U.S. Second Circuit

A three-judge panel for the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals expressed significant skepticism about the merits of a case they heard on May 19. The plaintiff, a woman named Amy Cooper, had filed a lawsuit claiming that her former employer had illegally fired her, defamed her character, and discriminated against…

For years, we have been covering the rising tide of legislation concerning transgender people, particularly youth. Just earlier this month, we dissected a Republican-backed bill that recently passed the House of Representatives. The bill aims to modify Title IX, the eminent civil rights law in the U.S. On the one…

Charles Familetti, Jr. had serious problems before federal officers walked into his apartment. Familetti was waiting for an 11-year-old boy to arrive and have sex with him. When an FBI task force showed up instead, Familetti had a panic attack. They settled him down, said he could leave, but asked for his help finding people "who are raping children." Familetti agreed, and that's when his legal problems started in United States of America v. Familetti.

Alexina Simon didn't know why police wanted her for questioning, still she cooperated. Eighteen hours later, they let her go because she didn't have any useful information. She sued for false arrest, but a trial judge dismissed because the police had a "witness warrant." That's how they do things in New York. Not in Simon v. City of New York, said the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

It looks like a long and bitter battle that first began in 2001 is finally coming to an end. The Second Circuit's Court of Appeals just sided with a lower district court decision, affirming that plaintiff's are not entitlement to the seniority order that had been lost when TWA was acquired by U.S. Airways in 2001. The case was ironically made worse with the enactment of the McCaskill-Bond Act which largely owed its existence to the original US Air/ AA / TWA takeover.

Tayfun Okatan, a U.S. citizen, was convicted of three counts related to trying to bring an illegal alien into the United States, from the Canada border. Okatan raised several issues on appeal, most of which the Second Circuit rejected in a separate summary order.