Knowing the possible consequences
Legal community works to ensure defendants know plea agreements could impact immigration status.
Supreme Court of the United States
Articles
Supreme Court to hear Affordable Care Act challenges
In what’s expected to be a historic constitutional test over how much power the federal government has to require individual mandates for states, the Supreme Court of the United States will consider the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act passed in 2010.
SCOTUS takes Indianapolis sewer payment case
The Supreme Court of the United States has granted certiorari in a case that questions whether the city of Indianapolis violated the federal Constitution in how it handled refunds for residents who paid assessments on local sewer projects.
Federal court addresses resentencing issue
A federal appellate court’s general remand for resentencing doesn’t necessarily mean a defendant will receive a lesser penalty or be able to introduce new arguments, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday.
AG holds second civil, criminal justice summits
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller held his second annual Civil and Criminal Justice summits this week at Indiana University School of Law — Indianapolis, focusing on financial protections for military service members and crime lab evidence in trials.
SCOTUS won’t take Indiana bar exam case
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to take several Indiana cases, including a federal suit against the state’s Board of Law Examiners filed by a man who wants to take the bar exam without going to law school.
SCOTUS doesn’t take any Indiana cases
The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to take several Indiana cases, including a criminal appeal about whether a stun belt restraint on a defendant during trial and sentencing is prejudicial.
Indiana asks U.S. Supreme Court to take health care law challenge
Indiana and 25 other states have filed a petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States asking the nation’s highest court to rule on a lawsuit involving the Affordable Care Act.
7th Circuit holds lawyer rule on impact of guilty plea for immigrants not retroactive
A three-judge panel for the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has determined a landmark decision from the Supreme Court of the United States last year isn't retroactive. That rule required criminal defense attorneys to advise clients about the immigration impact of signing a guilty plea, and this means past cases wouldn’t benefit from that holding even if those individuals had been deprived of that Sixth Amendment right.
Looking back on rulings
Looking in the rearview mirror on judicial precedent is a task that every judge on every court faces.
Circuit Court affirms admission of drugs, sentence
The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a man’s argument that his past conviction of vehicular flight isn’t a crime of violence, citing a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court on that matter.
SCOTUS asked to hear stun-belt case
When the Supreme Court of the United States returns for its new term beginning in October, Indiana will likely learn whether the high court will hear a case relating to a stun-belt restraint used here during a convicted murder’s trial.
7th Circuit sends Corcoran case back to trial court
Following a remand from the United States Supreme Court in late 2010, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals admitted it made mistakes in its recent decision involving a convicted murderer’s appeal and sent the case to the District Court to address habeas relief claims.
Justices rule vehicular flight from police is ‘violent’ felony
The nation’s highest court affirmed an Indianapolis federal judge’s ruling, finding that someone who flees from police in a vehicle is committing a “crime of violence” that justifies a longer sentence.
SCOTUS rules on Wal-Mart class-certification case
With a ruling from the nation’s highest court, an Indianapolis federal judge and the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals learned they were correct in how they decided a sex-bias suit involving Rolls Royce.
Federal judge decertifies class in hail-damage suit
On order from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, an Indiana judge has decertified the class in a lawsuit against State Farm following a 2006 hail storm in central Indiana.
SCOTUS: Vehicular flight from police is ‘violent’ felony
The nation’s highest court has upheld an Indianapolis federal judge’s ruling, finding that someone who flees from police in a vehicle is committing a “crime of violence” that justifies a longer sentence.
SCOTUS rules on Indiana ‘crime of violence’ case
The nation’s highest court has upheld an Indianapolis federal judge’s ruling, finding that someone who flees from police in a vehicle is committing a “crime of violence” that justifies a longer sentence.
Views shift on use of executions
What if 1976 hadn’t played out the way it did, and some of the jurists on the U.S. Supreme Court had held the view of capital punishment at that juncture that they did at the end of their judicial careers? The death penalty may never have been reinstated.
Tax Court warns against arguing wages aren’t taxable
In rejecting a man’s argument that his employment wages shouldn’t be subject to Indiana’s adjusted gross income tax, the Indiana Tax Court warned that those who present a similar argument in the future may be subject to paying the attorney fees of the other party.