Justice 5th court of appeals district place 11

DETROIT (AP) — A woman with 14 tickets has won a major decision in a dispute over whether a Michigan city violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking her car tires without a search warrant. It’s a novel argument. Alison Taylor’s lawyer said the Fourth Amendment’s ban against unreasonable searches was triggered when a Saginaw parking enforcer applied chalk marks and returned two hours later to see if the car still was there. READ MORE: Chalking Tires Illegal, Judge Says, But Saginaw Gets Big Break Saginaw cited an exception to the Fourth Amendment, but a federal appeals court said it doesn’t fit. “For nearly as long as automobiles have parked along city streets, municipalities have found ways to enforce parking regulations without implicating the Fourth Amendment,” Judge Richard Griffin said in a 3-0 opinion Wednesday. “Thus, tire chalking is not necessary to meet the ordinary needs of law enforcement, let alone the extraordinary,” he said. Parking enforcer Tabitha Hoskins … [Read more...] about Drop The Chalk: Michigan Motorist Wins Appeal Over Tickets

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court sided Tuesday with a House committee seeking access to former President Donald Trump's tax returns, rejecting Trump's contention that Congress was overstepping. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit agreed with a lower court judge’s decision in favor of Congress. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden — a former Justice Department official and Trump appointee — ruled in December that the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee has broad authority to request the records, and the Treasury Department should provide the tax returns to the committee. The three appeals court judges agreed. "The Trump Parties contend that the Chairman’s Request exceeds Congress’s investigative powers. It does not," the judges wrote. Two of the judges, David Sentelle and Karen Henderson, were appointed by President Ronald Reagan and one, Robert Wilkins, was appointed by President Barack Obama. In their … [Read more...] about Congress can get Trump tax records, appeals court rules

Because the Fellowship of Christian Athletes prohibits gay, lesbian or transgender students from serving as leaders, the San Jose Unified School District refuses to recognize it as an official student organization. On Tuesday, a lawyer for the group argued to a federal appeals court that the district is violating freedom of speech and religion. While the district proclaims that it has an inclusive “all-comers” policy, “this is a some-comers policy that favors secular groups,” attorney Daniel Blomberg told a panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at a hearing in Seattle. Under both the U.S. Constitution and federal law, he said, “you can’t discriminate based on the content of the speech.” But Stacey Leyton, a lawyer for the school district, said it has not interfered with the fellowship’s right to express its views. To be officially recognized, however, “it must not exclude students from leadership or from membership” based on their sexual orientation, gender identity or … [Read more...] about Christian group that bars gay, transgender students from leadership asks court to force San Jose Unified to reinstate it

DETROIT (AP) — The city of Saginaw violated the U.S. Constitution by chalking tires to enforce parking limits, but it won’t be forced to refund thousands of tickets in the class-action case, a judge said. The city must only pay vehicle owners “nominal damages” of $1 for each marking, U.S. District Judge Thomas Ludington said Monday. READ MORE: LeBron James School Student Treated To VIP Access By NASCAR “The basic problem is that chalking is relatively harmless,” he said, noting there was no damage to cars. Saginaw staff marked tires and subsequently wrote tickets if they returned to find a vehicle was parked too long. After five years of litigation, including two appeals to a higher court , Ludington ruled in favor of Alison Taylor, who received 14 tickets. The judge said marking tires without a warrant violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. “No reasonable person would argue that something as trivial and transitory as chalk on a tire offends … [Read more...] about Chalking Tires Illegal, Judge Says, But Saginaw Gets Big Break

Magistrate Bruce Reinhart approved the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s estate of Mar-A-Lago, a source confirmed to Breitbart News. Reinhart is also reportedly linked to representing convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s employees. Since 2018, Reinhart has been a Florida federal magistrate judge after working in private practice for ten years, where he reportedly represented Epstein’s employees. According to the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida, Reinhard was “a solo practitioner and as the co-chair of the white collar crime practice group of a national firm. His practice focused on white collar criminal defense and complex civil litigation”: From 1996-2008, he was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in West Palm Beach. From 1988-1996, he was a Trial Attorney in the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, having entered the Department as part of the Attorney General’s Honors Program.  He began his legal career as the law clerk to … [Read more...] about Magistrate Bruce Reinhart Approved FBI Raid on Trump’s Mar-A-Lago

A Nebraska teenager and her mother are facing criminal charges for repeatedly burying and then burning a fetus, the product of an investigation in which authorities obtained Facebook messages between the two discussing medication abortion . Celeste Burgess, 17, faces charges in Madison District Court, including concealing the death of another person, after allegedly having an abortion and getting help from her mother in burning and burying the result of a stillborn pregnancy. Her 41-year-old mother, Jessica Burgess, is also charged with a slew of offenses, including performing or attempting abortion at more than 20 weeks and performing an abortion as a non-licensed doctor. A third person police say helped them bury the body, 22-year-old Tanner Barnhill, is charged with attempted concealing the death of another person. Both Celeste and Jessica Burgess have pleaded not guilty and are awaiting trial, while Barnhill has pleaded no contest. The statutes being used to charge … [Read more...] about Facebook Turned Over Messages in Disturbing Abortion Case Against Teen and Mom