Correspondent
Capitol Hill correspondent, covers legislative and political stories.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed a district court's denial of a motion to dismiss an indictment challenging the constitutionality of a federal firearm statute. The court held that the defendant's Second Amendment argument was foreclosed by binding circuit precedent.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment in a criminal case involving drug and firearm charges. The court granted counsel's motion to withdraw under Anders v. California after finding no non-frivolous issues for appeal.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the sentence of a defendant convicted of wire and bank fraud involving false Paycheck Protection Program loan applications. The court held that the district court properly included intended loss in its calculation under the relevant conduct guideline.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a district court order suppressing evidence from a wiretap after finding the affidavit contained reckless misrepresentations about Arizona property tax law. The court held that the government failed to demonstrate that normal investigative procedures were unlikely to succeed.
The Eleventh Circuit held that a federal prisoner's motion to vacate a sentence is not second or successive when it challenges a new judgment entered after a prior habeas petition. The court vacated the district court's dismissal and remanded the case for further proceedings.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a whistleblower's complaint challenging the Attorney General's determination that her declaration was invalid. The court held that the Financial Institutions Anti-Fraud Enforcement Act of nineteen ninety explicitly bars judicial review of the Attorney General's actions regarding whistleblower declarations.
The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued an errata sheet to amend its opinion in this civil appeal. The court corrected specific textual errors regarding claims, statutory references, and party descriptions within the original June 11 decision.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district court's imposition of a special condition prohibiting a defendant convicted of child pornography offenses from having contact with animals inside her home. The court held that the condition was reasonably related to the defendant's offense conduct and did not constitute an abuse of discretion.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed a district court's resentencing of a defendant convicted of firing at military sites. The appellate court held that the defendant forfeited his primary legal arguments by failing to object at the sentencing hearing and that the remaining challenges lacked merit under the applicable standards of review.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence of Gregory Miller for producing child pornography. The court held that the district court properly denied Miller's motion to withdraw his guilty plea and imposed a thirty-year sentence.
