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A recent federal court ruling out of California’s Northern District Court has enjoined, nationwide, the Trump Administration’s newest policy basically denying all asylum seekers coming to America. Judge Jon Tigar explained rather clearly in his ruling, supporting his order for a preliminary injunction stopping the new policy from being carried out: “Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden....

Defendant’s sentence for illegally reentering the U.S. is vacated where the district court erred in assessing a criminal history point based on Defendant’s 2004 state loitering conviction, because Section 4A1.2(c)(2) of the Sentencing Guidelines provides that loitering is not a basis for enhancement. Read US v. Espinosa, No. 08-50092 Appellate Information Submitted December 12, 2008 Filed June 24, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Pregerson Counsel For Appellant: Jonathan D. Libby, Deputy Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA...

In an enforcement action brought under the Clean Water Act, district court judgment is affirmed where the State of Missouri waived its sovereign immunity by choosing to proceed as a plaintiff in the Clean Water enforcement action, and thus the court did not err when it denied the state’s motion to strike defendant’s affirmative defenses and dismiss its counterclaims. Read US v. Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer Dist., No. 08-3399 Appellate InformationAppeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri....

In an appeal from the District Court’s order denying an ex-Enron executive-defendant’s motion to dismiss his wire fraud indictment on Double Jeopardy grounds, the order is reversed where an apparent inconsistency between a jury’s verdict of acquittal on some counts and its failure to return a verdict on other counts does not affect the acquittals’ preclusive force under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Read the full decision in Yeager v. US, No....

For some of us, Memorial Day is a somber day of remembrance to honor those who died while serving our country. Others have big plans to get family around the grill or their boat out on the lake. And still others are just relieved to have a Monday off work. But how did Memorial Day become a national holiday in the first place, and what specific statutes govern its celebration? Does your boss have to give you the day off?...

In Carver v. City of N.Y., No. 09-2053, an action by a recipient of public assistance against New York City for constitutional violations and violations of the minimum wage laws based on the city’s interception of a lottery award to plaintiff, the court affirmed the dismissal of the action in part where, in asserting his takings and substantive due process claims, plaintiff alleges that he was injured by the taking of his lottery prize; and in asserting his equal protection claims, he alleged that he was injured by the discriminatory taking of his lottery prize on the basis of his status as a public-assistance recipient, but these injuries were caused solely by the state and not the city....

In a petition for review of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s denial of petitioner’s motion to intervene in a license renewal proceeding, the petition is denied where 16 U.S.C. section 825g(a) allows the agency to differentiate among untimely interveners and permits the Commission to summarily reject a prospective intervener who cannot demonstrate “good cause” for its untimely motion. Read California Trout v. FERC, No. 07-73664 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted February 12, 2009...

Napoli v. New Windsor, No. 09-2547, involved a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action claiming that defendants retaliated against plaintiff for exercising his First Amendment rights. The court of appeals dismissed defendants’ appeal from the denial of qualified immunity, holding that the district court’s clarification of issues completely unrelated to qualified immunity did not restart the time in which defendants could seek an interlocutory appeal, and thus defendants’ appeal was untimely....

In a group of billboard owners’ First Amendment challenge to provisions of New York City’s Zoning Resolution, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where: 1) the city was not required to adopt the “least restrictive means” of advancing its asserted interests; 2) the city did not violate the protections afforded commercial speech when it distinguished between plaintiffs’ signs or billboards and those located on government property; and 3) the New York Constitution did not provide broader protection for commercial speech than the First Amendment....

Ex-Jeffereies & Co. trader Jesse Litvak will get another day in court thanks to the ruling of the Second Circuit’s Court of Appeals which essentially made Litvak a free man, at least temporarily. The misrepresentation and fraud case has been one of the most followed cases on Wall Street in that it potentially marks the limitations of how far “materiality” can be stretched, and by whom. Litvak was indicted in 2013 on allegations that he fraudulently misrepresented the true prices of some complex securities known as RMBs to a number of parties including Public-Private Investment Funds (PPIFs) which were the creation of the Treasury Department following TARP....

