McIntyre’s past drug-related arrests, the officers requested a county attorney’s subpoena for McIntyre’s power records; the records indicated that McIntyre used more energy than his neighbors....

Is there a glimmer of hope for disgraced Illinois Governor George Ryan? The former governor, who is serving time in federal prison for corruption charges, could benefit from the Supreme Court’s Wood v. Milyard decision. Monday, the Supreme Court told the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider Ryan’s honest services fraud conviction in light of the April 24 opinion. Ryan was convicted of racketeering, mail fraud, tax evasion, and lying to the FBI in 2006....

Thirty years ago, the Supreme Court decided the case of Batson v. Kentucky, ruling that dismissing potential jurors solely because of their race was unconstitutional and putting one of the first limits on the otherwise unrestrained use of peremptory challenges. Depending on who you ask, Batson was either a triumph or a farce, a sign of the legal system’s commitment to fair trials or a toothless opinion that has been easily evaded....

Last week the Tenth Circuit, reaffirmed the deference it accords arbitration agreements. Taking down plaintiff’s three arguments one by one, the court upheld the arbitrator’s award in favor of defendants. Background The Air Methods Corporation (“AMC”) is an air transportation company that provides transport of medical personnel to accident sites, and of injured people to hospitals. As an air transport company, AMC is subject to FAA requirements, and its operating manual must be approved by the FAA....

The Supreme Court ruled against Amnesty International and a delinquent debtor this morning, dispelling any misconceived notions that the plight of the little guy can melt the cold heart of justice. In two split decisions, the Court decided journalists, lawyers and human rights groups cannot challenge a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) amendment, and that a woman who defaulted on her student loans owes court costs after bringing a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) claim against a debt collector....

An inmate in a Colorado state prison is suing after being raped and abused, presumably by another inmate, while in custody. The inmate is a transgender individual that identifies as a woman, but she is nevertheless housed in a men’s prison. Before the rape occurred, the inmate sought the protection of the court against a disciplinary transfer. The had been housed in that unit before, and was assaulted. Unfortunately for the inmate, the court did not find her past experiences merited overturning the prison officials’ disciplinary decisions....

Conviction for drug crimes and firearms possession is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea as he did not present a fair and just reason to withdraw the plea based on ineffective assistance of counsel; 2) the court did not err in determining that defendant was competent and his plea was entered knowingly and voluntarily; and 3) the court did not abuse its discretion in determining the Watson decision did not provide a fair and just reason for withdrawal of defendant’s guilty plea for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime as there was ample evidence to convict him of the crime....

When we introduced President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit Merrick Garland, yesterday we described his judicial philosophy as “khaki.” We still think it’s a fitting descriptor. Judge Garland doesn’t have the biting tongue of Justice Scalia or the strong liberal perspective of Justice Ginsburg. But there are a few places where Judge Garland stands out. When it comes to criminal law, environmental law, and the Second Amendment, Garland’s rulings deserve some extra attention....

Have you ever read a news article about an “alleged” crime or event and wondered why it sounds like even the writer of the piece wasn’t sure what happened? This isn’t just because journalists are hurrying to be the first to break a story: It’s actually to prevent a libel lawsuit. What exactly is libel, and why does it have such a big impact on the words that reporters use?...

Review your partnership agreement. While some partnerships don’t require a formal or written agreement, most partners choose to have one anyway for protection. If your partnership has no partnership agreement, then all you need to do is give notice to your partner. If there is a written agreement, you’ll need to review it to ensure that you follow the protocol outlined in it – usually, there’s a clause that requires a majority vote of some sort to dissolve....

Weber v.Universities Research Ass’n, Inc., 08-1957, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, in plaintiff’s suit against her former employer for sex discrimination and retaliation in violation of Title VII. In affirming, the court held that plaintiff has waived her discrimination and retaliation arguments under the direct method of proof. Further, the plaintiff has failed to establish a prima facie case of sex discrimination, because even if she does not have to show that she was meeting defendant’s legitimate business expectations, defendant is still entitled to summary judgment as she has failed to show that there were similarly situated men who were treated more favorably than she was....

