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While the U.S. Supreme Court eases into the summer recess, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will be working overtime on one issue: whether she should recuse herself from the Trump travel ban case. In a letter to “Madam Justice Ginsburg,” three score Republicans have bellowed, “Yes!” Other politicians and pundits say, “No!” The debate will likely continue through the season, but everyone seems to agree on one point: Ginsburg, by law, will make the decision herself....

After eight years of silence (so long as you don’t count last year’s near unintelligible mumble), Justice Clarence Thomas finally spoke during Supreme Court oral arguments, albeit with an odd choice of topic. Speaking of silence, moments before he spoke up, the House of Representatives passed Articles of Impeachment against the Justice, accusing him of nonfeasance of duty due to his years of silence and repeated refusal to adhere to stare decisis....

2019 shaped up to be a solid, if not spectacular, year for revenue growth in the legal industry, according to a recent report by Citi’s Law Firm Group and Hildebrandt Consulting. While the first 9 months of the year did not match 2018, revenue trended upward and 2019 ended on a strong note. The report concluded there is reason to be optimistic for 2020, although it still urged law firms to avoid overreacting to positive signs of economic health....

In an employment and race discrimination action against Deere & Company (Deere) under Title VII and section 1981, district court’s grant of defendant’s motion for summary judgment is affirmed where plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case of racial discrimination because he was unable to demonstrate that a similarly situated person not in the protected class was treated more favorably than he was. Further, even if plaintiff could make out a prima facie case of race discrimination, he has not demonstrated that Deere intentionally discriminated against him because of his race....

Curious as to how the Obama administration wants its new prosecutorial discretion directive interpreted in immigration appeals? So is the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. On Monday, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit halted the deportation of seven appellants pending clarification from the Obama administration about the prosecutorial discretion policy it announced in 2011. Last June, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director (ICE) John Morton announced that immigration authorities “would stop detaining and deporting some illegal immigrants who have close family and community ties and no criminal records,” reports the Contra Costa Times....

Gabriel Watters had a slick car heist scheme. He allegedly went to New Orleans, post-Katrina, and towed a number of abandoned cars back home for resale. Clever, immoral, and obviously illegal, right? Except, he was found not guilty … at least of the Katrina heist offenses. Watters did exactly that, producing a forged receipt from a salvage yard. Shortly thereafter, he was convicted of obstruction of justice and making a false statement....

This was a wee bit unexpected. Late last week, the Ninth Circuit blocked the execution of Joseph Rudolph Wood, at least temporarily, while he pursued First Amendment right-of-access claims regarding Arizona’s drugs of choice for lethal injection. On Monday, eleven judges dissented from the denial of en banc rehearing, with Judge Kozinski writing a separate dissent mocking the death penalty generally. Then the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and vacated the injunction....

A class of disabled students sued the Pennsylvania Department of Education, claiming that the state’s special education funding formula violated the Individuals with Disabilities Act (“IDEA”), the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and the Rehabilitation Act (“RA”). Finding the state’s funding formula valid, the students’ claims failed after a bench trial, and the Third Circuit affirmed. Under the IDEA, if a state provides funds for special education, they become eligible for federal funds if they provide a free appropriate public education (“FAPE”) to eligible students....

It’s Gorsuch! After almost a full year of an eight-justice Court, President Donald Trump announced that Neil Gorsuch will be his nominee to fill the Court’s vacant seat today. Gorsuch currently sits as a judge on the Tenth Circuit, where he’s gained a reputation as a solid conservative in the mold of the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Here’s what you need to know about him. In making his announcement, the president praised himself for the “most transparent selection process in history” and described Gorsuch as “the very best judge in the country for the Supreme Court” with “outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline....

In a habeas petition seeking release from involuntary confinement in a psychiatric hospital, the denial of the petition is affirmed where the involuntary commitment standard in Kansas v. Crane, 534 U.S. 407 (2002), applies to insanity acquittees, but the New York courts did not unreasonably conclude that petitioner’s continued involuntary confinement met the requirements of the due process clause. Read Richard S. v. Carpinello, No. 08-4197 Appellate Information Argued: July 9, 2009...

