Legal News

Case Summaries

Constitutional Law

[11/21] Hines v. Anderson
In a suit over prison medical care, an order terminating a consent decree regulating medical care for inmates at a federal prison is affirmed where: 1) the decree did not constitute a final judgment, and plaintiffs-inmates had no property right therein that would entitle them under the due process clause to further discovery and a pretermination evidentiary hearing; 2) the Prison Litigation Reform Act did not require a pretermination investigation and evidentiary hearing; 3) there was no evidence of ongoing Eighth Amendment violations at the prison; and 4) the consent decree was not narrowly tailored or the lease intrusive means to protect the inmates' Eighth Amendment rights.

[11/18] IMS Health Inc. and Verispan, LLC v. Ayotte, New Hampshire Attorney Gen.
A district court's finding that a state law, which prohibits certain transfers of physicians' prescribing histories for use in detailing, unconstitutionally abridged free speech, is reversed and the injunction against enforcement of the Prescription Information Law is vacated where: 1) regulated data transfers did not embody restrictions on protected speech under the First Amendment; 2) the state law regulated conduct, not speech; and 3) even if the Prescription Information Law amounted to a regulation of protected speech, it passed constitutional muster.

[11/18] US v. Figueroa
Conviction for unlawfully possessing a firearm is affirmed where: 1) the trial court violated defendant's right under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment when it prohibited defense counsel from cross-examining a government witness about his swastika tattoos despite the fact that the defendant was a member of a minority group; however 2) the error was harmless because it "did not contribute to the verdict obtained."

Read More

Criminal Law & Procedure

[11/21] Jimenez-Gonzalez v. Mukasey
Petition for review of an order of removal based on petitioner's conviction on a state charge of criminal recklessness is granted where criminal recklessness is not a crime of violence for immigration purposes.

[11/21] Dale v. Poston
In a federal prisoner's suit alleging Eighth Amendment violations by prison employees who allegedly failed to protect him from an attack by another inmate, summary judgment for defendants is affirmed where there was no evidence that any of the defendants were aware of facts from which they could draw an inference of substantial harm.

[11/20] Morgan v. State of Delaware
Convictions for various drug-related offenses are affirmed over claims of error where: 1) a warrant to search defendant's home that was supported by information from a confidential informant was based on sufficient probable cause; and 2) no curative instruction was required following a sustained objection by defendant regarding the admission of two police property forfeiture forms.

Read More