Here the Eleventh Circuit held that the Maritime Drug Enforcement Act (46 USC §§ 70503(a) and 70506) was unconstitutional as applied to the defendants and it vacated the convictions of four drug smugglers arrested in Panamanian waters.
During a routine patrol of Panamanian waters in 2010, the U.S. Coast Guard ...
This is an exceptionally strong Terry frisk decision (see Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968)), the import and reach of which is made all the more powerful because of the apocalyptic dissent from Judge Kozinski in which he wrote: “Two words best describe the majority opinion: ‘wrong’ and ‘dangerous’.” ...
U.S. v. Day, 700 F.3d 713 (4th Cir. Nov. 29, 2012) (Judge Harvie Wilkinson)
U.S. v. Wolfe, 701 F.3d 1206 (7th Cir. Dec. 5, 2012) (Judge William Bauer)
Both of these cases raise an interesting question that arose out of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Southern Union Co. v. ...
Even hardened criminal defense attorneys would probably be astonished at how quickly and pliantly Judge Richard Kyle of the D.Minn. jumped on the prosecutors’ bandwagon in this case and granted the huge restitution order they requested (demanded?) - even though the process chosen reeked worse than a pigsty.
Troy Chaika ...
In the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s seminal ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), proponents of broad Second Amendment rights immediately began a nationwide assault on federal, state and local laws that restricted or limited in any way the right of citizens to possess and ...
U.S. v. Day, 700 F.3d 713 (4th Cir. Nov. 29, 2012) (Judge Harvie Wilkinson)
U.S. v. Wolfe, 701 F.3d 1206 (7th Cir. Dec. 5, 2012) (Judge William Bauer)
Both of these cases raise an interesting question that arose out of the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Southern Union Co. v. ...
Everyone knows that many Federal forfeiture proceedings are a farce, but this one really takes the cake. Olushola Akeem, a citizen of Nigeria, was arrested in February, 2008 at JFK Airport after he presented a counterfeit passport to an officer of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”). Initially, Akeem ...
