LATEST SUMMARIES

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE
• Sec'y of Labor v. Nat'l Cement Co. of Cal., Inc.

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PER CURIAM, PUBLIC UTILITIES
• Wis. Pub. Power Inc v. FERC

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PUBLIC UTILITIES
• Transmission Agency of N. Cal. v. FERC

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, INTERNATIONAL LAW
• Bismullah v. Gates

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW
• In re: Sealed Case

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, SENTENCING
• US v. Lawson

SANCTIONS, SECURITIES LAW
• PAZ Sec., Inc.v. SEC

LATEST SUMMARIES

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, LABOR & EMPLOYMENT LAW, PROPERTY LAW & REAL ESTATE
Sec'y of Labor v. Nat'l Cement Co. of Cal., Inc., No. 06-1094
Petition for review of decision of respondent commission reversing ALJ, who had upheld the jurisdiction of petitioner to issue a citation to respondent company for failing to install guardrails or berms along a road it uses to access its cement processing plant pursuant to a nonexclusive right-of-way grant from its lessor, is vacated where the language of the statute relied upon, 30 U.S.C. section 802(h)(1), is ambiguous and the matter must be remanded for petitioner to interpret the statute's ambiguous language. Read more...

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PER CURIAM, PUBLIC UTILITIES
Wis. Pub. Power Inc v. FERC, No. 04-1414
Petitions for review challenging respondent's orders accepting proposed tariffs affecting wholesale power markets are denied as to two groups of petitioners and are dismissed as to cooperative petitioners over claims that: 1) respondent should have required more stringent market power mitigation measures and that its approval of the marginal loss refund mechanism was arbitrary and capricious; 2) the imposition of Schedule 17 charges on carved-out grandfather agreements (GFAs) was arbitrary and capricious and that the denial of their request for an evidentiary hearing violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the Due Process Clause; and 3) all GFAs should have been required to choose between conversion to the Tariff, certain options, and that respondent acted arbitrarily by carving out some GFAs entirely and granting others favorable treatment under another option. Read more...

ADMINISTRATIVE LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, PUBLIC UTILITIES
Transmission Agency of N. Cal. v. FERC, No. 05-1402
Petition for review challenging orders requiring the City of Vernon, California to issue refunds to the California Independent System Operator Corporation for overcollection of its transmission revenue requirement are granted as to portions of the orders requiring refunds where, although respondent has sufficiently demonstrated its authority to review Vernon's transmission revenue requirement under the just and reasonable standard, respondent lacks jurisdiction to order Vernon to pay refunds to CAISO. Read more...

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW, INTERNATIONAL LAW
Bismullah v. Gates, No. 06-1197, 06-1397
On petitions for review brought by eight men detained at the Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba challenging the determination by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal that each is an "enemy combatant,": 1) the court of appeals orders that the record on review consists of reasonably available information in the possession of the Government bearing on the issue of whether the detainee meets the criteria to be designated as an enemy combatant; 2) petitioners' and the Government's motions for a protective order are granted in part and denied in part; 3) petitioners' motions for discovery and for a special master are denied without prejudice; and 4) the government's motion to consider the claims brought by petitioners in case number 06-1397 are granted. Read more...

CIVIL PROCEDURE, CIVIL RIGHTS, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW, GOVERNMENT LAW
In re: Sealed Case, No. 04-5313
In Bivens action brought by a former country attache for the D.E.A., against a former State Department Charge d'Affaires and a CIA employee for electronic eavesdropping against plaintiff in violation of the Fourth Amendment, while the U.S. properly invoked whether the state secrets privilege and the district court properly dismissed one defendant, dismissal of complaint against remaining defendant is reversed as plaintiff can establish a prima facie case without using the privileged information. Read more...

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, EVIDENCE, SENTENCING
US v. Lawson, No. 06-3035
Sentence for possession by a felon of a firearm and drug possession crimes is vacated and remanded for the district court to make explicit the applicable Guidelines range and how its consideration of the required factors under 18 U.S.C. section 3553(a) affected its departure from or adherence to that range. Read more...

SANCTIONS, SECURITIES LAW
PAZ Sec., Inc.v. SEC, No. 05-1467
Petition for review challenging order sustaining decision of NASD to expel petitioner from membership and to bar its president from ever associating with any NASD member firm as sanctions for his failure to respond to the NASD's repeated requests for information from and about petitioner is granted where respondent abused its discretion by: 1) failing to address certain mitigating factors raised by petitioners, specifically, that their failure to respond had no potential either to injure the investing public or to benefit themselves monetarily nor did the information requested relate to conduct potentially injurious to the public or beneficial to themselves; and 2) it did not identify any remedial, as opposed to punitive, purpose for the sanctions it approved. Read more...