Research Associates
	Volume 14, Number 2        Our 25th Year     February 2006

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who survive, it is those who are the most [persistent and] adaptable.” -- Charles Darwin

“Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in circumstances confronting him.” -- Saint Thomas Aquinas

“True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.” -- Clarence Seward Darrow

DECISIONS OF INTEREST

SUPREME COURT

Brown v. Sanders, No. 04–980 (U.S.S.C. January 11, 2006)
With regards to the imposition of a death sentence, an invalidated sentencing factor, whether an eligibility factor or not, will render a sentence unconstitutional by reason of its adding an improper element to the aggravation scale in the weighing process, unless one of the other sentencing factors enables the sentencer to give aggravating weight to the same facts and circumstances.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/04980.html
 

Gonzales v. Oregon, No. 04–623 (U.S.S.C. January 17, 2006)
The Controlled Substances Act does not allow the Attorney General to prohibit doctors from prescribing regulated drugs for use in physician-assisted suicide under state law permitting the procedure.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/04623.html

Wachovia Bank, Nat'l Ass'n v. Schmidt, No. 04–1186 (U.S.S.C. January 17, 2006)
For purposes of federal-court diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. section 1348, a national bank is a citizen of the state in which its main office, as set forth in its articles of association, is located.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041186.html
 

Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of N. New England, No. 04–1144 (U.S.S.C. January 18, 2006)
A permanent injunction on enforcement of an abortion law requiring written parental notification prior to performance of an abortion on a pregnant minor is vacated and remanded for reconsideration of a more narrow remedy.
http://laws.lp.findlaw.com/us/000/041144.html
 

2nd CIRCUIT

US v. Sheikh, No. 05-1747 (2d Cir. January 13, 2006)
After US v. Booker, district courts may continue to calculate guidelines sentences and sentence defendants based on facts not alleged in the indictment without violating the Fifth or the Sixth Amendment, as long as those facts do not increase the penalty beyond the prescribed statutory maximum sentence or trigger a mandatory minimum sentence that simultaneously raises a corresponding maximum.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/2nd/051747p.pdf
 

3rd CIRCUIT

Springer v. Henry (01/18/06 - No. 04-4124)
Jury verdict and award for plaintiff, a psychiatrist, on his claim of unlawful termination in retaliation for speech protected by the First Amendment is affirmed where there was no error of law, and the verdict was not against the weight of the evidence.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/044124p.pdf

Ilchuk v. Attorney Gen. US, No. 04-3094 (3d Cir. January 17, 2006)
Petition for review of a reversal of a grant of withholding of deportation is granted where the Board of Immigration Appeals erred as a matter of law in essentially concluding that imprisonment based on religious beliefs is not persecution.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/3rd/043094p.pdf
 

7th CIRCUIT

Anderson v. Milwaukee County (01/11/06 - No. 05-1267)
Summary judgment for defendants, a county and an operator of a county bus system, in a civil rights case alleging violation of plaintiff's constitutional rights by a rule prohibiting distribution of literature on county buses is affirmed since the rule is clearly reasonable and non-discriminatory, and is not vague or overbroad.
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data2/circs/7th/051267p.pdf
 

MATTERS OF INTEREST

THE EROSION OF ANONYMOUS INTERNET SPEECH: NEW FEDERAL LAW TO PROHIBIT "CYBERSTALKING"
Sinrod discusses a new federal law prohibiting annoying Internet postings or emails that do not disclose the true identities of the writers. Sinrod argues that this new "Preventing Cyberstalking" law conflicts with the First Amendment's guarantee of the right to speak anonymously.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060127_sinrod.html
 

January 19, 2006

The U.S. Department of Justice lays out the White House's view on why NSA domestic wiretaps and eavesdropping is, in their view, legal. http://news.findlaw.com/legalnews/documents/archive_n.html#nsa
 

January 24, 2006

In a sharply worded letter, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter sent a list of 15 questions to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales regarding the NSA's surveillance authority. The letter is in advance of the Committee's February 6, 2006 hearing on "Wartime Executive Power and the NSA's Surveillance Authority."

http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/nsa/specgonz12406ltr.html

PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST

“Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution,” by Justice Stephen Breyer, Knoph Publishing

Breyer explains his judicial philosophy.

“Sandra Day O’Connor: How the first Woman on the Supreme Court became its Most Influential Justice,” by Joan Biskupic, Ecco/HarperCollins

A reporter explores the life and influence of Justice Sandra Day O' Connor.

BRIEF RELIEF - MATTERS IN PROGRESS

1. Florida – setoff of payments made by parent for schooling against support.
2. New York – no fault and application of APIP.
3. Application of New York Labor Law §240 and Cahill case.
4. Preparation of complaint against municipality and police for violation of civil rights and false arrest.