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Constitutional challenge to Tennessee’s voter re-franchisement statute by Tennessee residents and convicted felons Johnson v. Bredesen, 08-6377, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of defendants’ motion for judgment on the pleadings, in a suit filed by Tennessee residents and convicted felons, claiming that the Tennessee’s voter re-franchisement statute, which conditions restoration of plaintiffs’ voting rights on payment of court-ordered victim restitution and child support obligations, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U....

Arrivederci, Judge Kermit Bye! On Wednesday, the Eighth Circuit judge’s office confirmed that Bye will assume senior status this spring – April 22, to be exact – in order to reduce his caseload and spend more time with his family, The Associated Press reports. The move will be on the 15th anniversary of his appointment to the Eighth Circuit bench (April 22, 2000). Though Judge Bye surely has had a number of significant opinions over the years, his lambasting of the State of Missouri in two recent death penalty cases – both of which ended in executions before the federal courts could review the inmates’ final challenges – were especially passionate and memorable....

Folks in Kansas know, when it rains, it pours. And Kris Kobach, the state’s Secretary of State, was just doused with a loss in federal court over the state’s voter ID law, as well as some rather embarrassing court ordered sanctions against him personally. And if you’re thinking it’s a repeat of his prior embarrassing actions in the same case, perhaps not surprisingly, you’d be wrong. But if you’ve been following the case, then you know, this was just the logical ends, given there was a contempt order issued over non-compliance with the court’s order....

In an ERISA action alleging that various employee benefit plan fiduciaries breached their fiduciary duties to the plan and engaged in prohibited transactions, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where 29 U.S.C. section 1132(a)(2) did not permit the plaintiffs to bring suit because the plan’s surplus was sufficiently large that the investment loss did not cause actual injury to plaintiffs’ interests in the plan. Read McCullough v. AEGON USA, Inc., No....

In plaintiff’s gender and employment discrimination action alleging pay disparity against County-employer under Title VII and the Equal Pay Act of 1963, district court’s judgment that the Title VII claim is untimely as to paychecks plaintiff received after June 20, 2006, is reversed and remanded in light of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, where a failure to answer a request for a raise qualifies as a compensation decision because the result is the same as if the request had been explicitly denied....

Plaintiff’s Suit for Race and Marital Association Retaliation Against Prospective Employer Norman-Nunnery v. Madison Area Tech Coll., 09-1757, concerned a challenge to the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, in plaintiff’s discrimination and retaliation suit against a college and three of its employees, claiming that she was not hired by the college because of her race and because her husband had previously filed a frivolous lawsuit against the same defendants....

Ever read an argument that’s been badly paraphrased? We’re not sure who submitted the first draft between Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s counsel or the plaintiffs’ counsel, but the two parties’ briefs were nearly identical, except the plaintiffs’ version was far more clear. Either way, here’s the gist of both: It’s over, gay marriage is legal in Hawaii, and the case should be dismissed – with conditions. Both sides would prefer that the appeal to the Ninth Circuit be dismissed, but only if the lower court decision, which was unfavorable to the plaintiffs, is vacated....

Petition for review of BIA’s denial of Indian national’s application for withholding of removal is denied and dismissed in part where: 1) petitioner’s request for continuance is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction and in the alternative denied for lack of merit; 2) BIA’s finding that petitioner did not have a well-founded fear of persecution was supported by reasonable, substantial, and probable evidence; and 3) petitioner’s claim of ineffective assistance of counsel is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction....

Former ICE informant and drug cartel infiltrator’s petition for review of an order denying deferred removal under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) is granted where: 1) the court adopts the Board of Immigration Appeals’ interpretation of “acting in an official capacity” under 8 C.F.R. sec. 1208 as the equivalent of “under color of law;” 2) the Board too narrowly construed this standard and erred in applying the standard to the facts as the Board’s conclusion that Mexican police would not be acting in official capacity was based on improper fact finding and an improper statement of the IJ’s factual findings regarding the likelihood of plaintiff’s arrest and whether he had immunity from prosecution in Mexico; and 3) in analyzing plaintiff’s claim that he was entitled to relief under the CAT, the Board inappropriately limited its analysis to whether law-enforcement officials would acquiesce in their official capacities to the Juarez drug cartel’s actions against plaintiff....

