From the category archives:

Legal News

Pres. Obama Nominates Elena Kagan for Supreme Court

May 10, 2010

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Monday nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 50, to the Supreme Court, declaring she would demonstrate the same independence, integrity and passion for the law exhibited by retiring Justice John Paul Stevens.
“Elena is widely regarded as one of the nation’s foremost legal minds,” said Obama. “She’s a trail-blazing leader.” [...]

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Ariz. Law May Be Blessing in Disguise for Immigration Reform

April 27, 2010

Just for a moment, let’s try to lower our blood pressure over Arizona’s putrid new immigration law, SB1070 – or as we call it around here, SunuvaBitch 1070 – and consider a positive.
That’s right – a positive.
Maybe this is exactly what comprehensive immigration reform 2010 really needed.
Maybe this is actually a tilting point.
Maybe, just maybe, [...]

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Furor Grows Over Arizona’s New Immigration Law

April 27, 2010

[...]

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Is Arizona the Most Racist State in the Country?

April 26, 2010

Is Arizona making a run for this title of ignobility: The Most Racist State in the U.S.?
It’s a question that definitely needs to be asked now, with the passing of SB1070 on top of its already sordid history.
I mean, take a look:
1) Arizona was one of the last states to observe Martin Luther King Day, [...]

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Pres. Obama Slams Pending Arizona Immigration Law!

April 23, 2010

Source: NBC News and other news sources
PHOENIX – President Barack Obama on Thursday criticized a pending Arizona law that would make it a state crime to be in the United States illegally and require anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant to produce identification.
During remarks at a naturalization ceremony for members of the military, [...]

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Guilty Verdict in Race Killing of Ecuadorean Immigrant

April 19, 2010

Source: New York Times
By Manny Fernandez
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The Long Island teenager accused of stabbing and killing an Ecuadorean immigrant in a racially motivated attack was convicted on Monday of manslaughter as a hate crime, a less serious crime than the initial murder charge — saving him from spending the rest of his life behind [...]

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NYT: Immigration Officer Guilty in Sexual Coercion Case

April 15, 2010

Source: New York Times
By Nina Bernstein
A federal immigration officer who was caught on tape demanding sex in exchange for a green card pleaded guilty to all the charges against him in Supreme Court in Queens on Wednesday in expectation of a prison sentence of one and a half to four and a half years.
The [...]

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Our Society Will Dearly Miss Justice Stevens

April 15, 2010

By Stella Templo
Immigration Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
Last week, Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced that he would retire at the end of this term.
Stevens was nominated in 1975 by President Gerald Ford, who wrote 30 years later that he was prepared to allow history’s judgment of him to [...]

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Arizona House Backs Strict Immigration Bill

April 14, 2010

This is NOT great news in the fight for fair immigration reform.
Source: The Associated Press
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona House on Tuesday approved a bill that would draw local communities deeper into the fight against illegal immigration despite arguments from opponents that it would do nothing to keep people safer.
House Republicans advanced the measure [...]

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Holocaust Memorial Day Today – A Day Remembrance

April 12, 2010

Please take a moment to remember the millions of Jews and others killed in the Holocaust. Today is Holocaust Memorial Day.
Take time to watch the video below – even if you are not Jewish – and share a moment of silence and prayer:

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Man Sued for 15 Grand for Leaving Negative eBay Feedback

April 12, 2010

Anyone who’s ever swapped goods on eBay has either done it or thought of doing it: leaving the type of negative feedback that all but makes your fingers burn.
Well, along come news this morning out of Florida that some guy has been hit with a $15,000 defamation lawsuit for doing that very thing.
The man [...]

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What Can You Say about Tiger Woods’ New Nike Commercial?

April 8, 2010

Creepy? Desperate? Pathetic? Unseemly?
You tell us.
It’s filmed strangely in black-and-white and uses the recorded voice of Tiger’s deceased father, Earl Woods, as if he were addressing his son about the recent sex scandal.

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The Pope, Church Leaders Hear No Evil, See No Evil

April 7, 2010

By Michael Biniakewitz
Criminal Defense Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
Unless you’ve been in a cave the last few days, I’m sure you’ve heard the disturbing new disclosure that the Catholic Church apparently looked the other way while a spate of priests engaged in rampant sexual abuse, such as the case of Rev. Lawrence [...]

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Our Reaction to Supreme Court Decision on Deporation

April 1, 2010

By Bindhu Vijayan
Immigration Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
Kudos to the Supreme Court on the decision that immigrants to the United States have a constitutional right to be told by their lawyers whether pleading guilty to a crime could lead to their deportation.
We see many individuals in this office who are ineligible for [...]

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Supreme Court says defendants entitled to immigration advice

March 31, 2010

Source: The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Immigrants to the United States have a constitutional right to be told by their lawyers whether pleading guilty to a crime could lead to their deportation, the U.S. Supreme Court said today.
The high court’s ruling extends the Constitution’s Sixth Amendment guarantee of “effective assistance of counsel” in criminal cases to [...]

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NYT: How One Marijuana Cigarette May Lead to Deportation

March 31, 2010

Source: New York Times
By Nina Bernstein
ELMONT, N.Y. — When a police officer in this Long Island suburb found a marijuana cigarette in Jerry Lemaine’s pocket one night in January 2007, a Legal Aid lawyer counseled him to plead guilty. Under state statutes, the penalty was only a $100 fine, and though Mr. Lemaine had been [...]

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200K Push for Immigration Change

March 29, 2010

[...]

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Pres. Obama Pledges to Push Immigration Reform

March 18, 2010

Source: A compilation from various news outlets.
Just hours after he cancelled an international trip to stay in Washington and fight for health care legislation, President Obama has announced that he’s ready to start pushing forward on another controversial issue: immigration reform. In an election year, no less.
A week after he met with senators Chuck Schumer, [...]

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NYT: U.S. Haitians Curiously Ignoring Immigration TPS Offer

March 16, 2010

Source: New York Times
By Anne Barnard
Within days of the devastating earthquake in Haiti on Jan. 12, the United States government declared that Haitians living illegally in the United States were eligible for temporary protected status, a special immigration designation that temporarily allows them to work here legally.
While advocates and government officials alike said that [...]

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Odd News of the Day: Detroit Workers Warned to Go Scentless!

March 15, 2010

Source: The Associated Press
DETROIT — Change is in the air for Detroit city workers.
City employees will be urged not to wear perfume, cologne or aftershave as a result of a settlement in a federal lawsuit.
Officials plan to place warning placards in three city buildings. The signs will warn workers to avoid “wearing scented products, including [...]

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