Case | Judiciary.org

Supreme Court

In New York bid-rigging case, justices are dubious of the “right to control” theory of fraud

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Monday in the case of Louis Ciminelli, an executive convicted of federal wire fraud in connection with bid-rigging to secure a $ 750 million New York state contract. The trial court informed a federal jury regarding a “right to control” theory of fraud, and the jury convicted Ciminelli. At argument, Justice Neil Gorsuch remarked at the “radical agreement” among all that the right-to-control theory was flawed, but there was less consensus as … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In major immigration case, both sides look to academia to untangle three knotty questions

Can the Biden administration issue guidelines setting priorities in the enforcement of immigration law? Do states have standing to challenge these guidelines? And if the guidelines are unlawful, does the Administrative Procedure Act give lower courts the power to vacate them — a universal remedy that goes beyond the parties to the case? These are the three questions before the Supreme Court in United States v. Texas, set to be argued on Nov. 29. Legal scholars have addressed … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices will review scope of identity theft in case involving Medicaid fraud

The Supreme Court announced on Thursday afternoon that it will weigh in on what it means to commit identity theft. After holding their private conference a day early because Friday is a federal holiday, the justices released a one-sentence order list that added one new case to their merits docket for the 2022-23 term: Dubin v. United States.

The defendant in the case is David Dubin, who was convicted of Medicaid fraud. As the dispute comes to the … Read the rest

Supreme Court

In habeas case, the liberal justices try to untangle a complex statute

On Tuesday, the court heard argument in Jones v. Hendrix, a case that exemplifies the Gordian knot that is the federal habeas corpus statute.

As I discussed in my case preview, the underlying problem the case presents is weighty: The petitioner, Marcus DeAngelo Jones, was convicted at trial of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) and sentenced to more than 27 years’ incarceration. Two decades into his prison term, … Read the rest

Circuit Courts

AO Director Updates Congress on Progress in Case Management Technology Modernization

In a letter to key members of Congress on Wednesday, the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO) detailed efforts underway to modernize the Judiciary’s electronic case management system, including replacing Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER), the public interface for accessing court records.
Judiciary News – United States Courts… Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court denies mental incompetency plea in Oklahoma execution case

The Supreme Court on Wednesday declined to block the execution of an Oklahoma man with schizophrenia, rejecting a claim from his legal team that he does not understand the reason for his execution. Benjamin Cole is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Thursday.

The court turned down Cole’s last-minute appeal in a brief order with no recorded dissents. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not participate in the decision. Gorsuch likely recused himself because he was a judge on … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Court denies Trump’s request to intervene in Mar-a-Lago documents case

The Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon rejected a request from former President Donald Trump to allow a special master to review about 100 documents, marked as classified, that the FBI seized from Trump’s home. The ruling came in an unsigned one-sentence order; there were no dissents recorded.

The documents at the center of the dispute were among the 11,000 documents seized by the FBI in an Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach, Florida. In September, … Read the rest

Supreme Court

Justices vacate lower court’s ruling in Pennsylvania ballot-counting case that is now moot

The Supreme Court on Tuesday invalidated a lower-court ruling in a Pennsylvania election dispute that the losing candidate conceded three and a half months ago. When the dispute was before the justices earlier this year, Justice Samuel Alito had suggested that the lower court’s ruling on ballot counting “broke new ground” and could affect the outcome of the state’s upcoming general elections. The decision in Ritter v. Migliori came on a list of orders from the justices’ private conference … Read the rest