Author: DONALD SCARINCI

Justice Neil Gorsuch heard oral arguments in his first cases as a newly sworn-in member of the U.S. Supreme Court. One of the cases, Trinity Lutheran Church v. Pauley, could be blockbuster.   In Trinity, the justices must decide whether th...

West H. Humphreys, who served as a judge for U.S. District Court for the Middle, Eastern, and Western Districts of Tennessee, was impeached in 1862 after he advocated in favor of succession and joined the Confederacy. He was the only federal official...

In Dean v United States, 581 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that district courts have the discretion to determine whether a defendant has already been given a mandatory sentence for one crime when considering an appropriate sentence ...

In Manuel v. City of Joliet, 580 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim is the proper avenue for challenging an unlawful post-arrest detention. According to the seven-member majority, such a...

U.S. District Court for the District of Missouri Judge James H. Peck was the third judicial officer impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives. The Senate, however, found him not guilty of the abuse of power charges. Federal Judgeship  Born in...

In McLane v. EEOC, 581 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a district court’s decision whether to enforce or quash a subpoena issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) should be reviewed for abuse of discretion ra...

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a New York law prohibiting merchants from charging surcharges for paying via credit card is subject to scrutiny under the First Amendment. The Court’s narrow decision in Expressions Hair De...

In Moore v Texas, 581 U. S. ____ (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the standard used by the State of Texas to determine whether a mentally disabled defendant can be subjected to the death penalty violated the Constitution. By a vote of 5-3, th...

John Pickering served as chief justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court of Judicature and as a judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire. However, he is most remembered as the first federal officer to be impeached. Earl...

In National Labor Relations Board v. SW General, the Supreme Court limited the President’s ability to fill vacancies under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998 (FVRA). By a vote of 7-2, the Court held that a person can’t serve in an acting ca...