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Stephen B. Kinnaird: A sixth sense about the Sixth Amendment 

By: Kimberly Atkins
Published: December 28, 2010

Tags: deportation, due process, Lawyers of the Year, Lawyers of the Year 2010, Padilla v. Kentucky, Sixth Amendment, Supreme Court

When Stephen B. Kinnaird stood before the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court urging them to hold that bad advice from a defense attorney about the deportation risks of a guilty plea can amount to a Sixth Amendment violation, he knew he had to tread carefully.

Hearing impaired defendant adequately accommodated at trial 

By: Correy Stephenson
Published: August 16, 2010

Tags: due process, reasonable accommodation

Measures employed to accommodate a criminal defendant’s partial hearing loss were reasonable and adequate and his constitutional rights were not violated because he failed to inform the court until his sentencing that he could not hear portions of the trial, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled.

Mentally disabled former inmate sues agents 

By: Tony Ogden
Published: June 21, 2010

Tags: civil rights, due process, North Carolina

A mentally disabled North Carolina man released after being held for 14 years on a murder charge is suing investigators for their conduct.

Mother doesn’t have right to have son testify 

By: Correy Stephenson
Published: May 11, 2010

Tags: best interest of the child, due process, parental rights

A mother’s due process rights were not violated when a trial court determined that her 15-year-old son should not testify at a best interest hearing, an Illinois appellate court has ruled.

Justices hint that seizure case may be dismissed as moot 

By: Kimberly Atkins
Published: October 15, 2009

Tags: due process, search and seizure, Supreme Court

During oral arguments in the case Alvarez v. Smith Wednesday, the justices hinted strongly that the case may now be moot, and that they may dismiss the appeal as improvidently granted.

LABOR LAW – ARBITRATION 

By: Justin Rebello
Published: March 31, 2009

Tags: arbitration, due process

Does the Railway Labor Act authorize courts to set aside final arbitration awards for alleged violations of due process by the National Railroad Adjustment Board?

U.S. Supreme Court. Union Pacific Railroad Co. v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, No. 08-604. Certiorari granted Feb. 23, 2009. Ruling below: 522 F.3d 746 (7th Cir.  2008).

PEREMPTORY CHALLENGES 

By: Reni Gertner
Published: March 31, 2009

Tags: due process, juries, peremptory challenges

As long as jurors seated in a criminal case are qualified and unbiased, the Due Process Clause does not require the automatic reversal of a conviction because of a trial court’s good-faith error in denying a defendant’s peremptory challenge of a juror.

Rivera v. Illinois, No. 07-9995. March 31, 2009.

DUE PROCESS 

By: Justin Rebello
Published: March 31, 2009

Tags: due process, fourteenth amendment

Does the refusal by an elected appellate judge to recuse himself from considering a case involving his biggest campaign contributor violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

U.S. Supreme Court. Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co., No. 08-22. Certiorari granted Nov. 14, 2008. Ruling below: No. 33350, Supreme Court of Appeals of W. Va., April 3, 2008 (unreported).