This historic and important ruling is one of the most significant decisions to date dealing with the Government’s war on alleged terrorists. Here, a divided panel from the Second Circuit ruled that the Government does not have the power to detain Jose Padilla, an American citizen, as an “enemy combatant” ...

In this decision, a divided panel held that the detention of the 600 plus detainees at Guantanamo Bay, without charges and without access to lawyers, was both unconstitutional and a violation of international law.

In a powerful decision, Judge Reinhardt wrote: "Even in times of national emergency - indeed, particularly ...

In this latest episode of the long-running test of wills between Judge Brinkema and Attorney General Ashcroft, the Court held that the Government's refusal to comply with her earlier orders required, as a sanction, the elimination of the death penalty.

The defendant, Zacarias Moussaoui, was charged with conspiracy in connection ...

The defendant appealed his conviction under 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(b)(5), 922(a)(1)(A), 924(a)(1)(D) after the district court denied his request for a jury instruction that a recordkeeping offense under 18 U.S.C. § 922(m) was a lesser included offense of 18 U.S.C.S. § 922(b)(5). As a matter of first impression, the Seventh ...

Defendant pled guilty to violating the federal statute prohibiting a felon from possessing a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Plaintiff government appealed the ruling of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts that declined to apply the Armed Career Criminal Act (Act) to defendant. The sentence was ...

Appellant inmate sued, inter alia, appellee corrections commissioner in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Alabama under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 regarding a proposed method of carrying out his lethal injection, and under 28 U.S.C. § 1367, alleging he was denied access to a physician, in ...

Here the Court denied the Government's request for a subpoena for 11 categories of documents, holding that most of the requested documents were protected by the work product privilege and other materials were not relevant to the case.

In this high-profile case against Martha Stewart and her former stock broker, ...

Here the Court presented an in-depth anayysis of Application Note 12 to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1, and concluding that it was "poorly drafted." "opaque" and "a bit warped," it called upon the Sentencing Commission to clarify the Note.

This case is noted for its detailed discussion of Application Note 12 to ...

Here the en banc court held that there is no implied exception in the Federal wiretap laws (18 U.S.C. § 2511) for interspousal wiretapping within the marital home, reversing an old precedent and joining with a majority of state and federal courts.

Here, a divided en banc court held that ...

Here the Court held that, under the plain language of 18 U.S.C. § 3583(d), the district court may not vest a probation officer with the discretion to order an unlimited number of drug tests as a condition of supervised release. The Court also held that, even though the defendant had ...

Ordering a new trial in a case of alleged excessive force by police, the Third Circuit ruled that trial judges must voir dire potential jurors about possible bias in favor of police witnesses and cannot rely on end-of-trial jury instructions to cure the effects of any such bias.

"The concern ...

Here the Court held that simple possession of illegal drugs for personal use is not conduct that is "relevant" to the charge of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance for the purpose of determining a sentence range.

The Court held that, where a defendant is charged with possession ...

Defendant pled guilty to six counts of fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C.S. § 1029. He appealed the sentence imposed by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, claiming that his release on bond after giving a false name and identification document at arrest did not ...

This decision deals with one of those complex and highly technical parsing issues under the Guidelines that seems to drive everyone mad. Despite the esoteric nature of the issues before the court, this decision is significant, however, because of the Court’s strong affirmation of the principle that relevant conduct “does ...

In this decision, Judge Young has presented an exhaustive and highly informative guide to the state of the law on the sweat patch method of drug testing, which is now used by many of the U.S. Courts as an alternative to urinalysis to determine whether persons on pretrial or supervised ...

Here a divided panel held that, while it might be "stunningly dishonorable and outright deplorable" for prosecutors to convict two people for the same crime when they knew only one person committed that crime, it was not reversible error.

In 1995, three armed men robbed a restaurant in Santa Clara, ...