Even when you suspect it may be coming, losing your job can pack a traumatic punch. Tens of thousands of workers in the high-tech industry have had that experience in the last few months, and economists warn that a recession could be coming. So, maybe it’s a good idea now to think about what you should do if it happens to you. Federal Protections The first thing you need to know is that in the U....
One New Jersey judge asked a woman if she tried to block her “body parts” and close her legs during a sexual assault. Another declined to try a 16-year-old accused of raping a 12-year-old as an adult, claiming the alleged crime was “not an especially heinous or cruel,” and stating “beyond losing her virginity, the State did not claim that the victim suffered any further injuries, either physical, mental or emotional....
Florida v. Powell, No. 08-1175, involved a state prosecution for possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. The state supreme court reversed defendant’s conviction on Miranda grounds. As the Court wrote: “In a pathmarking decision, Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 471 (1966), the Court held that an individual must be “clearly informed,” prior to custodial questioning, that he has, among other rights, “the right to consult with a lawyer and to have the lawyer with him during interrogation....
Prate Installations, Inc. v. Chicago Reg’l Council of Carpenters, No. 09-2453 concerned a challenge to the district court’s judgment in an enforcement proceeding to confirm an arbitration award in favor of a construction firm, arising from a breach of contract by a union. In affirming the district court’s decision, the court held that the arbitrator permissibly interpreted the CBA to find that the union violated the MFN clause. The court also held that the district court did not err in striking the portion of the arbitrator’s award that extends past the expiration for the 2001 CBA....
It’s become broadly understood by now that restaurants and stores have an absolute right to require that customers wear face masks. But what about requiring that customers submit to having their temperatures taken as a condition for entrance? The answer is that businesses apparently do have a right to do that, much as they can require you to wear a shirt and shoes. The reality, however, is that not many have taken the step of taking customers’ temperatures....
Another circuit court has upheld an IJ and Board of Immigration Appeals decision to deny review of a Chinese citizen’s petition for asylum. This Sixth Circuit decision was based on issues of credibility and inconsistencies in the petitioner’s testimony before the Immigration Judge. This is the second Christianity-asylum case involving a Chinese citizen in recent history to reach a circuit court. It will unlikely be the last. Chinese citizen Qing Zheng illegally entered into the United States via the Mexican border in 2014 with her son, Yu Fan Chen....
Aimee Stephens, who was born a male, worked for a funeral home for six years. One day, Stephens went to work and told the funeral director that she was changing her gender and wanted to start wearing women’s clothing to work. The director fired her, citing religious beliefs. Now a federal appeals court is pondering whether such religious rights outweigh transgender rights. It’s nearly the same issue that is already before the U....
In Murdoch v. Castro, No. 05-55665, a murder prosecution, the court of appeals affirmed the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition, holding that, because the Supreme Court has not clearly established whether and in what circumstances the attorney-client privilege must give way in order to protect a defendant’s Sixth Amendment confrontation rights, the California state court could not have unreasonably applied clearly established Supreme Court law when it denied petitioner access to an allegedly exculpatory letter sent by a witness....
At the start of a trial, the judge administers an oath to the jury. The idea behind the oath is to impress upon jurors that they’re dealing with a serious matter, and they need to pay attention. It’s kind of a big deal if the jurors aren’t sworn in, but an attorney can’t just sit on that error in case the trial doesn’t go his way, according to a recent Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling....
A girl with cystic fibrosis has a fighting chance for an organ transplant, after a federal judge in Pennsylvania issued a temporary restraining order on Wednesday, allowing the family to place the girl on the adult organ donation list, reports Reuters. Sarah Murnaghan, 10, isn’t the only one receiving judicial intervention, as Javier Acosta, 11, was also granted a temporary injunction by Judge Michael Baylson to waive the federal law limiting the lion’s share of transplants to ages 12 and over, reports The Washington Times....
