State animal law is preempted 
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: Federal Meat Inspection Act, preemption
A state law that regulates what slaughterhouses must do with pigs that cannot walk is preempted by the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
Officers entitled to qualified immunity despite warrantless entry
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: civil rights, Fourth Amendment, qualified immunity, §1983
The Fourth Amendment permitted police officers to enter a residence without a warrant if they had a reasonable basis for concluding that there was an imminent threat to their safety and the safety of others, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in granting the officers in the case qualified immunity.
Supremes: Warrantless use of GPS device constitutes search
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: Fourth Amendment, GPS device, privacy, search and seizure, Supreme Court, trespass, warrantless search
The attaching of a GPS device to a vehicle, and the use of that device to monitor the vehicle’s movements, constitute a search under the Fourth Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled.
Sex offender had no duty to register
Published: January 23, 2012
Tags: Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, sex offenders
The federal sex offender registration statute did not require a sex offender convicted before passage of the law to register before the U.S. Attorney General promulgated a rule making registration requirements applicable to him, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 7-2 decision.
ABA weighs in on suit over lawyer’s immunity
Published: January 20, 2012
Tags: ABA, American Bar Association, qualified immunity
The American Bar Association has weighed in on a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court over whether a lawyer in private practice hired by a city can claim qualified immunity from a civil rights lawsuit.
Supreme Court ruling on eyewitness identification disappoints defense lawyers
By:
Sylvia Hsieh
Published: January 19, 2012
Tags: due process, eyewitness, eyewitness identification, NACDL, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the reliability of eyewitness identifications left criminal defense attorneys disappointed, but not surprised.
Justices consider if parents can impute immigration status to children
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: January 19, 2012
Tags: immugration, imputation, Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – The justices of the Supreme Court grilled attorneys about the language of an immigration statute in an effort to determine whether someone seeking relief from deportation can benefit from their parent’s resident status and years of legal residence in the country.
Does immigration travel ban apply retroactively?
By:
Kimberly Atkins
Published: January 19, 2012
Tags: immigration, Padilla v. Kentucky, retroactive law, Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether a federal immigration law that prevents lawful permanent residents who have been convicted of certain crimes from traveling abroad without being denied reentry applies to convictions that occurred before the law was passed.
Federal courts can hear suits over ‘robo-calls’
Published: January 18, 2012
Tags: debt collection, TCPA, Telephone Consumer Protection Act
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s grant of permissive jurisdiction to state courts did not deprive a federal court of jurisdiction to hear the lawsuit of a plaintiff who claimed he was victimized by a debt collector’s use of an automated dialing system to place collection calls, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a unanimous decision.
Habeas claim revived in death row case
Published: January 18, 2012
Tags: habeas corpus, ineffective assistance of counsel
A habeas petitioner who was effectively “abandoned” by his lawyers demonstrated sufficient cause to excuse his failure to meet a state deadline for appealing the denial of postconviction relief, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in a 7-2 decision.
SUBSCRIBERS: Did you receive the new Lawyers USA Weekly Update in your inbox on Monday?
If not, click here to register and learn more now.
