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Balancing hundreds of thousands of documents against hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants, two federal appeals courts came down the same way. For now, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals say the immigrants and their attorneys will have to wait for their documents. The appeals courts stayed district court orders for production of records about the federal government’s decision to undo the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals....

US v. Booker, 08-4180, concerned a challenge to a defendant’s conviction for possession with intent to distribute more than 50 grams of crack and sentence of 25-years’ imprisonment. In affirming, the court held that the DEA had probable cause to search defendant and his truck as soon as he arrived at the address in question. The court also held that defendant’s sentence was procedurally sound and that the district court’s sentencing was substantively reasonable as it followed the procedure set out in Gall and the Sixth Amendment did not prohibit the court from accounting for the fact that defendant was not only a drug dealer, but also a convicted felon who carried a weapon....

Eneh v. Holder, No. 05-75264, involved a petition for review of the BIA’s denial of petitioner’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and withholding and deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture. The Ninth Circuit granted the petition on the ground that the BIA’s reasoning appeared to be at odds with the Immigration Judge’s decision, petitioner’s credible testimony, and judicially-noticeable facts. In US v. Alderman, No. 08-30322, the court of appeals affirmed defendant’s firearm possession sentence, holding that the first degree theft crime under Washington law of which defendant was convicted was a “crime of violence” for purposes of the Guidelines enhancement, and the shooting committed by defendant was an assault under Washington law....

For years, law enforcement personnel and even our president have proposed applying the death penalty to drug dealers if their buyers overdose. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions even directed federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty “in appropriate cases.” Normally, however, that rhetoric is aimed at street-level dealers or your typical drug kingpins pushing illegal substances. But for the first time ever, an oxycodone distributor has been criminally charged for its role in the opioid crisis....

We’ve been warned all our lives that what we do may end up on our permanent record. But how permanent is that record? Well, that might depend on what’s on there, how old the record is, and how old you were at the time. It is possible to clear some things off your criminal record. The process, called expungement, can be burdensome in some cases, and in others, a computer algorithm may take care of it for you....

How in the world does asbestos get into crayons, baby powder, and makeup? That’s what the plaintiffs want to know in Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization v. Wheeler, a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. They say asbestos exposure is always bad, but in children’s products?! The plaintiffs want the EPA to impose stricter reporting requirements on companies that handle asbestos. Otherwise, they say, there is no way to know how the toxic material gets into consumer products....

Petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals affirming a denial of a Guatemalan petitioner’s application for asylum and related relief is granted in part and denied in part where: 1) substitution of the IJ who conducted the earlier proceedings because he was unavailable under the regulations covering assignment did not violate section 240.1(b), and petitioner’s due process rights were not violated as he does not have due process right to a particular judge; 2) petitioner’s speculative argument did not warrant a grant of asylum nunc pro tunc: 3) review is granted as to petitioner’s other serious harm humanitarian asylum claim under 8 C....

It’s not easy being Santa Claus. Best Buy is questioning Santa’s gift-giving prowess with their holiday, “Game on, Santa” commercials, and Georgia just gave the flying reindeer special clearance to enter the state, but didn’t offer Santa a waiver from state immigration laws. (Pack your passport, Santa.) Gone are the days when children happily welcomed the jolly elf with milk and cookies or chocolate and port. Santa better watch out, because everyone wants to sue him now....

ProtectMarriage has been enjoying favorable court rulings this month. Last week, the California Supreme Court ruled that the group has standing to continue its challenge to a federal court decision finding California Prop 8 unconstitutional; this week, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the group’s motion to consolidate its challenges before the appellate court. ProtectMarriage is litigating California Prop 8 on two fronts: constitutionality and judicial misconduct. After marriage equality advocates sued and won an injunction against the enforcement of Prop 8, ProtectMarriage stepped into the state’s shoes to defend the ballot initiative....

In what is being hailed as a victory for net neutrality advocates, the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected cert. in the U.S. Telecom Association v. FCC matter. The case dates back to 2015 and the Obama-era net neutrality policies that were put into place. The telecoms and service providers challenged the law, and failed. And while the Court didn’t provide any explanation behind the denial, it’s highly likely that the fact that the policies at issue were rescinded by the FCC motivated the justices’ decision....

