U.S. Court of Appeals

Marijuana Remains 'Schedule 1' Outlaw Under Federal Court Ruling Today

Despite growing evidence that marijuana is more than just a buzz-drug, a federal appeals court rejected an attempt to reclassify pot as a medically recognized substance. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today voted 2-1 to agree with lower courts that "adequate and well-contro ... More >>

Marijuana's Medical Value On Trial In U.S. Court

The crux of the federal government's problem with medical marijuana in places where it's legal, like California, is that pot is not legit for anything under U.S. law: It's a schedule I drug, the highest-level of outlaw substance. And so, this allows the DEA, for example, to warn that every pot shop ... More >>

Prop. 8 Sent to U.S. Supreme Court by 'Protect Marriage' Camp

They're like potato bugs who refuse to die. After four yeas of rejection, ProtectMarriage.com and four other individuals in the pro-Prop. 8 camp have taken California's gay-marriage fight to the highest court in the land: They submitted a nearly 500-page petition to the U.S. Supreme Court this mor ... More >>

Supreme Court: L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca Can Be Held Responsible for Jail Violence on His Watch

Like the "Teflon Sheriff" he is, Lee Baca has been doing his darndest to slip his good name off an inmate-stabbing lawsuit that names Baca as a defendant. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals turned him down last summer, but the sheriff didn't stop there. He marched his don't-blame-Baca paperwork all t ... More >>

Supreme Court: L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca Can Be Held Responsible for Jail Violence on His Watch

Like the "Teflon Sheriff" he is, Lee Baca has been doing his darndest to slip his good name off an inmate-stabbing lawsuit that names Baca as a defendant. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals turned him down last summer, but the sheriff didn't stop there. He marched his don't-blame-Baca paperwork all t ... More >>

Marijuana as Religious Right? California Court Says It's Possible

Do some folks have the religious right to use marijuana as part of a sacrament? It's a question we joked off when L.A. marijuana dispensary owner NJ Weedman sued the city of L.A. after his Liberty Temple II was targeted for extinction: He claimed the religious right to cannabis because the shop was ... More >>

Prop. 8 Gay Marriage Ban Backers, Defeated, Seek Full Ninth Circuit Court Do-Over

Updated at the bottom with a copy of the petition for review. First posted at 1:41 p.m. Backers of California's overturned same-sex-marriage ban said today that they'll ask the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for a review. The move avoids for now taking the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, bu ... More >>

Prop. 8 Ruled Unconstitutional in California: Appeals Court Supports Gay Marriage

Update: Los Angeles, West Hollywood to host dueling celebration rallies tonight. Proposition 8, the voter initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California in 2008, has just been overturned by a three-judge panel at the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. From here, Prop. 8 backers ProtectMarr ... More >>

Venice Boardwalk Trinket Sales Ban

LAPD will decide what can be peddled as art

TSA Body Scanner Program Is Super Pervy, Must Be Terminated, Says Appeals Court

Top Left DesignFrom the "Miss Airport" Calendar, which exists.​Hallelujah: Security checkpoints across the nation will no longer serve as First Amendment-scoffing peep shows for the feds! (At least for the time being.) A three-judge panel from the Washington, D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rul ... More >>

Marijuana Remains a Top Outlaw Drug Under U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Ruling Today

It's no use.​A nine-year effort to get the government to reclassify marijuana as a drug with at least some legitimate uses ended in a FAIL today after the DEA just said no. Pro-pot forces, however, say they'll appeal the decision to the U.S. Circuit Court in Washington. As it stands, cannab ... More >>

Medical Marijuana From Sea to Shining Sea? A Lawsuit Wants to Force Feds to Say Yes to Pot

1ncognito​Marijuana advocates filed a suit in a U.S. Circuit Court today to force the Obama administration to answer a petition that seeks to have the federal government recognize cannabis as a drug with acceptable medical uses. The suit wants the court to order the administration to answer t ... More >>

Stuffy Federal Appeals Judges Won't Allow California Gay Marriages to Resume During Prop. 8 Hearing Downtime

