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In 2015, the Obama Administration began allowing spouses of H1-B visa holders to obtain jobs in the U.S., provided the H1-B visa had been approved for an extension. These spouses, who are in the U.S. on an H-4 visa, mostly comprise women from India who are looking to supplement family income. The intention of the rule is to keep H-1B visa holders in the U.S. while seeking lawful permanent residence, instead of abandoning those efforts because of the economic hardship associated with a spouse being unable to join the workforce....

Race relations in the United States have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go to fix current attitudes and repair past wrongs. A new HBO documentary is hoping to shed light on how the criminal justice system has essentially legally enabled white lynch mobs to sentence black men to death without the use of pitchforks and torches. In the documentary, civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson explains that the criminal justice system often resembles a lynch mob, where white judges, white prosecutors, and white juries convict black men and sentence them to death....

Two St. Louis, Missouri, lawyers are in the news after brandishing an AR-15 and handgun at protesters who crossed in front of their property on the way to the Mayor’s house. On June 30, the Chief Prosecutor’s office in St. Louis announced it was investigating the couple, prominent personal injury attorneys. Accounts of the incident differ, but it has led to an increased awareness of Missouri’s “castle doctrine,” which is a variation of the “stand your ground” laws that passed in numerous states several years ago....

The United States Supreme Court has decided not to intervene in the controversial Arkansas abortion pill case. In that matter, Planned Parenthood is challenging an Arkansas state law requiring those who provide “medication abortions” to have a contractual relationship with a doctor that has admitting privileges at a local hospital. The challenge claims that the law essentially denies Arkansas residents “medication abortions” as there would be only one other provider left in the state, since Planned Parenthood has not been able to meet the law’s requirement....

If you are like a lot of parents, you probably have concerns about your child’s personal data being on the Internet. The concerns get even more serious when your child is old enough (or thinks they are old enough) to start using social media on their own, and you are no longer the gatekeeper. In fact, your tween might know more about social media than you do, and while you probably “get” Facebook and Twitter, newer social media platforms such as TikTok may leave you mystified....

The opioid crisis continues to kill Americans at an alarming rate. Experts trace the rise in addiction and subsequent health issues, including overdose fatalities, to the large number of prescription painkillers issued beginning in the 1990s. According to a group of former National Football League players, part of that trend included NFL teams pushing painkillers on injured players to get them back to playing more quickly. A group of former players filed a class action against the NFL, alleging it negligently put players at increased risk of dependency and further injury....

Yesterday, the Third Circuit decided a case that could have a ripple effect across the nation. The case involved the brothers Katzin, and their spree of burglaries of Rite Aid pharmacies across three states. When Harry Katzin emerged as a suspect through investigation, police consulted with the United States Attorney’s office, and put a “slap-on” GPS tracker on Katzin’s van – without first obtaining a warrant. Law enforcement tracked the brothers, and right after a Ride Aid pharmacy was burgled, the men were stopped in their van....

In an ERISA action against an insurer for wrongful termination of longterm disability benefits, judgment for Defendant is reversed where the record established that Plaintiff was disabled under the terms of the policy, and thus the plan administrator’s decision to terminate benefits was arbitrary and capricious. Read Kramer v. Paul Revere Life Ins. Co., No. 07-1552 Appellate Information Argued: June 5, 2008 Decided and Filed: April 8, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Daughtrey...

In a capital habeas matter, the denial of Petitioner’s petition is affirmed, where 1) an allegedly improper juror communication did not prejudice Petitioner, because the defense made no appeal to residual doubt in the penalty phase; and 2) the prosecutor did not reference any extra-record evidence in his argument. Read Matthews v. Workman, No. 07-6209 Appellate Information Filed July 7, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Gorsuch Counsel For Appellant: Timothy R....

Kelly Huff was sentenced to 12 months in prison and three years’ supervised release after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine. Because Huff already had spent more than a year in prison while awaiting trial, her period of supervised release began on July 22, 2008. In 2010 and 2011, the United States Probation Office filed two Petitions on Supervised Release, alleging that Huff had violated the terms of her release....

