U.S. Supreme Court

Holmes v. South Carolina (05/01/06 - No. 04–1327)

A criminal defendant's federal constitutional rights are violated by an evidence rule under which the defendant may not introduce evidence of third-party guilt if the prosecution has introduced forensic evidence that, if believed, strongly supports a guilty verdict.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041327.html

U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals

Ramirez v. Arlequin (05/03/06 - No. 05-1494)

Dismissal of political discrimination claim is reversed where policymaking exception does not apply to contractors seeking to collect for services rendered, but affirmed where: 1) procedural due process claim did not allege lack of adequate state law contract remedies; and 2) substantive due process claim is precluded by First Amendment claim.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/1st/051494.html

U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals

US v. Johnson (05/01/06 - No. 04-4992)

Orders modifying conditions of supervised release of convicted sex offender are affirmed over claims that the conditions, including polygraph testing, a bar on contact with minors, and a ban on Internet access, are unconstitutional or improperly tailored to promote federal sentencing policy.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/044992p.pdf

Brownell v. Krom (05/03/06 - No. 04-6364)

Summary judgment in favor of defendants is reversed where special circumstances justified plaintiff prison inmate's failure to exhaust his administrative remedies and that those remedies are no longer available to him.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/046364p.pdf

US v. Rodriguez (05/03/06 - No. 03-1639)

Defendants' Hobbs Act robbery convictions are reversed where the district court committed Confrontation Clause error by admitting a post arrest statement made by a co-defendant against them. Where evidence was insufficient to support a Hobbs Act robbery conviction against one defendant, he must be acquitted. (Amended)

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/031639p.pdf

U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals

Couden v. Duffy (05/01/06 - No. 04-1732)

Summary judgment for defendants in a civil rights action, involving undercover law enforcement officers' mistakenly identifying plaintiff's son as a fugitive, is reversed in part as to plaintiffs' section 1983 claims against certain defendants and a Bivens claim, where the district court erred in failing to consider the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiffs in its constitutional rights analysis.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/041732p.pdf

U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals

U.S. v. Allen (05/05/06 - No. 03-4701)

Sentence for distribution of crack cocaine is affirmed over defendant's arguments that: 1) the court should not have classified him as a career offender; 2) the classification violated his Sixth Amendment rights; and 3) the sentence violated Booker principles.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/4th/034701p.pdf

U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals

Pelts & Skins, LLC v. Landreneau (05/03/06 - No. 03-30523)

On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, a previous opinion holding that Louisiana's alligator marketing program created an unconstitutional compelled subsidy for private speech is vacated and remanded for the district court to assess in the first instance the extent of governmental control over the speech at issue.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0330523cv1p.pdf

Piazza's Seafood World, LLC v. Odom (05/04/06 - No. 05-30098)

A Louisiana statute regulating the class of fish to which the "catfish" label could be applied violates the dormant Foreign Commerce Clause. Louisiana's statute regulating the use of the word "Cajun" on food products, as applied to plaintiff, a seafood importer and distributor, violated plaintiff's First Amendment rights.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/5th/0530098cv0p.pdf

U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Cevilla v. Gonzales (05/01/06 - No. 05-2387)

Petition for review of BIA denial of motion to reopen cancellation of removal proceedings is denied where the court does not have jurisdiction over the claim since it does not involve a question of law or a constitutional claim.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052387p.pdf

U.S. v. Kelley (05/02/06 - No. 05-1884)

Revocation of supervised release and sentence of 24 months' imprisonment for violent crimes are affirmed where the Sixth Amendment does not apply to revocation hearings, and where defendant's due process rights were not violated by admission of hearsay evidence since the admission did not undermine the fundamental fairness of the hearing.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/051884p.pdf

Thurman v. Village of Homewood (05/02/06 - No. 05-2940)

Summary judgment for defendants in Fourth Amendment and retaliation claims under 18 U.S.C. 1983, and dismissal of state law claims, are affirmed where: 1) officers did not unreasonably extend the duration of an investigation; 2) plaintiff gave no evidence regarding the retaliation claim; 3) officers did not act under the color of law; and 4) denial of supplemental jurisdiction was proper.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052940p.pdf

Freedom From Religion Found. v. Chao (05/03/06 - No. 05-1130)

Petition for rehearing with suggestion of rehearing en banc in a taxpayer standing case is denied where the majority of the active members of the Court voted against the petition.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/051130p.pdf

Kramer v. Vill. of N. Fond du Lac (05/04/06 - No. 03-4142)