In Law Debenture Trust Co. v. Maverick Tube Corp., No. 08-5668, plaintiff noteholders in defendant corporation sued for breach of contract and unjust enrichment based on defendant’s refusal to allow certain noteholders to convert their notes to cash and stock following the acquisition of defendant. The district court granted summary judgment to defendant. The Second Circuit affirmed, holding that, under the express terms of the indenture, the acquirer was not a “Public Acquirer” because its securities that were traded on the New York Stock Exchange were not its ordinary shares....

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has no sympathy for counterfeiters, probably because the court is located close to the Canal Street counterfeit corridor. (The mumbled chorus of “Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton” promises en route to the subway gets old quickly.) Thursday, the circuit upheld a $3 million infringement lawsuit judgment against the proprietors of one of the largest counterfeiting rings in the U.S., finding that the district court did not err in permitting overlapping civil and criminal trials against the defendants....

Leroy Fresquez, a Colorado state prisoner, filed a civil rights action against Jefferson County Sheriff’s Deputy Baldwin and six Correctional Healthcare Management (CHM) nurses. His claims stemmed from an alleged delay in receiving medical care after he was assaulted by a fellow inmate. Did the prison system violate Fresquez’s rights? We’ll never know; the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals doesn’t have subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal because Fresquez didn’t file his appeal on time....

Few cases this term have been as closely watched, or are as far reaching, as the Epic Systems v. Lewis case. The 5 to 4 decision handed down by the Court in the wage theft case held that arbitration agreements in employment contracts that ban collective action are enforceable. For the estimated 25 million U.S. workers currently subject to these types of employment agreements, this decision is bad news. As some Court watchers are reporting, this opens up the potential for employers to go Lex Luther on their employees and steal just a little bit from each one in amounts so small, they don’t even notice (or can’t financially justify taking legal action)....

How do the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and the Higher Education Act of 1965 (“HEA”) interact, when it comes to the information a university reports to a credit agency related to student loan indebtedness? That was the question before the Third Circuit in Seamans v. Temple University. Background Edward Seamans received a Federal Perkins Loan, on January 16, 1989, from Temple University (“Temple”), in the amount of $1,180. His first payment was due on January 20, 1992, he did not pay, and in August of the same year, Temple notified him that the loan was forwarded for collection....

In a dispute involving the regulation of escrow releases and tobacco manufacturers, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) although the Arkansas statutory framework concerning implementation of the Master Settlement Agreement may have some anticompetitive effect on non-participating manufacturers, plaintiffs failed to show that the Allocable Share Amendment at issue amounted to a per se violation of the Sherman Act; 2) plaintiff’s claim that the Master Settlement Agreement created a hybrid restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Act is rejected; 3) the state is immune from liability under the Parker v....

In US v. Hall, No. 09-1263, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s conviction and sentence for mail and wire fraud, holding that 1) evidence regarding one of the trusts involved in the charged fraudulent scheme was inextricably intertwined with the indictment and thus properly admitted; and 2) even if defendant’s website did not convince any of defendant’s victims to invest and was not widely viewed, the district court nonetheless did not err in applying the mass-marketing enhancement....

Berhane v. Holder, No. 09-3153, concerned a challenge to the BIA’s affirmance of IJ’s denial of an application for asylum and related relief by a citizen and a native of Ethiopia, on the ground that throwing rocks at the Ethiopian police constituted a serious nonpolitical crime. In vacating the denial, the court held that a decision committed to the Attorney General’s discretion by regulation does not satisfy the prerequisite that Congress specify by statute the Attorney General’s discretion over an issue....

The music industry is going after copyright pirates, again, but this time it’s about how fast they get away with it. In Warner Bros. Records Inc. v. Charter Communications Inc., the plaintiffs allege Charter Communications makes it too easy for people to rip off their music. According to the complaint, the cable company allows subscribers to download eight songs in three seconds. There’s nothing wrong with high-speed internet access, of course....