​On the very day of Hollywood AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor's death, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dealt another blow to the gays of the Golden State: Thou shalt not wed thine one true love during this frustrating court-system standstill in the overturning of the absurdly unconstitut ... More >>

California Attorney General Kamala Harris Joins Obama as Friend of the Gays, Asks Court to Lift Ban on Same-Sex Marriage

​Updated after the jump with high fives from across the gay-rights community. After disappointing news came two weeks ago that the fight against Prop. 8 is being delayed until at least September, brand-new California Attorney General Kamala Harris took matters into her own hands today, airing ... More >>

Judge Harry Pregerson: 9th Circuit decision harms asylum seekers

Ninth Circuit Judge Harry Pregerson has asylum seekers backs​People seeking asylum in the United States suffered a serious blow when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently voted not to review the case of a woman who had suffered genital mutilation in her homeland. That's according to Judge Ha ... More >>

Civil Case Against 'Girls Gone Wild' Founder Joe Francis Becomes A Test Of Free Speech

girlsgonewild.comShould we know the names of a few of the allegedly underage Girls Gone Wild?​It looks like sometime Angeleno, blondsploitation artist and alleged "douche of the decade" Joe Francis might actually add a historic footnote to his Wikipedia entry: A man who inspired a serious free ... More >>

Appeals Court Overturns Hermosa Beach's Ban on Tattoo Parlors

​A federal appeals court Thursday struck down the city of Hermosa Beach's ban on tattoo parlors, saying what we already knew: Tattoo art is a "unique and important method of expression" and therefore protected by the Constitution's right of free speech. A three-judge panel from the U.S. 9th Ci ... More >>

Congratulations: Your "Michael Jackson Fondling Macaulay Caulkin" Tattoo is Now Protected by the First Amendment!

This is now constitutionally kosher!​Is it illegal to walk into a crowded theater with a tramp stamp that says "FIRE"? That might still be unclear, but today the LA Times reports that a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that "tattoos and the art of tattooing are ... More >>

Same-Sex Marriage: Ruling In Prop. 8 Challenge Due Wednesday

​A federal court ruling on a much-anticipated challenge to California's ban on same-sex marriage, known as Prop. 8, was scheduled for Wednesday. According to the San Jose Mercury News: Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will release the ruling without holding a hearing, typical in decidi ... More >>

Dan Tana's Loses Federal Appeal on Trademark Dispute

Dan Tana's on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood​Dan Tana's, the famous Italian restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, recently lost another round in its dispute with an Atlanta sports bar/restaurant that goes by the name of Dantanna's. This time, the Eleventh Circuit ... More >>

O.C. Pot Shops Facing Closure Appeal Case To Federal 9th Circuit Court

​A quartet of Orange County pot shops have appealed their case, which seeks to avoid closure at the hands of the cities of Costa Mesa and Lake Forest, to the federal 9th Circuit court, the Daily Pilot reports. The appeal comes after a U.S. judge denied the plaintiffs' case earlier this month, ... More >>

Federal Ruling In Favor Of Limiting Internet Access Could Be Mixed Blessing For Hollywood

​A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday that would allow Comcast to limit customers' access to heavy-file downloading and other sites that take up a lot of data "pipe" could be a mixed blessing for Hollywood. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in favor of the ... More >>

L.A. Police Union Assails U.S. Appeals Court

​The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing rank-and-file Los Angeles Police Department officers, is on a tear against the U.S. 9th Circuit court of appeals, which this week overturned one state's ban on voting rights for felons. The 2-1 decision Tuesday was made in the ... More >>

US Supreme Court Refuses to Review LA Billboard Case

The U.S. Supreme Court refused today to review an appellate court decision that challenged the city's regulation of hundreds of movie poster-style billboards put up in L.A. without permits.​ The original federal lawsuit challenging the city's ban was filed in 2004 by Metrolights (now owned b ... More >>

City Council Votes for Permanent Ban on Digital Billboards

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously today to ban all digital billboards in the city, an action brought before them by City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who feared that an existing "Interim Control Ordinance" that temporarily bans digital billboards and super-graphics may soon be found inval ... More >>

