7th Circuit Court

Blogger and Posner Differ Over Grammar Question, Agree on Pun

Blogger Howard Bashman and Judge Richard Posner of the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are debating an issue, but it doesn’t involve a weighty legal question. Instead, it concerns a grammar question. Now a linguistics professor is weighing in on the dispute, and he’s supporting Bashman’s view, Bashman…

Jun 30, 2008 4:02 PM CDT

Sex Offender Computer Search Law is Unconstitutional, Judge Says

A federal judge yesterday struck down a major portion of a revised Indiana sex offender registry law, saying that the state went too far in requiring that convicted sex offenders, after they serve their sentences and any parole or probation, agree to have their computers and Internet use monitored. Siding…

Jun 25, 2008 5:40 PM CDT

Judge Certifies Non-Wisconsin Law Grads, Axes Bar Admission Class Action

Not law graduates for nothing, a small group of juris doctor degree holders have successfully sought federal class action status over Wisconsin’s policy of allowing only graduates of in-state law schools to practice without passing the bar exam. But, at least for now, they have lost their U.S. commerce-clause case…

Jun 18, 2008 6:22 PM CDT

Suit Filed over ‘Gated Community’ Created by Police Barricades

The owners of an apartment complex in suburban Chicago have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against local government officials. At issue is the “gated community” created by concrete police barricades installed at 12 of the 13 entrance points to the complex earlier this month. Police for Rolling Meadows, Ill.,…

Jun 17, 2008 6:30 PM CDT

Assistant’s Goof Results in Late Brief, Costs Lawyer $5,000

Updated: A federal appeals court has fined a lawyer $5,000 for filing a brief too late. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had granted litigant Clarence Gross several extensions to file the brief, first due in January 2007, while the case was in mediation, the Wisconsin Law Journal…

Jun 12, 2008 4:10 PM CDT

Jurors Discounted Star Witness, But Convicted Rezko on Other Evidence

Attorney Stuart Levine was the star witness in the federal political corruption trial of Antoin “Tony” Rezko. But jurors reportedly discounted the testimony of a man portrayed by defense lawyers as a con artist and by himself as someone who for a time lived life in the fast lane. However,…

Jun 5, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

ADA Protection for Relatives of Disabled Tested in Two Cases

Two cases in which companies fired employees whose relatives were incurring large health care costs could pave the way for more lawsuits under a little-known provision of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The provision protects relatives and caregivers of disabled people from job discrimination, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub.…

Jun 4, 2008 12:43 PM CDT

More Tech, Less Emotion Please, Federal Judges Suggest

Speaking last week at a 7th Circuit bar meeting, federal district judges had a few suggestions for the lawyers who appear before them. High on the list of dos: appropriate use of technology by those who have mastered it. But excessive emotion should be avoided, the judges agreed. Their advice…

May 27, 2008 10:39 PM CDT

7th Circuit Chief: Be On the Lookout for ‘Cranky’ Judges

Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook this week asked practitioners and judges to be on the alert for any aging, cranky judges who may need a call from his office. “I urge all of you—judges and lawyers alike—to keep in mind that you are the chief judge’s eyes and ears in dealing…

May 21, 2008 9:58 PM CDT

7th Circuit Upholds $30K Jones Day Sanction, Applies Rule 11

Saying that the sanction was on the lenient side, a federal appeals court has upheld a $30,000 penalty against Jones Day for filing a frivolous counterclaim and, in effect, recommended that federal judges feel free to apply Rule 11 more frequently. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb did not abuse her…

May 15, 2008 7:02 PM CDT

Reagan-Appointed Judges Now Conservative ‘Superstars’

Many federal appeals judges appointed by President Ronald Reagan are now at the height of their power, issuing conservative opinions on hot-button issues like affirmative action, so-called partial-birth abortions and gun rights. A USA Today story on how these judges are shaping the law said they were “young, brainy and…

May 12, 2008 2:20 PM CDT

Appeals Court Allows High School Student to Wear Anti-Gay T-Shirt

A federal appeals court has ruled that a suburban Chicago high school student may wear an anti-gay T-shirt to school. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a preliminary injunction allowing the student to wear the shirt to protest a day of silence that promotes tolerance of gays,…

Apr 25, 2008 11:16 AM CDT

Rezko Trial Bombshell Claim: GOP Top Guns Tried to Oust US Attorney

Republican heavyweights allegedly tried to use their influence with the White House to get U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald removed from office as he was pursuing a politically charged case against a Chicago real estate developer, according to a prosecutor in the ongoing Illinois federal case. “In a bombshell disclosure before…

Apr 23, 2008 7:15 PM CDT

Posner Blasts Asylum Courts, Calls for Judicial Conference

Long a critic of “inadequate” and “ill-trained” asylum courts, the 7th Circuit’s Richard Posner reportedly offered up some remedies in a speech Monday. “This is a system of adjudication that is clearly inadequate,” Posner told a Chicago Bar Association audience. The National Law Journal (sub. req.) reports that Posner called…

Apr 22, 2008 2:59 PM CDT

Wily Tax Attorney Helps Win IRS Case from Beyond the Grave

His own case is still ongoing, some seven years after his death. But tax attorney Burton Kanter’s wily plan for avoiding excessive payments in a nearly 20-year-old income tax matter has now been okayed by an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel hearing a co-defendant’s case. And that 11th…

Apr 7, 2008 10:35 PM CDT