Alejandro-Rosado was convicted of receiving a firearm as a person under indictment and was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment plus three years of supervised release. While he was serving supervised release, the Probation Office notified the district court of nine separate violations of Alejandro-Rosado’s supervised release terms: he failed his first drug test and subsequently failed three more drug tests; Alejandro-Rosado was observed handling a firearm and changing the magazine; he was witnessed selling cocaine. Alejandro-Rosado was arrested for being in possession of synthetic marijuana and prescription pain pills and…
Appeals Case Law
Eil v. United States Drug Enforcement Administration
In 2011, Dr. Volkman was convicted of drug-related charges for illegally prescribing pain medication leading to the deaths of at least 14 individuals. Eil, a journalist writing a book on Volkman’s case, attended portions of that public trial. In 2012, Eil submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the exhibits introduced by the government at the trial. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) provided thousands of pages of responsive documents, some of which were redacted, but withheld the medical records of Volkman’s living former patients and the death-related…
Garcia-Garcia v. Costco Wholesale Corp.
After approximately 11 years of working his way up the Costco employment ladder, Garcia was fired following an investigation which revealed an inventory discrepancy in the Meat Department that he managed. Garcia sued, alleging six Puerto-Rico-based claims. The First Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of Costco, upholding the admission of affidavits by Costco employees and attached exhibits. Puerto Rico’s “Law 80,” provides a remedy to employees who are discharged “without just cause.” Costco met its burden of proving just cause, which was not rebutted by evidence of Garcia’s employment…
United States v. Rivera-Cruz, No. 16-2398 (1st Cir. 2017)
Police officers were searching a mall for a motorcyclist who had violated traffic laws when they were spotted by Rivera-Cruz, who ran, yelling “police!” into a walkie-talkie. The officers recovered a loaded revolver with an obliterated serial number from a fanny pack that Rivera-Cruz had tossed onto the ground during his flight. On the eve of trial, Rivera-Cruz pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. The Sentencing Guidelines calculations in his plea agreement included a three-level reduction in offense level for acceptance of responsibility. The plea…
Original No. 142, Florida v. Georgia
This original jurisdiction proceeding arises from a dispute between the States of Florida and Georgia regarding Georgia’s use of water in the ApalachicolaChattahoochee-Flint River Basin (the “Basin”), which encompasses parts of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. In its Complaint, Florida alleges that it has suffered serious harm to its ecology and economy – particularly in Apalachicola Bay (the “Bay”) – because of reduced flows in the Apalachicola River (the “River”) resulting from Georgia’s increasing consumption of water from the Basin. Florida therefore seeks an equitable apportionment of the waters of the…
Texas v. New Mexico and Colorado
Act of May 31, 1939, ch. 155, 53 Stat. 785 [hereinafter 1938 Compact] (attached hereto as Appendix A). Although the negotiators of the 1938 Compact intended the compact “to remove all causes of present and future controversy among these States and between citizens of one of these States and citizens of another State with respect to the use of the waters of the Rio Grande,” id. at 785, that lasting peace has not been achieved, as evidenced by the periodic litigation between signatory States since the compact’s ratification. See, e.g.,…
Hildwin v. Florida, 490 U.S. 638
Petitioner Hildwin was convicted of first-degree murder by a Florida jury. Since this crime is punishable by death or life imprisonment, state law requires that a separate sentencing proceeding be conducted, in which a jury makes an advisory recommendation but the court makes the ultimate decision whether to impose a death sentence, which it may impose after finding at least one aggravating factor. The court must make written findings to support its imposition of a death sentence. In Hildwin’s case, the jury rendered a unanimous advisory sentence of death, and…
RANDY WHITE, WARDEN v. ROGER L. WHEELER(2015)
PER CURIAM. A death sentence imposed by a Kentucky trial court and affirmed by the Kentucky Supreme Court has been overturned, on habeas corpus review, by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. During the jury selection process, the state trial court excused a juror after concluding he could not give sufficient assurance of neutrality or impartiality in considering whether the death penalty should be imposed. The Court of Appeals, despite the substantial deference it must accord to state-court rulings in federal habeas proceedings, determined that excusing the juror…
DIRECTV, INC., PETITIONER v. AMY IMBURGIA, ET AL.
JUSTICE GINSBURG, with whom JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR joins, dissenting. It has become routine, in a large part due to this Court’s decisions, for powerful economic enterprises to write into their form contracts with consumers and employees no-class-action arbitration clauses. The form contract in this case contains a Delphic provision stating that “if the law of your state” does not permit agreements barring class arbitration, then the entire agreement to arbitrate becomes unenforceable, freeing the aggrieved customer to commence class-based litigation in court. This Court reads that provision in a manner most protective of…
DIRECTV, INC., PETITIONER v. AMY IMBURGIA, ET AL.
JUSTICE THOMAS, dissenting. I remain of the view that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), 9 U. S. C. §1 et seq., does not apply to proceedings in state courts. See Allied-Bruce Terminix Cos. v. Dobson, 513 U. S. 265, 285-297 (1995) (dissenting opinion); see also Preston v. Ferrer, 552 U. S. 346, 363 (2008) (same); Buckeye Check Cashing, Inc. v. Cardegna, 546 U. S. 440, 449 (2006) (same); Green Tree Financial Corp. v. Bazzle, 539 U. S. 444, 460 (2003) (same); Doctor’s Associates, Inc. v. Casarotto, 517 U. S. 681, 689 (1996) (same). Thus, the FAA does not require state courts to order arbitration. Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the California…