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Eugene Volokh is on quite the winning streak. The professor and blogger, fresh off a victory in another pro bono free speech case (the ongoing Crystal Cox saga), scored again, this time on behalf of parents who were challenging their children’s school’s uniform policy. The Ninth Circuit held that the policy, which required “Tomorrow’s Leaders” to be displayed on students’ shirts, and which had exemptions for certain national youth organizations, constituted compelled speech and content-based discrimination....

The ripples of the financial crisis that spun out of control in the fall of 2008 are now being felt as shareholder suits progress through the judicial system. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg is not only AIG’s former CEO, his company, Starr International Co., had a 12% stake in AIG, making it AIG’s largest shareholder. Last week, the Second Circuit dealt a blow to one of his two cases in federal court, reports Reuters....

In plaintiffs’ lawsuit against defendants employers brought under LMRA and ERISA, district court’s grant of defendants’ motion for summary judgment is reversed and remanded with instructions to enter summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs as a finding of employer intent is not essential or prerequisite to imposition of alter ego status, but is merely one of the relevant factors which the courts can consider. Read Tr. of the Detroit Carpenters Fringe Benefit Funds v....

Last month, the Supreme Court declined to review the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ Utah highway cross decision. As the Tenth Circuit previously held that cross memorials honoring fallen troopers on Utah highways were unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause, the crosses were set to be removed. In a last-ditch effort to save the crosses last month, the Utah Highway Patrol (UHP) removed its logo from each of the 14 crosses, and added signs stating that the crosses are private memorials and do not endorse religion....

In US v. Lozano, No. 09-30151, the court affirmed defendant’s conviction for attempted possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, holding that 1) the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that all of the Rule 404(b) requirements were met and thus that Rule 404(b) did not forbid admission of the evidence; 2) a postal inspector had reasonable suspicion to detain the mailed package at issue; and 3) the transportation of the package from Barrow to Anchorage, Alaska without probable cause did not make the detention unreasonable....

Conviction for drug crimes is affirmed where: 1) the district court did not err in denying defendant a Franks hearing as an officer made a simple scrivener’s error in the affidavit and there was sufficient information to establish probable cause with respect to the search of a house; and 2) the court did not abuse its discretion in its handling of a juror’s misconduct in discussing the case with another juror....

Yon v. Principal Life Ins. Co., No. 08-3484, concerned an action alleging that plaintiff was wrongfully terminated in violation of Iowa public policy, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family Medical Leave Act, and the Iowa Wage Payment Collection Act. The court of appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendant, on the ground that there was no support in the record for plaintiff’s allegation that he was subjected to an escalation of adverse actions in response to his complaints....

So you just got your driver’s license, and you received a speeding ticket. This is what you’ve been waiting for, but you just had to go faster than that lame speed limit. You’re probably freaking out about how mad your parents are going to be and wondering if your insurance rates will go up. Or worse, you’re scared that this traffic citation will result in you getting a license suspension....

Will the Supreme Court rule once and for all on whether corporations can be held liable under the Alien Tort Act? Experts believe that the Court will take up the issue. The question, however, is when it will happen. The circuit-level are-they-or-aren’t-they-liable decision count stands at 7 to 1, but several circuits are in the process of re-hearing cases on this issue, en banc. The lone outlier in the “corporations are not liable” camp is the Second Circuit’s Kiobel v....

The fact pattern in a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion sounds more like a bad joke than an appellate case. In an act of symbolic protest against nuclear weapons, two priests, two grandmothers, and an 81-year-old nun cut their way through two fences and into a secure area of United States Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. The group spread fake blood on base fences and unfurled a protest banner. They were detained, prosecuted, and convicted of conspiracy to trespass, to destroy property within the special territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and to injure property....

The so-called automobile exception to the warrant requirement is like Prince: constantly changing, keeping you guessing, but retaining a certain timeless sex appeal with its intricacies and exceptions. (Is it Gant or is it Belton? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.) Joseph Donahue was staring down the short end of the automobile exception. Donahue was convicted of fraud in U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania. The court ordered him to surrender at a particular time, but he never appeared....

