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Few government agencies make lawyers groan more than the National Labor Relations Board, with possible exception of the IRS. This month, the Eighth Circuit decided to deny a security company’s petition for review of an NRLB order against it and grant the agency’s enforcement of its slap-down. Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services Inc. is a company that provides security services for heavy structures in the United States. The company began providing its services for Xcel Energy at a power plant in Monticello, Minnesota....

Clifton v. Holder, No. 08-3726, involved a petition for review of the BIA’s order denying petitioner’s motion to remand to the immigration judge (IJ) and dismissing her appeal of the IJ’s denial of her motion to reopen removal proceedings. The Eighth Circuit granted the petition, holding that the BIA abused its discretion by refusing to remand and reopen removal proceedings solely on the ground that the BIA lacked jurisdiction over an application for adjustment of status that had been filed with and was pending before United States Citizenship and Immigration Services....

A federal judge has ruled in a class-action lawsuit in favor of incarcerated people whose stimulus checks have been withheld by the government. What does this mean for people in prison, and how can they get their money? CARES for COVID-19 The CARES Act, which originally gave adults making under $99,000 annually a $1,200 stimulus check, was passed in March. Though talks on a second stimulus bill have stalled, some people still have not even received their first payments....

In an appeal from the Bankruptcy Court’s order denying an exemption for Debtor’s assets in pension and 401(k) plans, the order is affirmed, where the retirement plans were not designed and used primarily for retirement purposes. Read Cunning v. Rucker, No. 08-55652 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted May 8, 2009 Filed June 26, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Gould Counsel For Appellants: Kyra E. Andrassy, Weiland, Golden, Smiley, Wang Ekvall & Strok, LLP, Costa Mesa, CA...

The fight over the future of the Supreme Court reached its culmination in the Senate today. Senate Democrats attempted to filibuster the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch, refusing to end debate and allow the Senate to proceed to a full vote. The Republicans, in turn, upended decades of Senate practice, deploying the so-called “nuclear option” and allowing Supreme Court justices to be confirmed with the support of only a simple majority of senators....

District court’s judgment is affirmed in part and reversed in part where: 1) district court did not err in finding defendant in contempt as he failed to diligently comply with the Consent Order banning him from appearing in infomercials for any product or misrepresenting contents of books; 2) district court’s $37.6 million sanction is vacated and remanded with instructions that the district court must explain why it chose the calculation method it did, show how the record supports its calculations, and outline how the sanction should be administered; 3) district court’s ruling banning infomercials is vacated and remanded as there is no indication in the record that defendant had any notice that the court was considering such a broad sanction as an outright ban; and 4) defendant is not entitled to any special process on remand regarding the sanction....

In a qui tam action brought under the False Claims Act, district court judgment dismissing plaintiff’s complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction is affirmed where the district court correctly concluded that the threshold jurisdictional bar of the Act against lawsuits based upon publicly disclosed allegations applied to the suit, as the allegations in the complaint about defendant’s billing practices were in fact based on publicly disclosed information and plaintiff failed to show she was an original source of the information used to support the allegations....

In a prosecution charging petitioner with the unintentional felony murder of his infant daughter, the denial of petitioner’s habeas petition is affirmed where: 1) the trial judge clearly articulated the fundamental problem created by a witness’s discovery violation, explored potential remedies, and allowed both parties to express their positions on the mistrial, and this was an adequate decision-making process; and 2) regardless of whether striking the witness’s testimony would have unquestionably led to reversal of an eventual conviction, it would have been extremely prejudicial to defendant, and thus the second trial of petitioner was permissible under the Double Jeopardy Clause....

In a petition for review of the BIA’s order denying petitioner’s asylum application, the petition is denied where: 1) the BIA’s conclusion that an involuntary IUD insertion was not an “involuntary sterilization” was permissible under Chevron; and 2) thus, the BIA’s interpretation that a forced IUD insertion is not a per se ground for granting asylum is entitled to deference. Read Huang v. Holder, No. 08-5785 Appellate Information Argued November 23, 2009...

Today’s Ninth Circuit opinion features the misnomer of the week. The appellant, a Louisiana-based non-profit called Conservation Force, sounds like a superhero union in vein of Captain Planet and the Planeteers. Instead, it is “wildlife conservation” group that explains on its website that “hunting uniquely provides self actualization, completeness and expression which are complex, higher order needs deserving of protection.” So it should come as no surprise that Conservation Force sued Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar after the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) seized two leopard trophies that American hunters imported into the U....

