By almost any standards, it has become virtually impossible to get a Federal court, in the aftermath of 9/11, even to consider a complaint that the Government’s many, secret eavesdropping programs violate the U.S. Constitution. Fanned by the flames of fear of imminent threats of terrorism, the courts have pretty ...

Ninth Circuit Joins With Seventh and Eighth Circuits in Rejecting a Second Amendment Challenge to Federal Law Criminalizing Gun Possession by Drug Addicts.

In this case, the Ninth Circuit joined with decisions from the Seventh and Eighth Circuits which previously held that 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) is constitutional in the ...

Felix Morales Sanabria (who was referred to by the Court as “Morales”) is a commercial fisherman in Puerto Rico who goes by the nickname “El Chapo.” He was convicted on multiple drug trafficking counts following a jury trial, and he was sentenced to fifty years' imprisonment. The convictions related to ...

Court Holds That The BOP’s Withholding of Recorded Conversations Under FOIA’s Law Enforcement Exemption Was Not Justified.

In this case, the plaintiff, Eduardo Benavides, filed a request pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, for information pertaining to “billing records and recorded telephone conversations of ...

Here a divided panel affirmed as substantively reasonable an upward departure of some 17 years imposed on the defendant after the district court found he was guilty of the crime of premeditated murder, even though that crime was never charged.

David Fitch was convicted by a jury of nine counts ...

The Al Haramain Islamic Foundation (“AHIF”), was a non-profit organization, incorporated in Oregon, whose stated purpose was to promote greater understanding of Islam. In 2004, because the U.S. government suspected AHIF of supporting terrorism, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) (a part of the U.S. Treasury Department) designated AHIF ...

In 2005, Thomas Pendleton boarded a plane in New York City bound for Hamburg, Germany. Six months after his arrival there, he sexually assaulted a 15-year-old boy. German authorities arrested him, and a jury in Hamburg found him guilty of "engaging in sexual acts with a person incapable of resistance." ...

Here a divided panel from the 11th Circuit vacated, as too lenient, the 17½ year sentence imposed on Jose Padilla after his conviction on various terrorism crimes in Florida, calling the sentence “substantively unreasonable.” Judge Barkett dissented.

In this case, a divided panel from the Eleventh Circuit held that the ...