The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a mandatory minimum sentence issued at revocation of supervised release based on a new crime without a jury trial is unconstitutional. United States v. Haymond addresses the case of Andre Haymond, who was originally convicted on charges of possessing child pornography. Haymond served 38 months in prison and [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday denied a seaman the right to punitive damages for an unseaworthiness claim. Christopher Batterton was a deckhand for The Dutra Group on various vessels. Batterton’s hand was permanently damaged when a hatch blew open and crushed it due to a buildup of pressurized air below deck. Batterton sued The [...]
The US Supreme Court on Monday struck down 18 USC § 924(c)(3)(B), a major federal statute with mandatory sentences for crimes committed with firearms, as unconstitutionally vague. The opinion, authored by Justice Neil Gorsuch, finds that the language of the statute is unconstitutionally vague and thus unfair to the defendant. The statute authorizes higher prison sentences [...]
The Supreme Court ruled against the Virginia House of Delegates in a new racial gerrymandering case. The case began in 2011 when a group of citizens in twelve districts sued the State asserting that the districts had been created with intentional racial disparities. The District Court ordered the House of Delegates to draw up a [...]
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that a public access television provider is not a state actor. The case, Manhattan Community Access Corp. v. Halleck, was brought by two producers who alleged that a Manhattan public access television station violated their First Amendment rights. They claimed that the news station restricted their access after an [...]
The US Supreme Court issued orders Monday denying a number of cases and sending three cases back to lower courts for reconsideration: US v. Herrold, Klein v. Oregon Bureau of Labor, and Richardson v. US. United States v. Herrold is another case considering the elements of burglary under the Armed Career Criminal Act. Under existing [...]
Victims of war crimes in Afghanistan filed an appeal Monday with the International Criminal Court (ICC) challenging the lower chamber’s recent decision not to pursue a war crimes investigation in Afghanistan. The Appeal was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York and the Global Justice Clinic at the New York University School [...]
Alabama Governor Kay Ivey signed HB 379, the chemical castration bill, into law Monday. Under previous Alabama law, a sex offense committed against a child under the age of 12 was either a class A or class B felony. Class A and B felonies make an offender ineligible for parole. The new law raises the [...]
German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced plans Tueday to write a new law banning conversion therapy. The new law would ban the practice of conversion therapy, which has been widely discredited by medical professionals. Currently, Germany experiences about 1,000 attempts at conversion therapy every year involving coaches, therapists and in some cases exorcisms. Under the [...]
Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed a new bill into law Monday protecting fundamental rights to abortion and family planning. The bill orders that no public entity may interfere with an individual’s fundamental rights to abortion, carrying a pregnancy to term, contraception or sterilization. The bill orders state and local law enforcement not to prosecute anyone [...]