NRDC Sues U.S. Over Clean Trucks Program

The Santa Monica-based Natural Resources Defense Council has sued the Federal Maritime Trucks Entering L.A. HarborCommission to learn why the government agency tried to block implementation of parts of the Clean Trucks Program that the L.A. and Long Beach ports are trying to enforce. The NRDC had fi ... More >>

Morning Sixpack: A News Roundup

Not in My Back Sky The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has blocked Santa Monica's ban of fast private jets from its municipal airport -- until an FAA review of the proposed restrictions is finished. L.A. TimesPorts o' No Call L.A.'s twin harbors can expect a 13.5 percent drop in traffic this yea ... More >>

Ninth Circuit Court Retreats to Idaho

Legal insiders point everywhere but at themselves during a sun-filled non-examination

“Supergraphics” Company Continues Attack Against Los Angeles’ Billboard Ban

Last week, attorneys for World Wide Rush filed a motion in federal court asking a judge to permanently block the city from prosecuting building owners who allow “supergraphics” signs on their buildings. The motion was filed after the city began enforcing its sign ordinance against the owners o ... More >>

Outdoor Advertising Company Attacks San Francisco’s Billboard Ban

Last Friday, Metro Fuel filed a motion in United States District Court for the Northern District of California to prevent the city of San Francisco from enforcing its laws against illegal billboards. The outdoor advertising company, which is owned by New York based Fuel Outdoor Holdings, which sp ... More >>

Billboard Banter Gone Wild

Los Angeles’ illegal billboard issue is clearly heating up in the press and cyberspace -- again. The Daily News recently published an editorial about the city’s botched 2002 billboard ban and the need for a list of billboard locations and owners. Today, Los Angeles Times reporter Veronique de ... More >>

Laurence Tribe Tangles with CBS and L.A. City Hall

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s Courtroom 3 - a miniature auditorium with comfortable, smoked salmon-colored seats - was mostly filled with law students who seemed to be interested in just one thing: listening to Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe argue constitu ... More >>

Laurence Tribe v. City of Los Angeles

It looks like the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office may have its hands full on June 4 when it goes up against leading First Amendment attorney Laurence Tribe in the case Metro Lights v. City of Los Angeles. Tribe, who is nationally recognized as one of the foremost liberal constitutional law sch ... More >>

Billboard Case Slated for Federal Court of Appeal

Oral arguments will be heard in front of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeal on June 4 in the case, Metro Lights, LLC vs. City of Los Angeles. The federal billboard case has dogged the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office since 2006 when a district court judge ruled that the cities “Street Furniture” ... More >>

Billboard Inspection Program Still a Bust

“It is the Los Angeles dodge and delay program,” said a frustrated Marilyn Cohon, the Vice President of Westwood South of Santa Monica Homeowners Association about City Hall’s long-awaited billboard fee inspection program. “We find it appalling that the city is dragging its feet.” Even C ... More >>

Billboard Crackdown? Not Likely!

Will the long-overdue billboard fee inspection program start at long last? Don’t count on it. On May 27, Los Angeles’ Department of Building and Safety is expected to update the Planning & Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee on the status of the city’s billboard inspection program. That sou ... More >>

The Honorable Judge Nice

Yet More Lists

Bush Rebuke, Part Two

Detainees case moves from L.A. courts to Washington, D.C.

Trouble in the D.A.�s Office

Whistleblower�s case alleging retaliation moves closer to trial

Saved by a Hair

Kevin Cooper likely gets another month of life

To Speak or Not To Speak

A mixed week for free-speech rulings

Votes of No-Confidence

Cost of election ending up in court

Recallus Interruptus

Republicans on memory lane, Clinton on the pulpit and the Supremes on the spot

An Unexpected Stay of Execution

Supreme Court reaffirms inmates� right to fair trial

Freedom of Thought

Supreme Court weighs in on the hazards of medicating defendants

The Ailing Patient

Disorder in the Court

One Nation Over God

Death Row Reprieve

Ruling stalls execution for Kelly, dozens more