After a few days of a barren bench issuing no decisions of note, today we were graced with a handful. We're so excited by the ending of the drought, that today, we're giving you a double dose of Second Circuit fun: felons with firearms and insurance company windfalls.

Second Circuit Talks Second Amendment - For Felons

A felon is caught with both body armor and firearms. This is obviously a problem. Yet, Gary Bogle argued, with a straight face, that the Supreme Court's recent jurisprudence in the Second Amendment arena, namely District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago developed a more expansive interpretation of the Amendment and by extension, gave the right to firearm possession back to felons.

You’re all familiar with the “acceptance of responsibility” sentence reduction. Someone cops to the crime and shows remorse, then they get a few levels knocked off their guidelines. Simple enough, right?

Robert Chu pleaded guilty to a drug conspiracy charge in a timely fashion. Ordinarily, we’d call that “acceptance of responsibility.” Except, throughout his detention, including the period after his plea, but before sentencing, he made “persistent” attempts to sneak drugs into prison. Oddly enough, each attempt involved hiding drugs in potato chip bags.

If you spent 20 years smoking a pack of cigarettes each day, you would probably want someone to keep an eye on your lungs.

But should tobacco companies be forced to foot the bill for that type of medical monitoring when the smoker has yet to show signs of cancer? The Second Circuit Court of Appeals isn't sure, so it's asking the New York Court of Appeals to weigh in on the matter by responding to two certified questions.

If you’re in the business of making Catholic-branded gifts, it seems like you wouldn’t want to irk the Vatican. But Magi XXI decided that it wasn’t getting a fair shake in a sublicensing deal with Vatican Publishing, so it actually sued the Holy See.

The Vatican, however, doesn’t answer to just any higher power; it litigates in its own courts, governed by its own laws.

It sounds like Shepard Fairey should have fought back.

During the 2008 election cycle, Fairey used a 2006 Associated Press photograph to create his Barack Obama “Hope” design. The AP sued Fairey, who initially claimed fair use. He later settled the matter out of court, according to Photo District News.

Today, however, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in a similar copyright infringement lawsuit, which suggests that Fairey was actually right about the fair use doctrine.

Despite what Lindsay Lohan’s recent rehab plea bargain would indicate, a court can’t extend a defendant’s sentence for rehab. The Supreme Court is particularly clear on this issue. In Tapia v. U.S., the Court held that a sentencing court may not impose or lengthen a prison term in order to foster a defendant’s rehabilitation.

A defendant may grab an appellate court’s attention by arguing that a sentencing court improperly calculated rehab into his sentence, but today’s Second Circuit ruling demonstrates why he won’t necessarily win.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals stays busy. And, even though it's fully staffed, the existing lineup could use an extra body on the bench to review the hefty caseload.

But Senator Charles Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has a plan: the Court Efficiency Act.

More than 11 years after the September 11 attacks, victims and survivors are still trying to find a way to hold those affiliated with the guilty parties accountable.

On Tuesday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a trio of opinions detailing the deficiencies in some of those claims.

Would Justice Sonia Sotomayor -- the Wise Latina herself -- sue her beloved New York City? Perish the thought. New York, after all, is her beloved world.

But Gladys Sotomayor, a 56-year-old, Hispanic New York City schoolteacher who shares a surname with the Justice, claims that the New York City Department of Education skirted a slew of state and federal law by discriminating against her.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals told Westchester County last week that it needs to get serious about compliance with a 2006 decree requiring the County to promote source-of-income legislation to ensure fair housing.

The decree evolved from a qui tam action filed by the Anti-Discrimination Center of Metro New York (ADC), alleging that the County submitted false claims to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in order to obtain federal fair housing grant funds.