The moment we’ve been waiting for, all summer, is here: the first cert. grants list after the Big Fall Conference. (Side note: I really need more hobbies. Oh wait, Hi Royals!) Who got grants? A few of our picks made it, no denials have been issued yet, and much to the waiting world’s chagrin, gay marriage has not yet made it to the docket. When will it? According to The Coloradoan, Justice Antonin Scalia quipped in a speech yesterday, “I know when, but I’m not going to tell you,” before concluding, “Soon!...

In the ongoing saga of Bobby James Moore v. Texas, the High Court not only granted the death row inmate’s petition for writ, the Court issued a summary reversal, and remanded the matter to the appellate. If this sounds familiar, that’s because this is the second time that SCOTUS has sent this case back down to Texas Court of Criminal Appeals with instructions to reconsider in light of their opinion. And this time, the Court, in short, told the Texas court that it didn’t listen and has to do it again....

US v. Cecil, 08-5080, concerned a challenge to the district court’s conviction of a former police officer for drug related offenses and imposition of a 144-month sentence. In affirming both the conviction and the sentence, the court held that the district court did not err in rejecting defendant’s Batson challenge as defendant has failed to meet his burden of demonstrating purposeful discrimination on the part of the government. Spees v. James Marine, Inc....

The U.S. Supreme Court said illegal aliens who were jailed after the Sept. 11 attacks cannot sue top government officials, but they may proceed against the jailer. In Ziglar v. Abassi, the court acknowledged that the six named plaintiffs – including five Muslims – suffered for months in a Brooklyn jail before they were deported. The court said what happened to them was “tragic,” but the principal defendants were not liable for damages....

During his unconventional press conference on Thursday, President Trump described the Ninth Circuit, as “in chaos.” It was “a circuit that has been overturned a record number,” he said, going on to explain that “this is just a number I heard, that they are overturned 80 percent of the time.” The comments come just days after the Ninth Circuit ruled against the president’s travel ban, prompting surrogates to deride the court as “the most overturned court in the country....

A Palestinian man lost his petition to immigrate to the United States because he threw rocks at Israel soldiers when he was 13 years old, a federal appeals court said. The U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals said the man’s childhood act was “admittedly minor, when compared with the worst terrorists acts,” but also said its hands were effectively tied. The appellate panel said that it had limited authority to review the consular’s discretionary decision in Hazama v....

Summary Judgment for Officers in Civil Rights Action Partially Affirmed In Tracy v. Freshwater, No. 08-1769, a civil rights action alleging excessive force by police, the court affirmed summary judgment for defendants in part where a reasonable officer would have construed plaintiff’s conduct as intentional and threatening. However, the court vacated in part where an issue of material fact remained in dispute with respect to plaintiff’s excessive force claim based on defendant’s use of pepper spray....

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the rule in a Pennsylvania school district allowing students to use the bathroom that conforms with their gender identity. The rule is designed to ensure that transgender students are not discriminated against when it comes to using the restroom. If this sounds familiar, that’s because this controversial case made headlines when Third Circuit ruled the same way back in June. The case was brought by cisgender students claiming that the rule violates their privacy rights....

In plaintiff’s appeal from the district court’s order granting movant-bank’s motion to modify a preliminary injunction freezing the assets of the underlying defendants, the order is vacated where the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction entered by the district court dissolved when the default judgment issued, and thus the district court’s subsequent modification order was void ab initio. Read U.S. Philips Corp. v. KBC Bank N.V., No. 08-56296 Appellate Information...

A conviction for the kidnapping of a woman and her young son resulting in their deaths is affirmed where: 1) there was no abuse of discretion in the district court’s denial of defendant’s motion to strike a juror for cause; 2) the admission of three items of evidence over hearsay objections was proper; 3) the federal kidnapping statute is not unconstitutionally vague nor overbroad; and 4) the life imprisonment sentence was not unconstitutionally disproportionate under the circumstances....