May 2012 Archives

A panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $3.4 billion settlement in favor of a class of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans on Tuesday, reports The Associated Press.

The settlement in question was between the United States government and the plaintiffs, involving the land trust royalties that were mismanaged by the Interior Department. The settlement stems from a 1996 lawsuit brought by Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet tribe, where Cobell sought to determine how much money had been mismanaged and lost by the Department of the Interior. The lawsuit was resolved in 2009.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals released a panel decision on Friday regarding an old civil rights law created to protect minority voters in certain regions where there was a history of racial discrimination.

The lawsuit was brought by Shelby County, Alabama. The county argued that the law in question was an impermissible federal encroachment over state’s rights. The county also argued that the law was no longer needed.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that certain tax exempt groups who finance electioneering ads must disclose the names of their donors, reports the Associated Press.

The court held that a law requiring disclosure of the names of contributors was not shown to be harmful to the contributors. This comes after a federal district court ruling in March against the Federal Election Commission. The FEC had not been enforcing the disclosure law.

Google and the National Security Agency can keep their clandestine relationship under wraps, says the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The ruling came out last Friday and addressed the Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC). In the ruling, the court stated that the NSA does not have to confirm or deny its relationship with Google.

Is the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals responsible for blocking the efforts of Guantanamo Bay detainees to win their cases?

Despite the Supreme Court's holding in Boumediene v. Bush, allowing Guantanamo Bay detainees to challenge their detention, the detainees aren't having much luck.

As we mentioned in this blog last week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is reviewing Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. The case is the first federal appeal of a military commission conviction by a Guantanamo Bay detainee in the U.S. civilian court.

Last week, the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments and we discussed the issues presented in the government’s case brief. Now, we’re bringing you a quick recap of some of the arguments made and the lowdown on what went down at the hearing before Chief Judge Sentelle, Judge Ginsberg and Judge Kavanaugh.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments Thursday in the Hamdan v. U.S. appeal.

Hamdan is one of the big players as far as Guantuanamo Bay cases go.

Salim Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden’s former driver, was tried before a military commission in 2006. He was convicted on five counts of material support, and was acquitted on three counts of material support.

The deadline for committee vacancies at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is approaching fast.

The Court of Appeals has announced that it will be filling vacancies on several of its committees. The vacancies are for three-year terms that start on July 1, 2012. If you’re looking for a chance to get involved with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, this could be you chance to get in on the action.