1st Circuit Court

Judge Sides With MIT Students, Lifts Gag Order in Transit Case

A federal anti-hacking law wasn’t intended to prohibit the disclosure of public information about computer security flaws and hence doesn’t prohibit three MIT students from discussing with fellow academics how they learned to circumvent the Boston transit fare system, as part of a class project. That’s what a federal judge…

Aug 19, 2008 8:31 PM CDT

Retired Mass. Lawyer is Convicted in Major Art Theft Case

A retired Massachusetts lawyer was convicted yesterday by a federal jury of possessing stolen goods in a convoluted art theft case that reads like a true-crime paperback. Seven paintings including a Cezanne that sold at auction, years later, for nearly $30 million, were allegedly stolen in 1978 from a home…

Aug 19, 2008 4:28 PM CDT

Student Loses Suit Claiming Unaccredited Law School Induced Him to Stay

A federal appeals court has tossed a lawsuit by a former student who claims the Southern New England School of Law fraudulently induced him to stay by promising that accreditation was imminent. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled plaintiff Joseph Rodi failed to show he relied on…

Jul 3, 2008 11:19 AM CDT

Appeals Court Throws Out Challenge to ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’

A federal appeals court has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, creating a circuit split. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Congress is given the highest deference in regulating military affairs. The 2-1 opinion (PDF) issued yesterday in Pietrangelo v. Gates…

Jun 10, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

Fed’l Judge Voids Jury Convictions in Islamic Charity ‘Jihad’ Case

A federal judge in Boston today threw out most of the January tax-related jury convictions against defendants who were officers of a now-defunct charity accused of promoting jihad and supporting Islamic militants abroad. Calling the evidence against them “thin,” District Judge Dennis Saylor IV acquitted Samir Al-Monla and Emadeddin Muntasser…

Jun 4, 2008 12:06 AM CDT

Fed’l Judge Will Not Return to Bench After Dress Incident

Despite a letter-writing campaign urging his reinstatement, a popular federal bankruptcy judge in Massachusetts who made international headlines after being arrested for driving under the influence while reportedly dressed in drag will not return to the bench. In a one-paragraph written statement released today, the Office of the Chief Executive…

May 30, 2008 9:39 PM CDT

‘Unlikely Blogger’: Nancy Gertner, a Federal Judge

Among the contributors to Slate’s new blog on legal issues is Nancy Gertner, a former criminal defense lawyer who is now a federal district court judge. According to federal and state officials, she appears to be the only judge in Massachusetts who is sharing her unfiltered views with the public…

May 27, 2008 10:21 PM CDT

Will Popular Bankruptcy Judge Return, After Dress Incident?

Lawyers in Boston are still waiting and wondering whether a popular bankruptcy judge, who resigned from the bench after a much-publicized cross-dressing incident but then changed his mind, will be allowed to return to the bench. Whether U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Somma will be allowed to rescind his resignation was…

May 21, 2008 5:10 PM CDT

Federal Judge Blocks Bear Exec From Leaping to New Company

A federal judge issued an order yesterday that bars a former Bear Stearns executive from joining Morgan Stanley. The order by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston said Bear Stearns was likely to succeed on the merits of its case against Douglas Sharon, Reuters reports. Sharon was executive director…

Mar 28, 2008 12:04 PM CDT

Documents Produced in Major Art Case Have Created ... More Art

When officials at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art decided to litigate against artist Christoph Büchel over an incomplete commissioned piece, they probably didn’t realize what they were getting into. Although the museum won its federal court battle to display to the public a massive maze representing American culture that…

Mar 1, 2008 12:01 AM CST

Status of Late-Recognized Indian Tribes at Issue in High Court Case

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to decide whether the federal government can take land into trust for an Indian tribe, a move that could bar states from preventing the construction of additional Indian casinos on newly acquired land. Indian Country Today says a ruling against tribal interests in the…

Feb 29, 2008 6:55 PM CST

Lawyer’s Poems Nix Discrimination Case

An in-house intellectual property lawyer in the Worcester, Mass., office of a Pennsylvania company apparently wrote his way out of a job by sending four anonymous “sexually tinged” poems to a co-worker. Although David Bennett denied that he did so, company officials hired a private investigator to look into the…

Nov 12, 2007 5:17 PM CST

Federal, State Judges in Sentencing Spat

A career criminal’s almost-successful effort to circumvent a lengthy federal sentence by persuading a state court judge to vacate an earlier conviction has been foiled after the state court judge changed her mind about doing so. But U.S. District Court Judge William Young obviously was still irked about the incident…

Oct 11, 2007 11:39 PM CDT

Judge Takes Crack at Seuss-Style Egg Rhyme

With a nod to Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham, a federal judge has warned an inmate that attaching a hard-boiled egg to his complaint about his prison diet was a half-baked idea. Magistrate Judge James Muirhead of Concord, N.H., ordered the egg destroyed forthwith, the Concord Monitor reports. “Today!…

Sep 21, 2007 4:56 PM CDT

Hearing Transcripts to Go Online

The policy-making arm of the nation’s federal courts voted today to make it easier for both lawyers and the public to access court materials. For lawyers, the big news is the plan approved by the Judicial Conference of the United States to put transcripts of district and bankruptcy court proceedings…

Sep 18, 2007 7:01 PM CDT