In a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action based on defendant-officers’ use of a Taser on plaintiff, a denial of summary judgment based on qualified immunity is reversed where, given the dangerous nature of domestic violence situations, the close quarters in which the officers and plaintiffs were contained, and plaintiff’s husband’s intoxicated state, there was the risk of immediate threat to the safety of the officers. Read Mattos v. Agarano, No. 08-15567...

Sometimes President Trump is like a duck, or at least water off a duck’s back. We’re not talking about the Mueller investigation. Even though he survived it, that probably put gray hairs on his back. It’s the Mar-a-Lago security breach. He said it was a fluke, and it looks like he was right. No Worries Zhang Yujing was arrested on March 30 after she bypassed security at the president’s Florida resort....

BIA’s Order Dismissing Motion to Reopen as Untimely Affirmed In Ocampo v. Holder, No. 06-71848, a petition for review of a Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) order denying as untimely petitioner’s motion to reopen his immigration removal proceedings, the court denied the petition where a removal order that grants voluntary departure becomes final upon the earlier of: 1) a BIA determination affirming the order; or 2) the expiration of the deadline to seek the BIA’s review of the order, and not upon overstay of the voluntary departure period....

A Pennsylvania divided against itself cannot stand! On February 13, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (not the author of The Bonfire of the Vanities) announced a commonwealth-wide moratorium on the death penalty, which he called “error-prone, expensive, and anything but infallible.” This move earned the ire of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and now, a lawsuit filed by Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. On Wednesday, Williams filed an emergency petition for extraordinary relief with the state supreme court requesting the court to review Wolf’s moratorium, which Williams claims is not within Wolf’s power to order....

In 2000, photographer Patrick Cariou published “Yes, Rasta,” a collection of portraits he shot, in Jamaica, of Rastafarians living in isolated communities. Eight years later, Richard Prince showed “Canal Zone” a series of collages and paintings altering many of Cariou’s photographs. This week, the parties settled their dispute out of court putting an end to years of litigation. Alleged Copyright Infringement Cariou sued Richard Prince, and the gallery showing the works, for copyright infringement, and Prince countered with a fair use defense, reports The Hollywood Reporter....

In an earth-shattering ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this week overturned Bill Cosby’s 2018 sexual assault-related conviction. The 83-year-old comedian and actor was three years into a 10-year prison sentence in the state. The court found that a non-prosecution agreement Cosby struck with a former prosecutor in 2005 meant that Cosby never should have stood trial. The court also barred a retrial, allowing Cosby’s immediate release from prison. Cosby’s Conviction Cosby was arrested in 2015 and convicted in 2018 on three counts of indecent aggravated assault relating to a 2004 incident in which he drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand, an employee of Cosby’s alma mater Temple University, at Cosby’s home outside of Philadelphia....

In an employment discrimination action under Title VII involving claims of gender stereotyping and religious harassment, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant is vacated with respect to the gender stereotyping claim as the record below is ambiguous as to whether the claim was based on sexual orientation or discrimination because of sex, and thus because both are plausible, the case presents a question of fact for the jury and is not appropriate for summary judgment....

On Friday, the SEC filed civil charges against billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen for failing to supervise two employees, criminally charged with insider trading, that occurred on his watch. Bloomberg reports that Professor John Coffee, of Columbia Law School, noted: “The SEC is aiming at his kneecaps, not his jugular …This is a little like catching John Dillinger entering a bank with a submachine gun and charging him with double parking....

When it comes to its decisions on ethics, judicial recusals, even civil rights, is the Supreme Court being hypocritical, creating one standard for lower courts and another for itself? That’s the argument Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, made in a recent New York Times op-ed. Roth points to the Court’s precedence on recusals, protest zones, and even the justice’s ages as signs that the Court’s might want to jettison its “equal justice under law” motto for “do as we say, not as we do....

What can you get from two marijuana roaches with leftover weed, blunt paper, cigarillo wrappers, and 2 baggie knots pulled from the trash? No, it’s not the worst Christmas present ever – it’s probable cause! A few scraps of marijuana and paraphernalia recovered after searching through thirteen – thirteen! – bags of trash weren’t the evidence of crack dealing that cops sought, but they were enough to support a warrant to search the house, the Eighth Circuit ruled on Monday....