Opinion by Justice Thomas. Announced June 4, 2012.
Can a person bring a lawsuit against Secret Service Agents for violation of First Amendment Rights when the plaintiff alleges the arrest was in retaliation for the person exercising the right to freedom of expression, if the arrest was supported by probable cause?
Answer: No. The agents are protected by the doctrine of qualified immunity.
You can find Rich’s book Blood and the Forest here.
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Opinion by Chief Justice Roberts.
Announced March 26, 2012.
Question: Can courts consider the constitutionality of an act of Congress requiring the United States State Department to label passports of US citizens born in Jerusalem as “Israel”?
Answer: Yes
Posted in Uncategorized
Can an employee sue a state government agency for violation of the self-care provisions of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?
Answer: No.
Coleman v. Court Of Appeals Of Maryland.
No Opinion of court.
Justice Kennedy issued a plurality opinion, joined by Roberts, Alito, and Thomas. (4 votes)
Justice Scalia issued an opinion curring in the judgment only (1 vote).
Both Kennedy’s opinion and Scalia’s concurrence in the judgment held that the state can not be sued for money damages for violation of the self-care provisions, but for different reasons. Thus, neither constitutes the “holding” of the court.
Judgment announced March 20, 2012.
Direct Download, Episode 16
Posted in Uncategorized
Emotional Distress Damages for violation of the federal Privacy Act.
March 28, 2012
5-3 decision. Opinion by Justice Alito.
Question Presented: Can a person who suffers from a violation of the federal privacy act be awarded damages for emotional distress under the statutory language allowing suits for “actual damages”?
Holding: No. Only economic damages are allowed.
Posted in Uncategorized
Can a defendant claim ineffective assistance of counsel when their attorney’s deficient performance causes them to reject a plea bargain offer either throuch bad advice or because the attorney never conveyed the plea bargain offer in the first place.
Answer: Yes.
We discuss two cases both announced on March 21, 2012, Laffler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye.
Both cases written by Justice Kennedy, both 5-4 decisions.
Direct download of Episode 14.
Posted in Uncategorized
Mohamed v. Palestinian Authority.
Do the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization qualify as “individuals” as that term is used in the Torture Prevention Act?
Answer: No. The term “individual” as used in that act means a human being.
Opinion by Justice Sotomayor.
Date: April 18, 2012
Almost unanimous. Justice Scalia did not join a small portion of the opinion of the court.
Posted in Uncategorized
Qualified immunity for government contractors.
If a private attorney performs work for a government body, is that private attorney entitled to the same qualified immunity that a full-time government attorney would have?
Case involved a private attorney hired by Rialto, California who was hired to conduct an internal affairs investigation of a firefighter. After the investigation was over, the firefighter sued the attorney for alleged civil rights violations in the course of the investigation.
Mostly unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Roberts. Justice Scalia dissented from a small portion of the opinion.
Date: April 17, 2012
Direct Download of Episode 12.
Posted in Uncategorized
Question: Do Grand Jury Witnesses Have Absolute Immunity For Their Testimony?
Answer: They are entitled to the protection of absolute immunity.
Case Name: Filarsky v. Delia
Decided April 17, 2012
Opinion by Justice Roberts (unanimous)
Posted in Uncategorized
Strip searches for all arrests.
We discuss Florence v. Burlington, where the Court had to decide whether police can conduct strip searches prior to placing inmates into the general population of jails, or whether they need some type of particularized suspicion prior to doing so.
Opinion by Justice Kennedy, a 5-4 decision.
Announced April 2, 2012.
Did you know that my brother Rob does a podcast called ERcast? You should give it a listen.
Direct Download of Episode 10.
Posted in Uncategorized
Opinion by Justice Scalia.
Announced March 21, 2012.
Issue: Can a party who receives a compliance letter from the EPA challenge the jurisdiction of the EPA in federal court, or do they have to wait for the EPA to bring a civil enforcement action prior to litigating that issue.
Answer: They can sue.
Posted in Uncategorized
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