Government counters call to halt consideration of race in U.S. Military Academy admissions

Government counters call to halt consideration of race in U.S. Military Academy admissions

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The U.S. Military Academy on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to stay out of a dispute over the use of race in the school’s admissions policy. Telling the justices that a group of students opposed to the consideration of race in college admissions was seeking to block “policies that military leaders have long deemed essential to ensuring the effectiveness of the Nation’s military,” the academy asked the court to turn down the group’s request for an order that would … Read the rest

U.S. Border Patrol Agents to Face No Charges for Killing Native American Man

Federal authorities have decided to not bring charges against the U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot and killed a Native American man outside his home in southern Arizona earlier this year, Ryan Devereaux reports for The Intercept. Raymond Mattia was killed on May 18 after reporting supposed illegal migrants on his property to authorities who, upon arrival, held him at gunpoint before shooting him when they allegedly mistook his cellphone for a gun.

Initial reports indicated as many as Read the rest

U.S.- Immigration agency updates guidelines for officials’ treatment of Red Notices (part 2 of 3)

On September 29, 2023, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued new agency-wide guidelines regarding how its employees will address cases in which Red Notices and Diffusions.

The complete guidelines are found here, and the most relevant provisions (in my estimation) are listed in our last blog post.

In part one of this series, we referenced the fact that some of the new provisions would likely be more impactful in a practical sense than others. The provisions that are … Read the rest

Israeli citizen challenges U.S. wire-fraud conviction for foreign financial scheme

Israeli citizen challenges U.S. wire-fraud conviction for foreign financial scheme

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The Petitions of the Week column highlights a selection of cert petitions recently filed in the Supreme Court. A list of all petitions we’re watching is available here.

The Supreme Court has issued a number of decisions in recent years limiting the reach of the federal wire-fraud statute, which outlaws the use of “the wires” – including internet and phone lines – to commit fraud. This week, we highlight cert petitions that ask the court to consider, among … Read the rest

Prosecutors Request Long Sentence For First U.S. Prison Warden Convicted Of Sexual Abuse

Former Dublin, California Prison Warden Ray Garcia faces a potential 10 years more than the federal sentencing guidelines recommend as U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers weighs two dueling memorandums ahead of his scheduled March 22 sentencing in Oakland, Lica Fernandez reports for KTVU. Garcia was convicted on seven counts of sexual abuse and one count of lying to the FBI in December. Four other officers are FCI Dublin have been charged with sex crimes and four, including Garcia, have Read the rest

Justices probe global consequences of allowing U.S. prosecutions of companies owned by foreign governments

Justices probe global consequences of allowing U.S. prosecutions of companies owned by foreign governments

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The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Tuesday in the case of a Turkish bank that the U.S. government accuses of committing money laundering and fraud as part of a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. During over 90 minutes of debate, the justices appeared skeptical of the bank’s contention that federal laws bar the government from prosecuting the bank, but they also expressed concern about the consequences of allowing the prosecution to go forward.

Halkbank, whose majority … Read the rest

Commercial Bail Industry ‘Exploits’ U.S. Legal System: Paper

The commercial bail bond industry exploits the U.S. legal system to earn billions of dollars in profits while providing little benefit to the public, charges the Prison Policy Initiative (PPI).

Calling it a “broken system…in which bail bond companies extract money from defendants and waste court resources without providing meaningful services in exchange,” PPI, a nonprofit think tank which researches corrections, said the system was too entangled with state regulators, legislators and the courts to be fixed through reforms.

“Rolling … Read the rest

Staff Shortages, Inmate Anger Plague U.S. Prisons

A nationwide worker shortage has prisons scrambling to maintain their ranks of corrections officers even as more and more are deciding they might be better off elsewhere, reports David Montgomery for Pew Stateline.

In Texas, as of February, 8,043 of the 24,020 jobs inside the correctional system were vacant, an all-time high, while Florida’s 24 percent vacancy rate has forced the temporary closure of some housing units and the calling in of the National Guard to help fill the void.… Read the rest