Appeals court finds Bladensburg cross violates Constitution

A federal appeals court has found that a 40-foot-tall cross on a Maryland state highway median just outside Washington violates the U.S. Constitution. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit of Appeals in Richmond ruled Wednesday that the 92-year-old monument known as the Bladensburg cross amounts to government sponsorship of a particular religion.

AP sources: Note in Tennessee church shooting refers to Roof shooting

In this Monday, April 10, 2017, file photo, Dylann Roof enters the court room at the Charleston County Judicial Center to enter his guilty plea on murder charges in Charleston, S.C. Roof, a white supremacist who was sentenced to death in the 2015 massacre of nine black worshippers, has told a federal appeals court he wants to fire his appellate attorneys because one of them is Jewish and the other is Indian. In a handwritten request filed Monday, Sept.

Is Second Amendment Guarantee Act (SAGA) Really all it is Cracked Up To Be?

By Roger J. Katz, Attorney at Law and Stephen L. D'Andrilli This is a follow-up to our recent post on Congressman Chris Collins' bill, titled the "Second Amendment Guarantee Act" . New York, NY - - In our previous post we explained some major failings of Congressman Chris Collins' bill as drafted.

W.Va. AG Seeks Supreme Court Review of Anti-Gun Rights Ruling

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey led a five-state coalition in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to review a federal appeals court decision that unnecessarily burdens an individual's constitutional right to bear arms lawfully. The friend-of-the-court brief, filed Monday, pertains to a ruling by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers West Virginia.

$600,000 award for not accommodating employee’s “Mark of the Beast” beliefs

"A longtime employee of Consol Energy Inc. is entitled to over half a million dollars in damages because of the coal company's failure to accommodate his religious concerns about a handprint scanner, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.[Beverly Butcher Jr.'s] understanding of the biblical Book of Revelation is that the 'Mark of the Beast' brands followers of the Antichrist, allowing the Antichrist to manipulate them. The use of Consol's hand-scanning system, Butcher feared, would result in him being so marked.

Different but Equivalent: Fourth Circuit Clarifies Parameters of…

On May 16, 2017, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which governs cases pending in North Carolina, issued an opinion that reveals the parameters within which an employer may fill an employee's position and thereafter return that employee to work after a leave of absence covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act . In the case of Waag v.

Second US appeals court refuses to revive travel ban

A second court upheld a Maryland judge's ruling that also blocked Trump's 90-day ban on travelers from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Photo: Reuters President Donald Trump suffered another legal setback on Monday as a second federal appeals court refused to revive his travel ban on people entering the United States from six Muslim-majority nations in a dispute headed to the US Supreme Court.

WWL-TV: MTC says ‘everyone should be outraged’ at use of public money …

Pierre McGraw of the Monumental Task Committee, left, and Tulane university professor of Asian Studies Richard Marksbury announce that did not appeal the decision to remove the P.G.T. Beauregard monument, center, to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals because they don't have standing with City Park in New Orleans, La. Tuesday, May 16, 2017.

Meet Christopher Wray, Trump’s supposed nominee for FBI director

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he will nominate former Department of Justice official Christopher A. Wray to take over as FBI director. Wray, who attended Yale University for undergraduate and law school, was nominated by former President George W. Bush to be the assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Will the Supreme Court Follow Trump’s Tweets?

An extraordinary stream of tweets Monday morning by President Donald Trump attacked his own Justice Department's revised travel ban as "watered down, politically correct," and pushed for expedited handling of the ban by the U.S. Supreme Court. "The courts are slow and political!" Trump wrote before 7 a.m. Eastern Time, also stating that "In any event we are EXTREME VETTING people coming into the U.S. in order to help keep our country safe."

Trump appeals Muslim ban 2.0 loss to the Supreme Court

But groups opposing the ban were confident the Supreme Court would eventually side with them and lower courts to strike down the executive order . While the Supreme Court is unlikely to hear the case before the fall since special summer sessions of the Supreme Court are rare, the Government has asked for an emergency stay of the current injunction so the travel ban can go into effect while awaiting a fall hearing.