U.S. Third Circuit

Another federal judge has approved a lawsuit that says the all-male military draft is unconstitutional. This time, a New Jersey judge said a woman can proceed against the Selective Service System for denying her the right to register. Last time, a Texas judge said two men prevailed in their claim that the draft was unfair to them. In either case, the draft is not likely to change soon. President Trump is behind it, and it's a long way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Due to an educational disability, Rena Castrovillo asked the Colonial School District to place her daughter in private school. District officials were unwilling, at first, so the mother filed for an administrative hearing. Before the hearing, however, they offered to make the placement. The problem was, they weren't going to pay her attorney's fees. In Rena C. v. Colonial School District, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals said that was a mistake.

Sentence for drug crimes and firearms possession is affirmed where: 1) defendant has been convicted of the two requisite crimes to qualify as a career offender, as his state law conviction for resisting arrest constitutes a crime of violence as that term is used in U.S.S.G. sec. 4B1.1(a); and 2) the district court properly considered the 18 U.S.C. sec. 3553 (a) sentencing factors.    Read US v. Stinson, No.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency stay in an ongoing fight over undated mail-in ballots. On May 27, the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that election officials in Pennsylvania should count mail-in ballots missing a required date on the outer envelope if they were "indisputably received" before the deadline. But on May 31, Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees the Third Circuit and recently made headlines with his leaked draft opinion overturning Roe v. Wade, released a two-sentence order putting the Third Circuit's decision on hold.

The most common complaint McDonald's receives online is over their often-broken ice cream machines. The problem has even led to a website that claims to keep track of which McDonald's ice cream machines are broken throughout the country in real time.

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals recently held Philadelphia's attempt to curb tobacco use among minors was preempted by state law.