Judge Robertson ordered an immediate halt to one of the military trials of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay "until a competent tribunal determines that the petitioner is not entitled to the protections afforded prisoners of war [by] the Geneva Convention".

In a blow to President Bush’s asserted powers to try ...

Plaintiff United States challenged the decision entered by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that granted of defendant one' motion for judgment of acquittal on the charge of kidnapping resulting in the death of his ex-wife in violation of the Federal Kidnapping Act, 18 U.S.C. ...

This appeal presented a single question: whether a district court may rely on evidence submitted by the government ex parte and in camera to deny bail. The Court concluded that such submissions should generally not be entertained because they compromise a defendant's due process right to a fair hearing on ...

In Andresen v. Maryland, 437 U.S. 463, 492 (1976), the Supreme Court explained why “general warrants” are “especially prohibited” by the Fourth Amendment: “The problem to be avoided is ‘not that of intrusion per se, but of a general, exploratory rummaging in a person's belongings.’ Thus the requirement plainly appearing ...

The central issue before the Court in this case was whether the district court had properly applied the Guidelines’ complicated “grouping rules” contained in U.S.S.G. § 3D1.1-5 in the sentencing of Ricardo Vasquez, a former corrections officer at FCI-Danbury, who pled guilty to raping or engaging in other abusive sexual ...

Here the Court vacated a sentence that contained a dramatic upward departure, after concluding that the sentence imposed by Judge Biery of the W.D.Tex. was “fatally infected with antagonism towards the United States Sentencing Guidelines”.

George Andrews and his mother, Georgene Andrews, pled guilty to various offenses arising out of ...

U.S. v. Torres, 383 F.3d 92 (3rd Cir. 2004)
U.S. v. Sosa, No. 03-1530 (2nd Cir. 10/21/04)

In U.S. v. Mendoza-Lopez, 481 U.S. 828, 834 (1987), the Supreme Court concluded that due process requires that a "collateral challenge to the use of a deportation proceeding as an element of a ...

Defendants, through their counsel, issued a subpoena to a judge directing that he appear and requesting that he bring the entire file concerning a related criminal case. The New York State Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the judge, moved to quash that subpoena.

The defendants were seeking to explore ...

State DUI offenses, which either do not have a mens rea component or require only a showing of negligence in the operation of a vehicle, are not crimes of violence under 18 U.S.C. § 16 for which an immigrant can automatically be deported.

In this case, the Supreme Court unanimously ...

The defendant, who was convicted of possession of a gun by a convicted felon, moved for a downward departure on the grounds that he was the sole care giver to his 80-year old father, who has had two open heart surgeries, wears a pacemaker, and suffers from seizures. Judge Marrero ...

U.S. v. Torres, 383 F.3d 92 (3rd Cir. 2004)
U.S. v. Sosa, No. 03-1530 (2nd Cir. 10/21/04)

In U.S. v. Mendoza-Lopez, 481 U.S. 828, 834 (1987), the Supreme Court concluded that due process requires that a "collateral challenge to the use of a deportation proceeding as an element of a ...

Since his appointment to the bench in May, 2002, Judge Cassell (a former law clerk to Justice Scalia) has cut a huge swath in judicial circles. He has already produced a series of thought-provoking and innovative decisions that have left an indelible mark on the legal landscape. (See, e.g., his ...

In another rebuke of the hap-hazzard manner in which the death penalty is imposed in Texas, the Supreme Court overturned the death sentence of a convicted Texas killer because jurors in his trial did not consider his learning disability. In its 7-to-2 ruling (Scalia and Thomas dissented), the majority said ...

Here Judge Dalzell granted habeas relief to a prisoner who had been waiting for more than 16 years for a ruling on his habeas petition without ever being able to obtain a hearing on the merits of his claims.

Judge Dalzell started his ruling in this case by quoting from ...

Defendant challenged a decision of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, which denied his motion to withdraw his plea of guilty to knowingly aiding and abetting an individual in making a false statement for the purpose of opening an account at a bank ...