On April 26, Florida AG Ashley Moody issued an emergency rule adding eight synthetic opioids to Florida’s Schedule I of controlled substances. The drugs, which are categorized as nitazenes, are available on the dark web and...more
Borden v. United States, No. 19-5410: Under the Armed Career Criminal Act (“ACCA”), persons found guilty of illegally possessing a gun who have three or more prior convictions for a “violent felony” are subject to a mandatory...more
And it is even more difficult still if the defendant had – and acted in accordance with – a reasonable interpretation of the vague or ambiguous statute, regulation or contract provision. A concurring opinion in a Supreme...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued three decisions yesterday - United States v. Microsoft Corp., No. 17-2: Federal law enforcement agents obtained a warrant under 18 U.S.C. §2703, requiring Microsoft to...more
On April 17, 2018, the Supreme Court decided Sessions v. Dimaya, No. 15-1498, holding in a 5-4 decision that the Immigration and Nationality Act’s definition of “crime of violence” is void for vagueness. The Immigration and...more
The Immigration and Nationality Act provides that any alien convicted of an “aggravated felony” after entering the United States is subject to deportation. The Supreme Court has decided, 5-4, that the statute’s defining an...more
In United States v. Singh, 16-1111-cr (Kearse, Hall, Chin), the Second Circuit vacated the defendant’s 60-month prison sentence—which was nearly three times the top of his Guidelines range—for illegally reentering the United...more
On Friday, June 23, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a green card holder who pleaded guilty to a crime based on faulty advice from his attorney. Jae Lee, 48, told the high court that he pleaded guilty to a crime...more
In lawsuits over contracts, parties sometimes assert defenses that contracts are voidable or void. A voidable contract is one as to which the party should have a choice as to whether it is enforceable or not; for example,...more
Is embezzlement theft? Some people think it is. Even common sense suggests it. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit can’t live in the world of common sense. It lives in a world of statutes that have words,...more
The Supreme Court of the United States issued decisions in three cases on May 19, 2016: CRST Van Expedited, Inc. v. EEOC, No. 14-1375: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) brought a suit in its own name...more
On May 19, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Torres v. Lynch (No. 14-1096), holding that a state criminal offense counts as an “aggravated felony” under § 1101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) when it...more