The Ninth Circuit invalidated the subsection of a law that makes it a crime to encourage unlawful immigration, ruling Thursday it is overbroad and covers speech that is protected by the First Amendment (view full article).
A law allowing U.S. authorities to arrest and prosecute certain foreign nationals for drug crimes committed in international waters unconstitutionally extends U.S. jurisdiction beyond the limits of international law, the First Circuit held.
A judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is facing fallout over his insistence that a lawyer remove his mask during in-person oral arguments (access full article).
Less than two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled in McGirt v.
Today, the United States Supreme Court decided in McGirt v. Oklahoma, No. 18-9526 (July 9, 2020), that for purposes of the Major Crimes Act, land throughout much of Eastern Oklahoma reserved for the Creek Nation since the 19th Century remains a Native American Territory. The Major Crimes Act allocates responsibility for prosecuting major crimes committed by Native Americans on an Indian reservation to the federal government, not state authorities. Mr.
Georgia sheriff began a policy in 2018 of putting signs in the yards of all 57 registered sex offenders in the county that read, "STOP" and "NO TRICK-OR-TREAT AT THIS ADDRESS." District court: That's fine. Eleventh Circuit (with pictures!): Not fine. This is “a classic example” of compelled government speech, and it's unconstitutional because it violates the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court on Thursday in Hemphill v. New York sided with a criminal defendant who said his Sixth Amendment rights were violated at a trial during which he was convicted of murder.
The issue is whether Hemphill “opened the door” at his trial to the use of evidence that would normally be barred by the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause (view previous coverage).
The Supreme Court will hear argument on Tuesday in an important case on the rights of criminal defendants under the Sixth Amendment’s confrontation clause. Specifically, the court will determine in Hemphill v.
The Supreme Court granted cert in Hemphill v. New York on Monday. Rules of evidence protect criminal defendants from the introduction of certain prejudicial types of evidence in the prosecution’s case-in-chief, such as evidence of a defendant’s violent character.
The Eighth Circuit on Monday said the government can't collect inmates' prison wages to satisfy victim restitution orders, agreeing with two other appeals court opinions and vacating a lower court order to seize $5,500 from an Arkansas prisoner's trust account (access full article).