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The Second Circuit recently decided to stand with the D.C. Circuit in ruling that the National Security Conference was outside of the reach of FOIA. This means one thing: documents relating to drone strikes and other national security issues are that much more obscured from view. Main Street, an academic think tank working out of CUNY Law School was unsuccessful in its attempts to convince the Second Circuit of one contention: the National Security Conference is an agency with independent authority....

Last week the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a petition for writ of certiorari asking the Supreme Court to review the Third Circuit’s decision in Conestoga Wood Specialties Corp. v. Sebelius, reports The Wall Street Journal. This comes on the heels of a recent Sixth Circuit decision, and the Department of Justice’s cert petition for review of a Tenth Circuit case, both on the same issue. In Conestoga, a family-owned corporation sought exception from the Obamacare contraception mandate on First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act (“RFRA”) grounds....

In an action for a declaration of nationality pursuant to 8 U.S.C. section 1503(a), district court’s grant of the government’s motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction is reversed and remanded as the language of section 1503(a)(1), read within the context of section 1503(a) and also read in conjunction with related provisions of Title 8, makes it clear that Congress intended individuals to pursue one of two routes to establish claims for nationality....

“Don’t touch my junk” became an anti-TSA rallying cry last year after a San Diego software programmer objected to an enhanced patdown in an airport security line. Perhaps this year’s privacy catchphrase can be “don’t touch my dreads.” That’s because touching a Rastafarian’s dreadlocks can interfere with his free exercise of religion. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that a Rastafarian can collect damages and attorney’s fees for dreadlock infringement, but those amounts are limited under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA)....

If you’re the beneficiary of New York City rent control laws, you’ll be delighted to hear that the Supreme Court declined to review a Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding the decades-old policy this week. If you’re a landlord, the denied cert is bad news. This morning, Supreme Court orders were a long list of denials, including the death knell in James and Jeanne Harmon’s case challenging New York rent control laws....

If you thought that illegal gerrymandering happens all the time, you thought right – 27 out of 34 times in one state. In Michigan, a federal appeals court said, political divisions in 27 of 34 districts were unconstitutional. The districts challenged in League of Women Voters of Michigan v. Benson diluted the people’s vote. The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals said the state must redraw and approve new maps by Aug....

States can require pharmacies to dispense birth control even if the pharmacy’s owner has religious objections, the Ninth Circuit ruled yesterday. The Court upheld a Washington State law that allowed individual pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions because of religious objections, so long as another onsite pharmacist will do so. Pharmacy owners from Washington had objected, arguing that forcing them to fill birth control prescriptions violated their religious beliefs. A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel disagreed, however, finding that the rules were a neutral, rational regulation of the pharmacy industry....

It’s not unusual to hear news stories about individuals who have languished in prison for years to be freed based on exonerating DNA evidence. Similarly, although they might not get as many headlines, the value of evidence from DNA tests for law enforcement and the prosecution in pursuing and establishing the guilt of a defendant is tough to dispute. In a close 5-4 decision today, the Supreme Court today announced that there is no constitutional right for someone who has been convicted of an offense to get access to the prosecution’s evidence to perform DNA testing....

Custody disputes are typically state court matters, but the Supreme Court will consider Chafin v. Chafin, an international child custody dispute, on Wednesday. Jeffrey Chafin is a U.S. Army sergeant who lives in Alabama. Lynne Chafin is his Scottish ex-wife who resides in Glasgow. Lynne and the couple’s daughter have lived in Scotland, apart from Jeffrey, since 2007 due to the Jeffrey’s job with the military. In 2010, Lynne moved stateside to try to save her marriage....

Rio Grande Silvery Minnow v. Bureau of Reclamation, No. 05-2399, involved an action under the Endangered Species Act concerning whether the Bureau of Reclamation had discretion to reallocate water from agricultural and municipal contract users to maintain stream flows for the benefit of the Rio Grande Silvery Minnow. The court of appeals dismissed the appeal and remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint, on the ground that the Fish and Wildlife Service’s issuance of a new biological opinion mooted plaintiffs’ prayer for both injunctive and declaratory relief....

