In a decision published two weeks prior to this decision, Frank Dunham, the Federal Public Defender from Norfolk, VA had attempted to intervene on behalf of Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan who is being held incommunicado in a U.S. military prison in Norfolk, VA. Dunham sought ...

Here the D.C.Circuit joined with the Fifth and Sixth Circuits in holding that the "in furtherance of" language contained in 18 USC § 924(c)(1)(A) requires more than mere possession of the gun; but upheld the conviction under the facts of this case.

Following the Supreme Court's decision in Bailey v. ...

The U.S. Parole Commission's jurisdiction over a parolee is not automatically terminated under 18 U.S.C. § 4211(c)(1), if five years on parole release elapse without an early termination decision, but a writ of mandamus is appropriate.

Here the Court held that if five years elapse without a parole release hearing ...

The two defendants in this case were convicted of a number of drug and related crimes and they were sentenced to terms of imprisonment of 360 months and 262 months, respectively, based on the district court’s determination of the quantity of drugs to be attributed to them for sentencing purposes. ...

Some six months prior to this decision, Judge Milton Pollack of the E.D.Pa. set off a maelstrom when he issued two controversial and highly publicized decisions about the admissibility of fingerprint identification testimony. First, in U.S. v. Llera-Plaza, 179 F.Supp.2d 492 (E.D.Pa. 2002) (P&J, 12/24/01) (Plaza I), he held that ...

Here, based on its intervening decision in U.S. v. Sanchez-Cervantes, 282 F.3d 664 (9th Cir. 2002), the panel reversed Judge Marshall's decision in Reynolds v. Cambra, 136 F.Supp.2d 1071 (C.D. Cal. 2001), where she held that Apprendi was entitled to retroactive application under the principles established in Teague v. Lane, ...

Here the Court held that a deprivation caused by conduct pursuant to established state procedure, rather than random and unauthorized action, does state a claim under 42 U.S.C.S. § 1983 and entitles the officials to the defense of qualified immunity.

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of ...

Two months prior to this decision, Judge Shira Scheindlin of the S.D.N.Y. issued two related decisions in which she attacked the Government’s use of one of the key statutes that has come to be used extensively in the ever-expanding war against terrorism - namely, the Material Witness Statute (18 U.S.C. ...

This is another one of a growing string of decisions that deals with the Government’s increasingly bold “above-the-law” approach to aliens and immigrants. In this case, calling the posture of the INS a “charade,” Judge Surrick ordered the immediate release of a Dominican woman who has spent nearly four months ...

Here the en banc Court held that the failure to charge drug quantity in an indictment is not jurisdictional in nature and that, in determining whether there is reversible error, it is proper for the sentencing court to consider uncharged drug quantities.

In this case, the Fifth Circuit granted en ...