Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey issued sweeping pardons forgiving possession of marijuana convictions, following the directive of President Joe Biden, who urged state executives to follow his lead in pardoning low-level marijuana offenses (view announcement).
Prison: If you tested positive for a soy allergy, we'd stop feeding you soy, but we don't think you have a real allergy and we're not buying your "my religion prohibits me from eating foods that make my stomach hurt" schtick. Fourth Circuit: Um, that is, like, very precisely the sort of schtick you are required to buy. District court's contrary ruling vacated.
The case is Ricky Pendleton v. Betsy Jividen, No. 23-6334 (4th Cir. Mar. 20, 2024).
Washington man runs an organization that purports to help undocumented adult immigrants become U.S. citizens through adult adoption. He's convicted and sentenced to 240 months for unlawfully "encouraging or inducing an alien to come to, enter, or reside unlawfully in the United States for private financial gain." He appeals his conviction. Ninth Circuit (2022): That provision is unconstitutionally overbroad because it could reach all kinds of protected speech. Conviction vacated.
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Fischer v. United States on April 16, 2024, regarding the criminal law used by the DOJ to prosecute those who breached the Capital on January 6, 2021. The law at issue is part of a statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c), which makes it a crime to corruptly obstruct congressional inquiries and investigations.
Six people who had been deported are prosecuted for illegally reentering. Defendants: When Congress passed this law in 1929 it was for super racist reasons which carry forward to the current version of the law and makes it unconstitutional. Training Division: Yup (view full article). Fourth Circuit: Nope.
The original law criminalizing illegal reentry under 8 U.S.C. 1326 grew out of a disturbing time in history marked by the rise of eugenics, the Ku Klux Klan, and deeply nativist sentiments. See, e.g., Webinar: The Racist Origins of Illegal Reentry (and how to Challenge Them in Your Practice) (Oct. 15, 2020), by AFDs Kara Hartzler and Nora Hirozawa,.
Tennessee’s GOP-controlled Senate advanced legislation on Tuesday allowing the death penalty in child rape convictions as critics raised concerns that the U.S. Supreme Court has banned capital punishment in such cases (view full article).
It must still clear the similarly conservatively dominant House chamber before it can go to the governor.
Florida man, among the hundreds that entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was chanting “Whose house? Our house!” D.C. Circuit (unanimously): Not your house. The United States Capitol building is most definitely not your house. There's a reason entry to the Capitol is “strictly regulated” and members of the public typically must reserve a tour and face security screening before entering. Nor is it a traditional public forum. So this Florida man's various First Amendment challenges to his convictions for "parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building" all fail.
In a shocking twist, biotech CEO who compares himself to both Steve Jobs and Jesus Christ and claims his company's products cure paralysis and opioid addiction is convicted of fraud. In an even more shocking twist, he dies while his case is on appeal. So what happens to his conviction—and, more importantly, the more than $7.5 mil order of restitution? First Circuit: Vacated!
A jury has awarded $16 million to a Philadelphia man whose murder conviction was overturned after he spent 25 years on death row — the largest wrongful conviction payout in city history. (view full article).
James Dennis, 53, always insisted he was innocent and had been sentenced to death for a 1991 murder he did not commit.