Summary judgment for defendants in a case alleging constitutional violations under 18 U.S.C. 1983 is affirmed, and the lower court's opinion adopted, where the local police did not selectively prosecute the plaintiff by only targeting institutions within its jurisdiction, and where entrapment is not a cause of action under section 1983.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/034142p.pdf

Lockhart v. Chandler (05/04/06 - No. 04-3223)

Petition for habeas corpus is denied where the petitioner did not have a clearly established right to be informed of a period of mandatory supervised release during sentencing.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/043223p.pdf

Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers v. CSX Transp., Inc. (05/04/06 - No. 05-2590)

Judgment of district court is affirmed in a suit over labor-union inclusion in labor arbitration where the plain language of the Railway Labor Standards Act contemplated public law boards comprised of two partisan members and a neutral arbitrator with other interested parties participating as advocates.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/052590p.pdf

U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals

Kohlbek v. City of Omaha (05/01/06 - No. 04-2060)

Summary judgment for defendant on plaintiffs, fire department employees, reverse discrimination claim seeking declaratory injunctive relief and damages against a municipality is reversed where defendant's affirmative action plan, as it applies to promotional decisions, is not narrowly tailored to further the goal of remedying past discrimination.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/042060p.pdf

Cottier v. City of Martin (05/05/06 - No. 05-1895)

In an action alleging Voting Rights Act and constitutional violations based on allegations that a municipality's wards were configured in a manner that intentionally and effectively diluted the voting strength of Native-Americans and kept Indian-preferred aldermen candidates from being elected, a final judgment for defendants is reversed and remanded for a proper totality of the circumstances analysis pursuant to the Voting Rights Act.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/8th/051895p.pdf

U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals

Berry v. Dep't of Soc. Servs. (05/01/06 - No. 04-15566)

Summary judgment for defendant-public employer on constitutional and Title VII claims brought by an employee is affirmed where the public employer's interests in avoiding violations of the Establishment Clause and in maintaining a conference room as a nonpublic forum outweighed the resulting limitations on plaintiff's free exercise of his religion at work. Additionally, defendant was not required to further accommodate plaintiff's religious views under Title VII.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0415566p.pdf

Pinard v. Clatskanie Sch. Dist. 6J (05/01/06 - No. 04-35574)

The standard for determining whether the First Amendment protects student speech, Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. C'mty Sch. Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 514 (1969), does not include the public concern requirement applicable in the government employment context.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0435574p.pdf

Smelt v. County of Orange (05/05/06 - No. 05-56040)

In a case brought by two California men who wished to marry each other, orders abstaining as to constitutional claims attacking state laws and ruling adversely to plaintiffs on federal constitutional claims are affirmed and reversed in part where plaintiffs lacked standing for their attacks on the Federal Defense of Marriage Act, and the district court properly abstained from deciding their constitutional attacks on state laws precluding them from obtaining a marriage license.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/9th/0556040p.pdf

U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals

Wolfe v. Barnhart (05/04/06 - No. 04-5194)

An agency decision denying an administrative law judge within the Social Security Administration permission to collect royalties from the publisher of a textbook he wrote on Social Security disability law is affirmed over claims that: 1) the agency's action violated an injunction entered in another case; 2) the agency misinterpreted a regulation; and 3) a regulation violates the First Amendment.

http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/10th/045194.html

U.S. District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals

Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs v. von Eschenbach (05/02/06 - No. 04-5350a.pdf)

Where there are no alternative government-approved treatment options, a terminally ill, mentally competent adult patient's informed access to potentially life-saving investigational new drugs determined by the FDA after Phase I trials to be sufficiently safe for expanded human trials is protected under the Due Process Clause.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/dc/045350a.pdf

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

Northwest Louisiana Fish & Game Pres. Comm'n v. US (05/02/06 - No. 05-5031)

In a case involving a conflict between a state commission's duty to maintain a natural preserve and the government's responsibility to maintain year-round riparian navigation, dismissal of a takings claim brought by the commission against the government as filed after the statute of limitations is reversed where certain growth of vegetation was a slow natural process that had not stabilized to cause the taking claim to accrue until at least 1997.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/055031p.pdf

Dumarce v. Scarlett (05/04/06 - No. 05-1104)

Partial grant of summary judgment for plaintiff holding that the enactment of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Act of 1984 effected a taking of Indian land without just compensation in violation of the Fifth Amendment is reversed pursuant to the government's contention that plaintiff's takings claim was time-barred.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/fed/051104p.pdf