In the 01/11/10 issue of P&J, we noted an interesting decision in which a divided panel from the Ninth Circuit held that a Washington State law that automatically disenfranchises felons in prison violates the Federal Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973 (“VRA”) because it discriminates against minorities. (See, Farrakhan ...

In this capital case, 14 of the 15 active sitting judges on the Sixth Circuit voted against granting a rehearing en banc to review the death sentence imposed on Gregory Lee Wilson by a Kentucky state court for a brutal rape and murder. The lone dissenting voice was that of ...

Here a divided panel rejected a series of constitutional challenges brought by Tennessee inmates to a law that conditions the restoration of voting rights to convicted felons on the payment of any outstanding obligations for court-ordered restitution.

In Johnson v. Bredesen, 579 F.Supp.2d 742 (M.D.Tenn. Sept. 22, 2008) (P&J, 02/23/09), ...

Here the Court approved an award of $4,846 in nominal damages in a lawsuit under the Prison Litigation Reform Act by an inmate who was held in Administrative Segregation for 4,846 days without proper justification or any periodic reviews of his status.

In Arkansas, a state inmate is supposed to ...

Here the Court rejected a series of claims that convictions in a bombing case should be vacated principally because the Government used evidence based on the now-discredited forensic technique known as compositional analysis of bullet lead (CABL).

This is an interesting decision which addresses a forensic testing technique long used ...

The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996, 18 U.S.C. § 3666A (“MVRA”) vests continuing jurisdiction over restitution proceedings in the original sentencing court. As often happens in the complex maze of Federal laws, a different Federal statute, the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act, 28 U.S.C. § 3001, et seq. (“FDCPA”), ...

Here, after one of the most detailed analyses to date of the constitutional validity of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) in the aftermath of District of Columbia v. Heller, the Court remanded the case for additional hearings on some very specific issues.

It its landmark ruling in District of Columbia v. ...

This case explores an interesting jurisdictional question that has divided the Circuits about when an inmate can challenge the registration requirements of the Federal Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”), 42 U.S.C. § 16901 et seq.

The plaintiff in this case, Ronald Pearson, who is incarcerated in Texas, brought ...