This is an important decision that affects the rights of some 230,000 immigrants who are detained by the U.S. each year in some 201 separate detention centers. This particular order had its origins in a landmark ruling entered nearly 20 years ago by retired District Judge David Kenyon of the ...

In this case, the D.C. Circuit addressed the highly publicized FBI raid last year of the Congressional offices of Congressman William Jefferson (D-Louisiana) as part of a corruption investigation. That raid was the first time in history that the executive branch has searched the office of a sitting Congressman; and ...

Here the Court ordered New York City to release of nearly 2,000 pages of raw intelligence reports and other documents detailing the Police Department’s controversial and covert surveillance of protest groups at the Republican National Convention in 2004.

Once again, Magistrate Judge Francis has issued a stern rebuke to New ...

In a much criticized decision previously reported at U.S. v. Larson, 460 F.3d 1200 (9th Cir. 2006) (P&J, 08/07/06) (Larson I), a three-judge panel held that the district court had not erred when it concluded that no Confrontation Clause violation occurred when the defendants, Patricia Ann Larson and Leon Nels ...

Here, Chief Judge Yvette Kane held that the provisions of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2250 (“SORNA”), which were recently amended in part by the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, did not apply to the two defendant sex offenders in this ...

U.S. v. Gammicchia, 498 F.3d 467 (7th Cir. Aug. 9, 2007) (Judge Posner)
U.S. v. Paul, 239 Fed.Appx. 353 (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2007) (Per Curiam) (unpublished)

It is, by now, well recognized that the sentencing revolution started by the Apprendi/Blakely/Booker line of cases threatened the ongoing existence of the ...

Here the Court summarily rejected a defendant’s challenge to a dramatic increase in his sentence based on the very conduct for which the jury had acquitted him - showing, once again, how limited an impact Booker and Rita have had on Guideline sentencing.

Judge Hugh Bownes of the First Circuit ...

The defendant in this case, Daniel Aukai, showed up at the Honolulu International Airport without any identification. He passed through the metal detector without triggering any alarm, but he was automatically subject to secondary screening due to his lack of any ID. TSA officers determined that there was a strange ...

For a commentary on this decision, see "2nd Circuit Clarifies Right of Testifying Defendant to Consult Lawyer," by Mark Hamblett, as published in the New York Law Journal, May 31, 2007:

"A federal appeals panel has clarified the law on attorney-client communications during the defendant's ongoing testimony at trial.

Addressing ...

U.S. v. Gammicchia, 498 F.3d 467 (7th Cir. Aug. 9, 2007) (Judge Posner)
U.S. v. Paul, 239 Fed. Appx. 353 (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2007) (Per Curiam) (unpublished)

It is, by now, well recognized that the sentencing revolution started by the Apprendi/Blakely/Booker line of cases threatened the ongoing existence of ...

In a scathing rebuke of the FBI, Judge Nancy Gertner ordered the Government to pay a record $101.7 million in damages to four men and their families for its role in wrongfully sending those men to prison for a 1965 gangland murder in Massachusetts. In this momentous 235-page decision, Judge ...