9th Circuit Court

Fed’l Judge Threatens US Sanctions in Case Over Claimed Warrantless Attorney Wiretaps

In the latest potential prosecutorial embarrassment for the U.S. Department of Justice, a federal judge in California is threatening to sanction the government in a case brought over claimed warrantless wiretapping during the Bush administration of legal counsel for a now-defunct Oregon charity. Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker of…

May 26, 2009 10:24 PM CDT

US Won’t Appeal Ruling Reinstating ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Challenge

The Obama administration has opted not to appeal a ruling by a San Francisco-based appeals court reinstating a challenge to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay service members. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that the government would have to show its policy…

May 19, 2009 12:23 PM CDT

MySpace Hoax Sentence Delayed; Will Judge Void Verdict in Cyberbully Case?

A scheduled sentencing today has been postponed for a 50-year-old Missouri mom convicted of violating a federal statute in an unusual cyberbullying case. Lori Drew will now be sentenced July 2 on three misdemeanor counts of violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by obtaining unauthorized access to a social…

May 18, 2009 11:13 PM CDT

Farrah Fawcett ‘Sting’ Put Spotlight on National Enquirer

It wasn’t just dozens of high-profile medical files that a rogue worker at UCLA Medical Center peeped into between 2003 and 2007. It was nearly 1,000, reports the Los Angeles Times in a lengthy article today that focuses on one of the victims of the illegal invasion of privacy, actress…

May 12, 2009 12:19 AM CDT

9th Circuit Backs Cameras in Trial Courts

Cameras could be rolling into the federal trial courts under a proposal by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco. The 9th Circuit has asked the U.S. Judicial Conference to consider a plan to allow cameras to record and broadcast federal nonjury trials at the discretion…

May 11, 2009 11:23 AM CDT

Jury Acquits W.R. Grace and Former Execs in Landmark Criminal Asbestos Case

In the latest blow to federal prosecutors trying a high-profile criminal case, a jury in Missoula, Mont., has acquitted chemical products company W.R. Grace & Co. and three former executives on all charges in a landmark criminal environmental case. All had been accused of knowingly contaminating a small Missouri mining…

May 8, 2009 9:31 PM CDT

Probation Recommended for Mom in MySpace Cyberbullying Case

A sentence of one year of probation and a $5,000 fine are the penalties recommended in a presentence investigation report for the defendant in a landmark federal cyberbullying case, reports Wired magazine. Acquitted last year of the most serious charges against her, Lori Drew was convicted in November of three…

May 4, 2009 9:43 PM CDT

High Court Holds Chemical Supplier Not Liable for Pollution Cleanup

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a supplier that delivered pesticides to a company that polluted an industrial site in California is not liable for cleanup costs. The court ruled that Shell Oil Co. was not liable under the Superfund law for delivering the chemicals, the Associated Press reports.…

May 4, 2009 3:31 PM CDT

Sen. Leahy Asks Judge Bybee to Testify About ‘Torture’ Memos

In the latest development in an ongoing controversy over internal government memos about permissible interrogation techniques in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee has asked a government attorney who approved them to testify. A U.S. Department of Justice lawyer when…

Apr 29, 2009 11:04 PM CDT

O’Melveny Associate & UCLA Student Win 9th Circuit Immigration Appeal

Finding that a legal United States resident who served four years in the Navy had exhausted her administrative remedies, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has derailed a government effort to deport her over a California criminal conviction. The appellate ruling (PDF) in favor for Maria Gemma…

Apr 29, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Appeals Court Reinstates Torture Suit Despite State Secrets Claim

A federal appeals court has reinstated a lawsuit that claims a Boeing subsidiary helped the CIA transport prisoners to overseas prisons for torture. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco said the lawsuit should not be dismissed based on the government’s assertion it could reveal state…

Apr 29, 2009 2:17 PM CDT

Web Advocacy Group & BluWiki Sue Apple Over Chat Board Shutdown Demand

In an effort to enforce its iTunes copyright, Apple Inc. threatened last year to sue BluWiki.com if the website didn’t remove from its discussion board a project called iPodhash. The project focused on how one might retrofit iPods and iPhones with open-source software allowing them to work without iTunes. BluWiki…

Apr 28, 2009 6:37 PM CDT

Heller Staff Members Sue Partners, Seek $32M for Alleged Labor Law Violations

Contending that they didn’t receive mandated severance and vacation pay, some 800 former Heller Ehrman staff have sued at least 179 partners of the firm for alleged WARN Act violations under federal and California state law. Filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, their $32 million…

Apr 27, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Bybee Colleague Says So-Called Torture Memo Just ‘Got Away from Him’

Federal appeals judge Jay Bybee had been a popular law professor at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas before his stint in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, winning professor of the year in 2000. Now Bybee’s colleagues at UNLV and elsewhere are theorizing why he signed an…

Apr 27, 2009 12:14 PM CDT

Congressman Calls for Impeachment of Bybee over Torture Memos

A Democratic congressman is calling for the impeachment of a federal appeals judge for his Justice Department memos approving harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects. U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is the first member of Congress to call for the impeachment of…

Apr 21, 2009 11:32 AM CDT