From the category archives:

Legal News

Obama Declares Ongoing Commitment to Immigration Reform

January 28, 2010

Source: Immigration Policy Center
Washington D.C. – In the State of the Union Address this evening President Obama made clear his ongoing commitment to immigration reform noting “we should continue the work of fixing our broken immigration system – to secure our borders, enforce our laws, and ensure that everyone who plays by the rules can [...]

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IRS Kicks Off New Year with New Celebrity Victims

January 27, 2010

By Sean Chi
Tax Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
The Internal Revenue Service has kicked off tax season with a bang, pursuing tax collection efforts with full force.
Some of the more notable targets so far in 2010:
• Nicolas Cage – The IRS filed an additional $6.7 Million tax lien against the academy award [...]

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ABA Meeting in Feb. Will Feature Immigration Reform

January 26, 2010

Source: American Bar Association
CHICAGO, Jan. 26, 2010 – As comprehensive immigration reform looms on the legislative horizon, the American Bar Association will examine recommendations to enhance immigration courts while improving the professionalism, independence and accountability of immigration court judges during the association’s 2010 Midyear Meeting, Feb. 3 – 9, in Orlando, Fla.

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Haitian Activist Jean Montrevil Released from ICE Detention

January 25, 2010

[...]

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AP: President Skipping Jury Duty

January 25, 2010

Source: The Associated Press
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — A White House official says President Barack Obama will be skipping jury duty after being summoned in Illinois.
The administration official confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday that the president alerted the court weeks ago that he won’t be able to make it. The official spoke on [...]

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Citizens United v Fed. Election Commission/Campaign Finance

January 22, 2010

In a 5-4 ruling yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that the government may not ban corporate spending in political elections because to do so would violate the First Amendment’s provision of freedom of speech.
If you have a casual relationship with campaign finance and the First Amendment, the Supreme Court’s ruling might not seem [...]

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Important Facts about TPS for Haitians in the U.S.

January 22, 2010

Source: The Immigration Policy Center
Following the devastating earthquake which struck Haiti on January 12, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on January 15 announced “the designation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals who were in the United States as of January 12, 2010.” The “designation will allow eligible Haitian nationals in the United [...]

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Supreme Court Protects Immigrants’ Access to Court Review

January 21, 2010

Source: Legal Action Center
Washington D.C. – The American Immigration Council applauds today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision ensuring that immigrants facing deportation have fair process in the review of their cases. The Court ruled that individuals who seek to reopen their deportation orders have the right to appeal to the federal courts if the immigration court [...]

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Spar & Bernstein Help w/Haitian Temporary Protected Status

January 20, 2010

Our firm’s president, Brad Bernstein, vows that The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein will do whatever it can to help qualifying undocumented Haitians living in the U.S. obtain Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
With five Haitian workers currently on the S&B staff as well as having many longtime Haitian clients, Brad made the heartfelt decision to [...]

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Immigration News – New Temporary Protected Status Policy

January 20, 2010

Source: USCIS
CHANGE TO USCIS POLICY REGARDING TWO MISDEMEANOR BAR TO TPS
For the past two and a half years, the Immigrant Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law has advocated for a change in governmental policy regarding bars to the issuance or renewal of TPS for New Yorkers with low level, non-criminal, offenses. USCIS had been [...]

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Religion is NOT a Defense

January 13, 2010

strong>Michael Biniakewitz
Criminal Defense Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
When Scott Roeder shot and killed a prominent abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, in a church last may, there was little doubt he was motivated by an ideological belief.
Of course, this irony, if not downright lunacy, was totally lost on Mr. Roeder: that killing [...]

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S&B’s Take on Immigration Detention: The View from Hell

January 11, 2010

What does it say when hardened convicts who’ve served time at such hellholes like Rikers and Sing Sing tell you they’d rather remain in criminal prisons than be transferred to a civil immigration detention facility?
It says a lot, doesn’t it?
Picture this: It’s 5 a.m. and you hear a pounding on the door. And, just like [...]

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NY Times: Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail

January 11, 2010

Officials Hid Truth of Immigrant Deaths in Jail
By Nina Bernstein
New York Times
Silence has long shrouded the men and women who die in the nation’s immigration jails. For years, they went uncounted and unnamed in the public record. Even in 2008, when The New York Times obtained and published a federal government list of such deaths, [...]

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Judge Morris Lasker, who cleaned up NYC jails, dies at 92

December 30, 2009

ource: New York Times
Morris E. Lasker, a federal judge in New York and Massachusetts for four decades who struck down squalid, often brutal conditions in New York City jails and upheld prisoners’ rights perhaps more than any other jurist of his era, died Friday in Cambridge, Mass. He was 92 and had homes in Cambridge [...]

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CNN: Brazilian family vows to continue custody fight

December 30, 2009

New York (CNN) – It’s not over yet.
That’s the message American David Goldman and his attorneys are getting from his son’s Brazilian family. An international custody battle between Goldman and Brazilian relatives of his son came to a dramatic close Christmas Eve, when 9-year-old Sean Goldman was returned to his father after a ruling from [...]

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Pacquiao-Mayweather Fighting for the Wrong Thing

December 29, 2009

By Michael Biniakewitz
Criminal Defense Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
Have you been reading all the nuttiness surrounding the much-anticipated Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight?
The tentatively scheduled March 13th bout is spiraling so totally out of control right now I’d be amazed if it ever came off, with the two camps angrily debating [...]

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Preferential Treatment in the Criminal Justice System? Are You Kidding Me?

December 29, 2009

By Michael Biniakewitz
Criminal Defense Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
If you still want to debate about whether whites receive preferential treatment in the criminal justice system, I strongly suggest that you read a recent study conducted by Harry G. Levine, a sociology professor at Queens College, chronicled last week by the New York [...]

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The Legal Intelligencer: “Wardrobe Malfunction” Case Heading Back to 3rd Circuit

December 29, 2009

The battle over the hefty fines imposed for Janet Jackson’s infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Super Bowl is ready to come back to court.
It has been nearly eight months since the U.S. Supreme Court ordered the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to take a second look at the case and to consider [...]

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No-Fly, No Fun

December 29, 2009

By Anonymous
When I was a little kid, traveling and especially airports filled me with such extreme excitement I nearly sprinted through the corridors.
That changed considerably by the time I reached my teens, when I began ambling through airports with the same ennui I exhibited in gym class.
And as an adult, I’ve degenerated [...]

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Facebook Fueling Divorces – No Surprise Here

December 28, 2009

By Adam Handler
Matrimonial/Family/Personal Injury Attorney, The Law Offices of Spar & Bernstein
There was a major report the other day claiming that the ubiquitous social networking site, Facebook, in addition to connecting everyone’s business with everyone’s business, has done wonders for breaking apart marriages and fueling divorce cases.
Which, aside from not shocking me one bit, means [...]

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