Appellate Practice

9th Circuit Applies State Secrets Privilege in Wiretap Case

In a ruling seen as a victory for the Bush administration, a federal appeals court has said that a warrantless wiretap case brought against the government by an Islamic charity cannot proceed, at least for now, because of the national security issues it raises. The three-judge appellate panel rejected the…

Nov 16, 2007 7:43 PM CST

Gang Rape Victim to Get 200 Lashes

A gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia who appealed her original sentence of 90 lashes has indeed won a change in the penalty imposed on her for violating the country’s laws requiring segregation of the sexes. But it was not the one she had hoped for. Instead of reducing the 19-year-old…

Nov 16, 2007 12:48 AM CST

5th Circuit: Gov’t. Must Notify Workers of Fridge Cleaning

Weighing in on an important workplace issue that has undoubtedly vexed many an employee nationwide, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reportedly rendered an opinion that determines the constitutionality of government office refrigerator cleaning. No longer can a government employer simply clean out the office refrigerator…

Nov 15, 2007 9:40 PM CST

Richard Scruggs Wins Venue Change in Contempt Case

A renowned Mississippi personal injury lawyer defending a criminal contempt case after allegedly defying the instructions of an Alabama federal judge to turn over insurance company documents has scored an apparent victory in a wide-ranging ongoing court battle related to insurance coverage for Hurricane Katrina. Federal district court judges in…

Nov 15, 2007 8:20 PM CST

March on Washington Nov. 14 to Support Pakistan Lawyers

Updated: In a highly unusual move, the American Bar Association is spearheading a lawyers’ march on Washington, D.C., tomorrow that is also being promoted by state and local bar associations throughout the country. It is intended to support protesting lawyers in Pakistan, who have been at the forefront of efforts…

Nov 13, 2007 9:42 PM CST

ABA Experts: Cut Crack Cocaine Sentences

In testimony this week before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, experts representing the American Bar Association are among the scheduled witnesses expected to call for the reduction of relatively high prison sentences imposed on a largely African-American group of defendants convicted of crimes related to crack cocaine. In written statements concerning…

Nov 13, 2007 5:00 PM CST

Battling Misconduct Claims in Katrina Case

As if the ongoing insurance coverage battle involving Mississippi’s attorney general, a well-known plaintiffs lawyer and a national insurance company weren’t already contentious enough, explosive new allegations have just been made public. Attorney General Jim Hood allegedly threatened to indict the CEO of State Farm Insurance Cos., as well as…

Nov 8, 2007 11:07 PM CST

Scalia Leads in Tally of ‘Funniest Justice’

A law blog that focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court has started keeping track of how many times the individual justices make jokes from the bench. So far, Justice Antonin Scalia maintains a commanding lead as “the funniest justice,” with 17 funnies, reports Lawyers USA blogger Kimberly Atkins at D.C.…

Nov 8, 2007 8:49 PM CST

Executed Man’s Wife Sues Judge Who Closed Courthouse Door

Updated: Already facing a legal ethics complaint, a Texas appellate judge who refused to accept an eleventh-hour late filing in a death penalty appeal is now being sued by the executed man’s wife. The federal suit accuses Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of violating Michael Richard’s…

Nov 7, 2007 11:49 PM CST

Stevens Rejects Former IL Gov’s Bail Appeal

A long-shot bid by former Illinois Gov. George Ryan to remain free on bail pending his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of his political corruption conviction has been rejected. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens today rejected the emergency bail application that Ryan made to him last week, according…

Nov 6, 2007 6:07 PM CST

Law License Spat: Has Ex-Judge Reformed?

Removed from the bench and eventually disbarred a decade ago for misbehavior that included what a court described as “offensive, harassing and vindictive” conduct, former Nassau County Judge Marc Mogil now wants his law license back. However, the subject of a five-year harassment campaign by the then-judge is actively contesting…

Nov 2, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

CA Judge: New Execution Regs Invalid

An effort to enact a new execution protocol in California that would put an end to a death penalty moratorium declared last year by a federal judge has suffered a setback. The protocol is invalid, a state judge has decided, because it was not created in compliance with the required…

Nov 2, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

Justice Stevens Considers Ryan Sentence

Prosecutors have been asked to prepare a response to a long-shot emergency bail application to an individual U.S. Supreme Court justice, made in an effort to delay the start of a prison sentence for former Illinois Gov. George H. Ryan Sr. in a political corruption case. After receiving yesterday’s filing,…

Nov 1, 2007 8:12 PM CDT

TX Prosecutor Cites Execution Moratorium

In the latest example of an apparent death penalty moratorium being voluntarily imposed in states throughout the country, a Texas prosecutor in the county with the highest number of death sentences in the nation says she will not seek further executions until the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in an…

Oct 31, 2007 10:28 PM CDT

Full 4th Circuit Hears ‘Enemy Combatant’ Case

Whether the president has the power to hold a legal U.S. resident in military custody as a so-called enemy combatant is being argued today before the full 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A three-judge panel of the Richmond, Va.-based 4th Circuit ruled in June that the president does not,…

Oct 31, 2007 7:23 PM CDT