Lets start this off with a little disclaimer: We, the lawyer-bloggers of FindLaw.com, are not scientists. We’d venture a guess that neither are you. And according to his confused concurrence, neither is Justice Scalia. We do understand one thing from this case, however: the human genetic code cannot be patented, no matter how much effort went in to discovering the DNA sequences. Synthetic cDNA, however, can be. Lost in the alphabet soup?...

Trafficking Victims Protection Act Conviction Partially Affirmed In US v. Marcus, No. 07-4005, the court affirmed defendant’s forced labor conviction under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), holding that defendant offered no explanation for how his pre-enactment conduct differed from his post-enactment conduct in a manner that would lead the court to conclude that there was a reasonable probability that the jury would not have convicted defendant absent the district court’s due process error....

Defendant’s firearm possession sentence is affirmed, where a District Court does not abuse its discretion by declining to consider the disparity between a recommended Guidelines sentence and the maximum sentence a defendant would receive if convicted of the same conduct in state court. Read US v. Ringgold, No. 06-10492 Appellate Information Argued and Submitted December 15, 2008 Filed July 7, 2009 Judges Opinion by Judge Thomas Counsel For Appellant: Barry J....

In a putative class action against a bank claiming violation of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) disclosure requirements involving loans to finance motor vehicles, district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of defendant-bank is affirmed as, a showing of detrimental reliance is required to recover actual damages for a TILA disclosure violation, and here, plaintiff neither pled nor made such a showing. Read Vallies v. Sky Bank, No. 08-4160...

In a First Amendment challenge to an ordinance that regulated the operation of sexually oriented businesses, a preliminary injunction in favor of plaintiffs is vacated where the ordinance was sufficiently clear to provide plaintiff-store with notice that the proposed inventory in its zoning application qualified it as a sexually oriented business. Read VIP of Berlin v. Middlebrooks, No. 09-2950 Appellate Information Argued: September 15, 2009 Decided: January 25, 2010 Judges...

We aren’t used to travel restrictions, bans on large gatherings, and shutting down bars, restaurants, museums, and theaters. But this is unfolding in state after state as the coronavirus spreads. Can governors, mayors, or the president do this? We’re Americans, after all! What authority do they have to make these decisions? We are now getting a crash course in “state of emergency” laws. Typically Used for Natural Disasters Most people are familiar with states of emergencies being declared when tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, and earthquakes strike....

The South Dakota v. Wayfair case is getting closer to the date set for argument in mid-April. The case has potentially major ramifications for online retailers large and small, consumers, and every state in the country. The basic issue to be resolved is whether a South Dakota law requiring out of state online retailers to collect state sales tax is constitutional given the potential effect interstate commerce. But, as you may have gathered given the widespread prevalence and popularity of online shopping these days, this case is generating quite a bit of political buzz....

In November 2016, a stabbing victim told Okfuskee County Sheriff’s Department Deputies Blake Frost and Zachary Scribner that he had been attacked by a man named Josh Williams. According to the victim, Williams fled from the incident in a large black Chevrolet pickup with a loud exhaust and a trailer attached. As the deputies searched for Williams’ vehicle, Frost spotted a dark Chevrolet truck without a trailer backing out of a driveway....

After 20 years in prison, Hector Rivas could get another shot at a trial, reports Thomson Reuters News & Insight. Monday, a Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that a showing of actual innocence trumps the §2244(d) statute of limitations in a habeas appeal. Hector Rivas is currently serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of his former girlfriend, Valerie Hill. The murder occurred in 1987; he was convicted in 1993....

Over the years, we’ve read our fair share of qualified immunity appeals involving police officers. The cops usually win. The problem with these appeals is that – even when they are in the wrong – cops are entitled to qualified immunity unless they violate a right that was clearly-established at the time of the incident. That sometimes produces absurd results. (Like the Ninth Circuit ruling that tasing a pregnant woman who wouldn’t sign a speeding ticket counts as excessive force, but the cops were entitled to qualified immunity because the right to a shock-free pregnancy wasn’t clearly-established at the time....