If you know Milli Vanilli, Justin Timberlake is no Milli Vanilli. The Milli duo lost their Grammy because they didn’t actually sing their award-winning song. They went down as the best lip syncers, instead. Timberlake, at least, sings his songs. However, a federal appeals court says he might owe another band for sampling their song. “Sho Nuff” Sly Slick & Wicked, a soul-funk group, recorded “Sho Nuff” in 1973. In 2016, they sued Timberlake for alleging he used it for his “Suit & Tie” recording....

After being told that a state law restricting handguns outside the home in New York violates the U.S. Constitution, lawmakers in the Empire State are responding with defiance. On June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a New York law requiring that residents must prove a “proper cause” if they want to carry a concealed handgun in public. In an extraordinary special session one week later, however, the New York Legislature passed a bill containing broad measures to blunt the ruling’s effect....

Four-month-old A.H. was severely injured when his Evenflo car seat broke apart, sending the seat – and A.H. – hurtling into the back of the car driven by his mother. A.H.’s father, Tony Hadjih, sued Evenflo on a theory of design defect and failure to warn, as Evenflo knew the two-piece car seat had a tendency to separate during accidents. Even so, the court directed a verdict in favor of Evenflo on the failure to warn claim, and a jury returned a verdict in favor of Evenflo on the design defect claim....

Registering your business entity with a fictitious name may sound like you’re going to open your own magical candy factory or even a furniture company that produces suspiciously deep wardrobes. But it can be vital to your small business’ success. But whether you’re a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company, you’ll likely want a unique name to draw customers to your business. For a small filing fee, you can gain legal protection as well as enhanced branding for your business....

Is Google biased against hiring conservatives? Is that kind of bias even illegal? These are the questions at the heart of a class action lawsuit arguing that that the tech company’s hiring practices discriminate against conservatives, men, white people, and Asian people. A judge ruled last Friday that the case can proceed, despite multiple motions from Google to have the case thrown out. The lawsuit was originally filed by James Damore, the infamous former Google employee who was fired after circulating a memo criticizing Google’s diversity initiatives and arguing that biological differences were to blame for low numbers of women in tech jobs....

In an employment discrimination action, district court judgment is affirmed where: 1) for purposes of plaintiff’s race and gender discrimination actions, plaintiff failed to show she was similarly or better qualified than the white male who received the promotions, and failed to show the city’s offered non-discriminatory reasons for promoting the other candidate were pretextual; 2) plaintiff’s retaliation claim failed as she did not prove that she suffered a materially adverse action taken by the employer, and that there was a causal connection between a materially adverse action and her engagement in statutorily protected activity; and 3) plaintiff’s hostile work environment claim fails as the conduct complained of by plaintiff did not rise to the level of being severe or pervasive so as to alter the conditions of the environment and create a hostile and abusive working environment....

The latest “true crime” documentary hit show on the streaming services is a true creep fest. Netflix’s “Our Father” tells the tale of an Indianapolis fertility clinic doctor who impregnated nearly 100 of his patients with his own sperm after lying to them that the sources were anonymous donors or their husbands. That’s disgusting. But the thing about “Our Father” that makes it special as a true-crime show is this: Even though Dr....

The beverage industry wants us to believe that cannabis-infused drinks are The Next Big Thing. A variety of companies have begun to market non-alcoholic drinks that contain THC, the principal psychoactive constituent of pot, or CBD, its non-psychoactive cousin. Meanwhile, Big Beer, which has been losing market share to the craft-beer horde for many years, is casting a particularly lustful eye toward liquid marijuana. Federal law prohibits the blending of alcohol and THC, but the beer companies think there will be a big market for a non-alcoholic drink that is something like beer but provides the effect of smoking pot....

The Crosettos are the grandparents of two minors, BIC and CSC. Their son, the father of the children, lived with a methamphetamine-addicted girlfriend. When the grandparents began to notice signs of abuse, they contacted social services. The school also took notice, and reported its suspicions. Even the babysitter contacted the child services hotline after noticing a busted lip with stitches, a black eye, and random bruising on BIC. Linda Gillen was the social worker assigned to the case....

We know the judges are a bit technophobic, but perhaps it’s time to hire a few tech-savvy clerks? Adam Liptak, for The New York Times, brought an interesting problem to light this morning, one that is somewhat unique to the courts: citations and hyperlink rot. As data and research has moved online, so have the Courts’ citations. According to a pair of recent studies, the Court has cited online resources 555 times since 1996 and nearly half (49 percent) no longer work....