From the “that’s a terrible idea” department comes a proposed law from Pennsylvania, Senate Bill No. 508, that would allow a crime victim to obtain an injunction preventing the criminal “offender” from engaging in “conduct which perpetuates the continuing effect of the crime on the victim.” This is further defined as “conduct which causes a temporary or permanent state of mental anguish.” According to Techdirt, the bill was authored following a pre-taped commencement speech given by Mumia Abu-Jamal to the graduate of his correspondence college....

Remember that 2006 Orange County scandal with Tan Nguyen, the wannabe congressman who sent letters to Latino immigrant voters to discourage them from voting? Well, it’s almost over. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that federal prosecutors were permitted to use fruits of a state search to support federal obstruction of justice charges against Nguyen, finding that there was probable cause for the search warrant. Since it’s been almost six years since the events in this case happened, let’s back up and review the bad life choices that landed Nguyen in federal prison....

We all knew that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Prop 8 ruling wasn’t the end of the Perry v. Brown battle; the question, however, was whether ProtectMarriage would take its fight to the full Ninth Circuit, or if it would skip an en banc rehearing request and head straight to the Supreme Court. We got our answer Monday. Virtually every media outlet covering the en banc rehearing request has reached the same conclusion: a Ninth Circuit rehearing would effectively prevent the Supreme Court from taking up the case before the presidential election....

An Iraqi petitioner’s request for review of BIA’s denial of his application for asylum and related relief is vacated and remanded as the immigration judge never made a finding of fact regarding the length of time that petitioner actually served in prison for his assault conviction, and should he be found to have served less than one year in prison, he should be held not to be an aggravated felon and not removable....

A trio of Ninth Circuit judges will head to Hawaii next week, but this trip is unlikely to incur the public’s ire. Next week, Judges Stephen Reinhardt, Sidney Thomas, and Richard Paez will hear oral arguments at two sites in Honolulu: the court’s regular home at 1132 Bishop Street, and the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s William S. Richardson School of Law. The court is scheduled to sit October 15-17 at its regular venue....

It has been a rough month for Ohio’s election laws. First, a district court blocked the state’s attempt to pull back early voting days, including the state’s “Golden Week,” where individuals could register and vote on the same day. Then, the state’s stupid law that criminalized making false statements in elections predictably fell at the hands of the Sixth Circuit. On Friday, the Sixth Circuit denied a stay pending appeal in the Golden Week case and today, the state filed its merits brief in its appeal, arguing that judges shouldn’t order last minute changes in the way elections are run....

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California’s Proposition 8. The granted cases are U.S. v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry, respectively. If your friends are like ours, these grants will be the only thing you’ll talk about this weekend. Here’s a primer to get you prepped for the onslaught of questions about these same-sex marriage cases. In October, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals applied heightened scrutiny to conclude that DOMA’s classification of same-sex spouses was not substantially related to an important government interest....

Tax evasion conviction affirmed US v. Gross, 08-2362, concerned a challenge to the district court’s conviction of defendant for attempting to evade or defeat tax and related crimes and imposition of a 21-month sentence. In affirming, the court held that the defendant committed an affirmative act of tax evasion when he submitted false W-4 forms to his employer and neither the IRS’s receipt of his employer’s W-2 forms nor the Paperwork Reduction Act excused defendant’s failure to file a tax return....

Defendant’s sentence for illegally reentering the U.S. is affirmed where: 1) the District Court had the authority to reject the Sentencing Guidelines on policy grounds; and 2) because the Guidelines are advisory only, the particular methodology set forth in U.S.S.G. section 4A1.3 is not binding. Read US v. Herrera-Zuniga, No. 08-1540 Appellate Information Argued: April 23, 2009 Decided and Filed: July 8, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Clay Counsel For Appellant:...

The state of Utah has launched an investigation after a list of 1,300 alleged illegal immigrants in Utah was leaked. The leaked illegal immigrant list included personal information, such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, workplaces, addresses and phone numbers. Even the due dates of pregnant women were included on the list. State agencies are looking into whether government employees played a part in the leaked illegal immigrant list. Utah Governor Gary Herbert wrote on Twitter yesterday that he directly asked state agencies to investigate....