Denial of defendant’s petition for habeas relief is reversed and remanded where: 1) the detective testifying to the co-actors’ statements violated defendant’s right of confrontation; 2) the statements were inadmissible under Roberts as they neither fell within a firmly rooted hearsay exception nor did they contain particularized guarantees of trustworthiness; 3) the error in admitting statements by the nontestifying co-actors was plain and defendant’s substantial rights were affected; and 4) defendant’s petition is determined to be timely....

With April 1 approaching soon, businesses closing, and the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of slowing down, many tenants are worrying about how they will make their next rent payments. Landlords are worried too, because too many missed rent payments could make it difficult for them to pay the mortgage on their properties, leading to a wave of apartment foreclosures. Foreclosure Relief for Landlords Tied to Pausing Evictions To stem this wave of evictions and resulting foreclosures, the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) has announced that any owner of a multifamily rental property can put their mortgage payments into forbearance, provided they don’t evict tenants who are late on rent due to the coronavirus....

If judicial benchslaps were a literary genre, retired judge Richard Posner would be the Charles Dickens of benchslaps. From attorneys, to litigants, to other courts, if Judge Posner had an opinion, he made it known, regardless of hurt feelings or social sensitivities. However, in an interesting twist of fate, one of Posner’s most notorious benchslaps has just resulted in an appellate court reversal, by his own former Seventh Circuit. Making the matter even more contentious, particularly given his recent commitment to helping pro se litigants, the reversal concerns his handling of a pro se litigant’s federal district court trial....

For most people, social media is a place to connect with friends, family, and new people. For businesses, social media is marketing. Social media users often seem to turn a blind eye to the fact that the platforms are collecting personal information from their users in order to sell that info to marketers. In theory, this is supposed to give you a better advertising experience (but, as it often feels when you buy a sequin pillow with your dog’s face printed on the backside of the sequins) the ads try to manipulate you into buying things you don’t really need....

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that police officers may search a motel room if an occupant of the room gives permission. Oklahoma City police received an anonymous tip in January 2008, that a robber named George Livingston was staying at a local motel. When the police arrived at Livingston’s motel room, a man named Angel Rivera opened the door and told the police that the room was not his, but that he had been staying there for at least two days....

Judge Felipe Luis Peruca was not about to be frustrated. In a child support case, twin brothers pointed to each other as the father of the child. DNA tests didn’t help because the twins were identical and their genetic code matched. So the judge did the next best thing. He ordered both of them to pay child support. That’s justice, Brazilian style. Twins Paradox The twins paradox is not just a problem in physics; it’s a problem in the law, too....

Even though this blog is called Greedy Associates, we know that many of our readers are dedicated to giving back to their community. Attorneys who volunteer help people facing some of life’s toughest challenges. Plus, volunteering can provide both social and health benefits for those who do it, including lower stress levels and increased emotional stability. In honor of the International Day of Charity (September 5), we’ve rounded up a few of the programs that connect attorneys with people who need their help....

In an appeal from the tax court’s decision denying taxpayers’ appeal from an IRS collection due process hearing, the order is affirmed where the taxpayers’ waiver of their right to receive a notice of deficiency did not require acceptance by the IRS to become effective, and the taxpayers had waived their pre-collection right to contest liability. Read Ulrich v. Comm’r. of Int’l. Rev., No. 08-70718 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted September 17, 2009...

Sentence for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the district court provided substantial insight into the reasons for its sentencing decision, and thus did not fail to adequately explain its chosen sentence; and 2) the court did not abuse its discretion in sentencing defendant as its justification for imposing the sentence rested on precisely the kind of defendant-specific determinations that are within the special competence of the sentencing courts. Read US v....

In a prosecution of defendant for possession of child pornography and marijuana wherein he was sentenced to thirty months’ imprisonment and a lifetime term of supervised release, the district court’s imposition of eight special conditions of supervised release is vacated and remanded as a lifetime limitation on internet use is a greater restraint of liberty than is reasonably necessary and a restriction on his association with minors is overbroad. Read US v....

In a petition for review of the BIA’s order denying petitioner’s application for asylum, withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. section 1231(b)(3), and withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture, the petition is denied where petitioner’s participation in a scheme to sell organs for profit on the black market was a serious nonpolitical crime. Read Wang v. Holder, No. 07-5369 Appellate Information Argued: September 23, 2009 Decided: October 2, 2009...