Circuit Watcher

St. John’s United Church of Christ v. FAA, D.C. Cir. Mar. 21, 2008

admin — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:47:36 +0000

06-1386 St. John’s United Church of Christ v. FAA
Before: ROGERS, BROWN and GRIFFITH, Circuit Judges.
BROWN, Circuit Judge: Petitioners seek review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA’s) grant of money to the City of Chicago, reimbursing costs of certain work performed as part of the City’s expansion of O’Hare International Airport. We dismiss the petition for lack of standing. … St. John’s United Church of Christ v. FAA.

Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co. v. FERC, D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2008

admin — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 03:01:59 +0000

06-1145 Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co. v. FERC
Before: ROGERS and GARLAND, Circuit Judges, and WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge.
WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge: Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company challenges orders of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that modified its contract with a shipper, the Northern States Power Company (“NSP”), so that NSP would be able to resell transportation capacity for which it had no use. While we find that the Commission was correct to decide the case under the “just and reasonable” standard of § 5(a) of the Natural Gas Act (“NGA”), 15 U.S.C. § 717d(a), we grant Williston’s petition; flaws in the Commission’s reasoning render its orders arbitrary and capricious. … Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Co. v. FERC.

Belbacha v. Bush, D.C. Cir. Mar. 14, 2008

admin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:14:15 +0000

07-5258 Belbacha v. Bush
Before: GINSBURG, RANDOLPH, and GRIFFITH, Circuit Judges.
GINSBURG, Circuit Judge: In 2005 Ahmed Belbacha, an Algerian national, petitioned the district court for a writ of habeas corpus in order to challenge his detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In July 2007, with his petition still pending, he sought interim relief barring his transfer to Algeria on the ground that he is likely to be tortured by the government of Algeria and by an extremist organization that has threatened him in the past. The district court declined preliminarily to bar Belbacha’s transfer on the ground it lacked the power so to do, Belbacha v. Bush, No. 05-2349 (July 27, 2007), citing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA), Pub. L. No. 109-366, 120 Stat. 2600, and our decision in Boumediene v. Bush, 476 F.3d 981 (2007), cert. granted, 127 S. Ct. 3078 (June 29, 2007), in which we upheld the constitutionality of the MCA provision removing the courts’ jurisdiction over detainees’ habeas petitions.
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Belbacha noticed an appeal and simultaneously asked this court to bar his transfer pending its resolution. A motions panel denied Belbacha’s request for a stay but ordered the case heard on an expedited basis. Belbacha, No. 07-5258 (Aug. 2, 2007). After hearing oral argument, this panel temporarily enjoined his transfer in order to preserve our jurisdiction over the appeal. We now remand this matter to the district court for further proceedings. …
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RANDOLPH, Circuit Judge, dissenting: Students of federal courts will be surprised to learn that district judges have jurisdiction to issue preliminary injunctions in cases in which they have no jurisdiction to issue permanent injunctions. That is the majority’s position here. … Belbacha v. Bush

United Food & Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO v. NLRB, D.C. Cir. Mar. 14, 2008

admin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:49:11 +0000

06-1358, 07-1060, 07-1087 United Food & Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO v. NLRB
Before: TATEL, BROWN and KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judges.
KAVANAUGH, Circuit Judge: This case illustrates some of the collective bargaining complications that ensue when technological developments diminish the need for skilled manual labor. Workers in the meat department at the Wal-Mart in Jacksonville, Texas, elected Local 540 as their bargaining representative. At the time, those workers used specialized meat-cutting skills. Wal-Mart later announced its intention to convert meat departments around the country from selling meat that was cut on site to selling pre-packaged meat. In the wake of the announcement, the Jacksonville Wal-Mart changed its meat department so that it sells only pre-packaged meat. Because the Jacksonville meat department workers no longer use specialized cutting skills, the NLRB found that the meat department had become an inappropriate bargaining unit. As a result, the Board concluded that Wal-Mart has no general duty to bargain with the Union representing the meat-department employees. But according to the Board, Wal-Mart nonetheless must bargain with the Union over the effects of the conversion on the Jacksonville meat-department employees. … United Food & Commercial Workers, AFL-CIO v. NLRB.

U.S. v. Johnson, D.C. Cir. Mar. 11, 2008

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:23:27 +0000

06-3167a U.S. v. Johnson
Before: SENTELLE, Chief Judge, GARLAND, Circuit Judge, and WILLIAMS, Senior Circuit Judge.
Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge GARLAND.
GARLAND, Circuit Judge: Defendant Abdul Johnson appeals from his conviction on firearms and narcotics charges. He contends that the gun and drug evidence that the government used against him was the fruit of an unlawful detention, that the improper admission of a previous firearms conviction prejudiced the outcome of his trial, that the government did not introduce sufficient evidence to prove that the cocaine base the police seized from him was crack cocaine, and that the district court erred in not granting a new trial on the grounds of newly discovered evidence and nondisclosure of Brady material. We reject Johnson’s challenges and affirm the judgment of the district court. … U.S. v. Johnson.

U.S. v. Abdus-Price, D.C. Cir. Mar. 11, 2008

admin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:21:19 +0000

06-3075a U.S. v. Abdus-Price
Before: GINSBURG, ROGERS, and GRIFFITH, Circuit Judges.
GRIFFITH, Circuit Judge: Can the target of a Terry stop defeat the legality of his seizure by pointing to a slight color discrepancy between the car in which he was traveling and a crime victim’s description of that vehicle? We hold that he cannot, so long as the remaining points of similarity support a reasonable suspicion that the target was involved in criminal activity. The investigative seizure and subsequent protective frisk at issue in this case did not violate the Fourth Amendment. … U.S. v. Abdus-Price.

D.C. Cir. Mar. 7, 2008

admin — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 20:38:37 +0000

06-1286 Transcon. Gas Pipe Line Corp. v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm’n
Before DST, JRB, BMK. Opinion by Tatel, denying petition for review.
Brown, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

D.C. Cir. Mar. 4, 2008

admin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:21:46 +0000

06-5230 Hoyte, Michelle vs. Amer Natl Red Cross
Before KLH, DST, SFW. Opinion by Henderson, affirmed.
Tatel, concurring in part and dissenting in part.
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07-5064 Juarez, Silvia P. vs. DOJ
Before DBS, TBG, BMK. Opinion by Sentelle, affirmed.