Secure your valuables and get ready for a fun ride. No, really. You should probably secure your valuables. According to the Ninth Circuit, it is not a constitutional violation to unlawfully seize $225k when the stolen property is covered by warrant. As such, officers who steal from suspects are still accorded qualified immunity for that theft –­­ provided that the officers only steal certain property a certain way. The case stems from an investigation into illegal gambling machines in Fresno, California....

Though apartheid ended in 1994, the wounds are still deep. In what’s been over a decade of litigation, South African nationals initiated a lawsuit in 2002 against American companies with subsidiaries in South Africa. The plaintiffs claimed that through their subsidiaries, the American companies aided and abetted the South African government in the violation of international laws by carrying out the apartheid regime. Putting an end to this politically-fused litigation, the Second Circuit reiterated the Supreme Court’s latest holding, that the plaintiffs’ claims were barred....

In Younis v. Pinnacle Airlines, Inc., No. 08-6112, the Sixth Circuit faced a challenge to the district court’s judgment in favor of the defendant in plaintiff’s suit for employment discrimination and retaliation under Title VII, claiming that he was terminated from his position as a pilot with the defendant airline company because he was an Arab-American and Muslim. In affirming the judgment, the court held that plaintiff has not satisfied the requirement that an employee exhaust administrative remedies with regard to a claim of hostile work environment under Title VII before bringing suit on that claim in federal court....

A Mongolian business man will get a second chance at asylum after the Seventh Circuit found that his credibility was inappropriately denied based on poorly conducted airport interviews. Gonchigsharav Nadmid had arrived in the United States in 2009, seeking asylum from alleged corruption and abuse by Mongolian politicians. An immigration judge found Nadmid to lack credibility, however, based largely on airport interviews conducted on his arrival – and in Russian. Since those interviews revealed a significant language barrier, the Seventh Circuit held, the immigration judge was wrong to rely on them to discount Nadmid’s credibility....

For some people, lawyers accusing lawyers of wrongdoing is almost poetic justice. The attorney-haters cheer when the combatants square off. No matter who loses, justice will be served. That’s about the way it looks, especially after the drawn-out political battle of the Mueller investigation. Right now, Republicans are cheering because a prominent Democrat has been indicted. Of course, he is a lawyer. Misleading Justice Greg Craig, former White House counsel for Barack Obama, has been charged with two felonies for allegedly misleading the Justice Department....

In most cases, an employer can legally fire you if you refuse to come back to work following a coronavirus-related business shutdown. Fear of the coronavirus isn’t generally a good enough argument to stay away and keep collecting unemployment. But what if they fire you if you complain about inadequate safety measures? In that case, you may have a better legal argument to make. The letter also said that the AG’s office is investigating “other cases of potential illegal retaliation” in New York....

Often times, it’s pretty clear which set of procedural rules, state or federal, apply to a case. But, when it comes to habeas review, state and federal procedures do a little dance. The Tenth Circuit recently reviewed a case that brought the interplay of procedural rules to center stage, and cast federal habeas review in the leading role. Kent LeBere was convicted of second-degree murder and second-degree arson, and sentenced to a total of 60-years imprisonment....

Fingers crossed, many of us scan the news every day for word that a COVID-19 vaccine might become reality in the not-too-distant future. Indeed, scientists around the world are working at warp speed to do precisely that. But once vaccines become available, another hurdle may remain before we can put an end to the epidemic: Enough people will have to be inoculated. While an effective vaccine may protect those who get inoculated, polls are revealing that about one third of the population say they don’t want to become vaccinated....

In a consolidated appeal, US v. Thouvenot, Wade & Moerschen, Inc., No. 09-2421, the Seventh Circuit addressed the Equal Access to Justice Act which entitles a prevailing party in litigation with the United States to attorneys’ fees unless the court finds that the position of the government was substantially justified. In the first case involving a project site engineer, the court held that based on the evidence, defendant was not entitled to attorneys’ fees as the government had a substantial though not winning case, against the defendant....