Posted 24 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:NinthCircuit Third Circuit
  • M.R. v. Ridley School District, No. 12-4137 (Feb. 20, 2014) (finding under Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act that for "stay put" period: (1) school district must reimburse parents for private-school costs even if parents do not file a claim for payment until after a court has ruled for the school; and (2) the parents' right to interim funding extends through the time of judicial appeal.).
Fourth Circuit

Posted 20 Feb 2014 in Roundup

Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli, Jr. Tom Goldstein. Paul Clement. And this blog's own, Kira Klatchko. This is just a small selection of the remarkable panel of speakers that IMLA and the State and Local Legal Center will feature at the Supreme Court Practice Seminar scheduled for March 4, 2014.  It will be a true "can't miss" event. See the agenda and full list of speakers here.  Register here. And stay for the State and Local Legal Center's 30-year annniversary reception, which you can register for here. Image courtesy of Flickr...

Posted 17 Feb 2014 in Uncategorized
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments: Seventh Circuit Ninth Circuit

Posted 14 Feb 2014 in Tips and Tactics
Legal documents contain many words, often too many, but that’s not all.  Legal documents contain open space or white space between the captions and the text, as well as above, below and on the sides of block quotes, lists and bullets.Gavel  Attorneys focus on the words and sometimes pay no attention to the white space even though it can make significant difference in the readability of the document. Unless you are working under a page limit and the burden of too much to say in too few pages, don’t feel obligated to cram your words into the smallest space possible.
  • Open space separating

Posted 10 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:SCT pillars Second Circuit Sixth Circuit Seventh Circuit

Posted 05 Feb 2014 in Tips and Tactics
Many legal dictionaries are available on the Internet:Dictionary

Posted 05 Feb 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments*:Alexandria-court First Circuit Fourth Circuit Fifth Circuit

Posted 31 Jan 2014 in Tips and Tactics
BulletsOften a listing of specific items need not or should not be numbered.  Numbers may incorrectly indicate a hierarchy or ordering of the items.  In these cases, bullets work well. The material presented in bullets needs to be parallel in form and format.  If one is a sentence, then all should be sentences; if one is a phrase, the rest should be similar phrases.  The bullet items should normally all be in the same tense if verbs are used.  Opening capitalization and ending punctuation (if any) should be the same.  There is no absolute right and wrong in the style. Shorter phrases lend themselves to lower case.  If any bullet will have more than a single sentence, then an initial capital and a period will be needed. When appropriate, a short caption can introduce each bullet.

Posted 27 Jan 2014 in Case Notes
Closed signMay a city require adult bookstores but not other establishments to close between midnight and 10am every night and all day Sunday? In Annex Books v. City of Indianapolis, No. 13-1500 (Jan. 24, 2014), the Seventh Circuit said no. It struck down the City of Indianapolis's requirement, which a district court had previously upheld. Although the City claimed that the restriction would lead to fewer armed robberies at or near the bookstores, the court held that "cities must protect readers from robbers rather than reduce risks by closing bookstores." In the court's view, "[t]hat the City's regulation takes the form of closure is the nub of the problem." First, the court found that the evidence supporting the City's justification is "weak as a statistical matter": the data "do not show that robberies are more likely at adult bookstores than at other late-night retail outlets." Second, the court noted that although

Posted 27 Jan 2014 in Monday Morning Review
Here are last week's published decisions involving local governments:SCT stairs Second Circuit
  • McColley v. County of Rensselaer, No. 12-2220 (Jan. 21, 2014) (affirming that whether officer and County were entitled to qualified immunity for alleged Fourth-Amendment violation arising out of search-warrant-application omissions turned on genuine issues of material fact, and concluding therefore that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction).
Fourth Circuit
  • Corr v. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, No. 13-1076 (Jan. 21, 2014) (finding that tolls paid by drivers on the Dulles Toll Road are user fees not taxes, and that their collection by airport authority does not violate Virginia Constitution and motorists' due-process rights).
Seventh Circuit