The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Chuck E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap’s presumptive and actual prejudice challenges to an armed-robbery conviction last week. Dunlap, who made headlines after killing four people in a shooting rampage at a Colorado Chuck E. Cheese in 1993, appealed his conviction for a Burger King robbery that occurred after the Chuck E. Cheese murders, but before the murder trial; the Burger King robbery was later used as a statutory aggravator in the penalty phase of Dunlap’s Chuck E....

It was truly a mad March, and we’re not just talking about NCAA basketball or Russian spies. We’re talking about the Second Circuit, as well. Over the past 31 days, the Second has ruled on everything from puppy mills to workplace discrimination. We know you don’t have time to read through every case, but we do – well, almost every case. Here are the ones our caselaw experts marked as the top five, selected for their interesting or unusual scenarios or significant impacts on the law....

Jared Lee Loughner has pleaded guilty to the Arizona shooting rampage that injured 13 and left 6 people dead, reports The Wall Street Journal. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Loughner will get life in prison without the possibility of parole. Loughner’s case has been in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals repeatedly since the January 2011 shooting, as the court questioned whether Loughner should be forcibly medicated to become competent to stand trial....

Defendant’s firearm possession conviction and sentence is affirmed where: 1) the record amply supported a “stop and frisk” search of defendant’s vehicle under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968); and 2) the government presented an adequate reason for declining to file the discretionary motion for downward departure, a reason that could not fairly be characterized as arbitrary or based on an unconstitutional motive. Read US v. Johnson, No. 08-30094...

In defendant’s appeal from a denial of his motion to dismiss his indictment for illegal reentry into the U.S. by a deported alien, the district court’s order is affirmed where: 1) an Immigration Judge (IJ) is not required to act creatively to advise an immigrant of ways in which his legal prospects at forestalling deportation might improve with fundamental changes in his status; 2) the IJ’s failure to inform defendant of his section 212(c) options did not prejudice him because he was not entitled to a section 212(c) waiver due to his commission of an aggravated felony; and 3) the IJ was not obligated to grant indefinite continuances if defendant did not produce counsel but refused to waive his right to counsel....

The Westboro Baptist Church (the “God Hates F–s” folks who protest funerals) is always good for a publicity stunt or two. What’s today’s stunt? The WBC wants to intervene in the legal challenge against Kansas’s gay marriage ban, reports the Washington Blade. But the church isn’t exclusively citing legal authority to support its motion to intervene in the district court. It’s also citing a higher power: the Bible. And the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, because the group asserts Kansas will burn if marriage equality is achieved....

An Indiana man is fighting for his life despite being relatively healthy other than a few kidney problems. Since 2017, however, he has been fighting with the Internal Revenue Service to prove he is alive. The problem started when he received an erroneous condolence letter from the Social Security Administration, which made a mistake by classifying him as deceased. This triggered the IRS to deny more than $10,000 in stimulus checks because they thought he was dead....

A Wisconsin law requires convicted sex offenders who have been released from civil commitment to wear a GPS ankle bracelet all day, every day, for the rest of their lives. And that is not an unconstitutional violation of their privacy, the Seventh Circuit ruled recently. The ankle monitor sends daily reports of the offender’s movements to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections, who can then use the information to connect offenders to reported sexual assaults....

Almaraz v. Holder, No. 08-74497, concerned a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’s (“BIA”) denial of petitioner’s motion to reopen and remand. The court of appeals denied the petition, on the ground that the adoption of an international trade agreement did not amount to changed country conditions that resurrected his late-filed motion. Hawaii Stevedores, Inc. v. Ogawa, No. 09-73041, involved a petition for review of a decision of the Benefits Review Board (BRB) affirming an Administrative Law Judge’s (ALJ) grant of disability benefits....

Case Involving Barge Accident In Am. Milling Co. v. Trustee of the Distribution Trust, No. 08-3888, an action arising out of an accident in which a casino ship was damaged by a barge that broke loose from a towboat, the court affirmed partial judgment for plaintiff where the district court reasonably could conclude that the ship owners projected higher expenditures on promotional activities than the company actually spent after the accident, and therefore incurred no damages....