Here the Court held that a defendant who pleaded guilty to drug distribution offenses could not withdraw his guilty plea after the government declared his cooperation agreement null and void when he was later arrested on other charges. The Court ruled that the government's revocation of the agreement was reasonable ...

Here the Court vacated an enhancement pursuant to USSG § 3B1.4 for using a minor to commit the crime on the grounds that the Government had failed to present evidence to show that the defendant acted affirmatively to involve the minor.

In this case, during the course of an armed ...

In this case the Government filed a civil forfeiture action to recover money that the claimant, Cesar Castro, had attempted to take out of the country without proper declaration. Castro filed a motion to dismiss the action, or, alternatively, for summary judgment, arguing that the Government was collaterally estopped from ...

Here the Court addressed the retroactive application of the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act and held that since the purpose of the Act was "to rectify unfairness and level the playing field" it would be manifestly unjust not to apply it retrospectively.

This is one of the first cases to ...

Here Judge Patterson held that a downward departure at sentencing was warranted in the case of a defendant who was held for some 13 months of his pre-sentence confinement in a non-federal facility noted for its substandard conditions.

This is a fascinating decision in a number of respects. It is ...

On October 25, 2000, Judge Kaplan ordered the appointment of counsel in this case to represent the petitioner, James Robinson, in the filing of his first petition to vacate, set aside or correct his sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255, because “of the possibly meritorious nature of at least ...

Here the Court held that where a conviction for one count of conspiracy to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine subsumes defendant's conviction on other counts of the conspiracy, a sentence of life imprisonment does not violate Apprendi.

Here by a narrow 5 to 4 margin, the Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not forbid a warrantless arrest for minor criminal offenses - even when the arrest serves no discernible state interest and subjects the victim to gratuitous humiliations.

This is an astonishing case in a number ...

Here the Court upheld a special condition of supervised release allowing for random, warrantless searches of the defendant or his property by hisprobation officer as a justifiable means of enforcing the prohibition against the possession of intoxicants.

In this case, the Sixth Circuit upheld a special condition of supervised release ...

Here the Second Circuit joined with the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Circuits in holding that when sentencing a defendant for possession of drugs with intent to distribute it is improper to include in the drug calculations drugs held for his personal use.

The issue addressed in this case was “whether ...

In the case the Court rejected the defendant's contention that the district court had improperly enhanced his sentence for "more than minimal planning" pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2F1.1(b)(2)(A), based on a finding that the defendant had repeated similar acts over an eight year period - which alone was sufficient to ...

In this case, the Court held that prison inmates do not have any freestanding constitutional right to assist other inmates in filing legal claims. Starting from the premise that “it is indisputable that inmate law clerks are sometimes a menace to prison discipline,” Justice Thomas, writing for a unanimous court, ...