In a second degree murder case, district court’s denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief is vacated and remanded for an evidentiary proceeding to determine whether: 1) the trial closure during the testimony of three prosecution witnesses was justifiable; 2) trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to object to the closure; and 3) the cause and prejudice components of defendant’s public trial claim can be satisfied. Read Johnson v. Sherry, No....
Everybody has opinion about how U.S. Supreme Court Justices will vote, but experts say one opinion really matters in the wedding cake case. In Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, a baker refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Jack Phillips, the Colorado baker, said it was against his religion. The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case this term, but court-watchers will be listening for cues from Justice Anthony Kennedy....
Merck wants the Supreme Court to resolve the circuit split regarding pay-for-delay arrangements, reports Thomson Reuters News & Insight. In July, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that pay-for-delay arrangements are presumptively anti-competitive. It was the first appellate court to reach that conclusion. This week, the pharmaceutical giant filed a petition for certiorari, asking the Court to reverse the decision. Why are pay-for-delay deals so controversial? Only one in 5,000 new drugs will make it market, and the process usually takes 15 years and more than $1 billion....
Following the Eric Garner and Michael Brown grand jury non-indictments, many of us wondered why grand juries are still hanging around. The Constitution requires only that the federal government use grand juries to indict criminal suspects, and yet 23 states still require the use of these bodies for serious felonies. The problem is that grand juries are secretive (intentionally so) and not subject to the same protections as, say, preliminary hearings, like the right to counsel and the right to cross-examine witnesses....
Newsflash: California is in the midst of a budget crisis. Also, the sky is blue. As part of Governor Jerry Brown’s plan to curb state spending and reduce the deficit, after consulting with Secretary Kathleen Sibelius, of the Department of Health and Human Services, the governor instituted 10 percent cuts in payments paid to Medi-Cal providers. On Friday, the Ninth Circuit upheld those cuts for the second time, issuing a revision of their opinion from late last year and denying rehearing of the case....
In Estate of Blanco v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., No.08-2074, the Seventh Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s affirmance of defendant-Prudential’s motion for summary judgment in deceased plaintiff’s ERISA suit, arising from a denial of his claim for long term disability (LTD) benefits following a heart attack. In affirming the decision, the court held that plaintiff was not eligible for LTD because his disability was due to a preexisting condition under the policy....
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court set aside a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on 4th Amendment rights that mandated authorities to obtain warrants prior to talking to potential child victims regarding child abuse questions. According to The Associated Press, the decision involved a case before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a 9-year old girl was asked child abuse questions by a social worker and a police officer in an Oregon school after suspicion that she was being abused by her father....
In an action arising from defendants’ confiscation of plaintiff’s firearms inventory and suspension of her dealer’s license, dismissal of plaintiffs’ due process, Fourth Amendment, and tortious interference with business relations claims is dismissed in part, reversed in part and vacated in part where: 1) the court properly dismissed plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim as the defendant’s warrantless search of plaintiff’s gun shop was objectively reasonable and performed pursuant to established regulations; 2) the court erred in dismissing plaintiffs’ due process claims as defendant denied plaintiffs constitutionally sufficient notice and the opportunity for a post-deprivation hearing; and 3) the reversal of plaintiffs due process claim reinstates the court’s supplemental jurisdiction over her state law tortious interference claim....
The holidays are upon us, and the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is doling out presents. And by presents, we mean filing extensions. It doesn’t matter if you’re been naughty or nice this year; there are no lumps of coal in anyone’s judicial stockings. If you have a filing deadline that falls on one of the days the court will be closed in the coming weeks, you automatically get extra time....
Government attorney Sarah Fabian was talking to a judge, but her real judge was Twitter. Arguing about conditions for immigrant children detained at the U.S. border, Fabian was questioned about whether they needed soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and blankets. Judge A. Wallace Tashima asked if she agreed they were necessary for safe and sanitary conditions. Fabian balked. Way wrong answer. ‘Your Room in Hell’ Tashima, a judge at the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, looked stunned, but Twitter was aghast....
