Court appoints lawyer in Oklahoma death penalty case

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The Supreme Court on Friday morning appointed a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts to defend a ruling by an Oklahoma court leaving in place the conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip – even after the state’s attorney general agreed that they should be set aside.

The justices agreed to hear Glossip’s case on Monday, after considering the case at 11 consecutive conferences since late September 2023. Glossip was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1997 … Read the rest

Maker of CBD products asks court to decide whether lawsuit under criminal racketeering law can go forward

Maker of CBD products asks court to decide whether lawsuit under criminal racketeering law can go forward

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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.

Organized crime, from the mafia to small-time money laundering schemes, often evades criminal prosecution. To bolster efforts to fight organized crime, Congress passed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, known as RICO, more than 50 years ago. In addition to the criminal penalties for violating RICO, the law also … Read the rest

COURT OF APPEAL SUMMARIES (January 8 – January 12)

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Good afternoon.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of January 8, 2024.

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In Zafar v Azeem, the mother’s appeal against a decision that ordered her three-year-old child to return to Pakistan, where the father claimed the child was habitually resident, was allowed. She successfully argued procedural unfairness due to the motion judge’s failure

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Federal Appeals Court Delivers Coup De Grace in Berkeley Attempt to Ban Natural Gas

On January 2, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit delivered a death blow to the City of Berkeley, California law attempting to ban natural gas, which the Court had last year found was preempted by federal law, with the action last week denying a petition to rehear the case.

While the procedural complexities of this case are more than a little daunting, and instead of reading the more than 60 page amended opinion, nearly everything important … Read the rest

Court won’t hear Trump immunity dispute now

Court won’t hear Trump immunity dispute now

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The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from Special Counsel Jack Smith to decide, without waiting for a federal appeals court to weigh in, whether former President Donald Trump can be tried on criminal charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Smith had asked the justices to act quickly to resolve the dispute over Trump’s immunity during the 2023-24 term, but the justices turned him down, in a brief unsigned order issued on … Read the rest

Del. Supreme Court: Fraudulent Transfer Claim Not a “Securities Claim”

Public company D&O insurance policies provide entity coverage (that is, insurance for the benefit of the insured organization) only for “Securities Claims.” But what is a “Securities Claim”? That is the question that Delaware’s courts have grappled with in a long-running dispute between the telecommunications company Verizon and its insurers.

The Delaware Superior Court had held in the ongoing dispute that a litigation trustee’s state law fraudulent transfer claims against Verizon were derivative claims and therefore qualified as a Securities … Read the rest

Court to weigh in on scope of law used in Jan. 6 prosecutions

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Two days after Special Counsel Jack Smith asked the justices to decide quickly whether former President Donald Trump can face criminal charges for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 elections, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that could affect the charges against Trump even if the court ultimately rules that he is not immune from prosecution. The justices on Wednesday agreed to weigh in on the use of a federal law – also at issue … Read the rest