NEwS FROM WASHINGTON • Immigration Bill Would Boost Judgeships, Ease Caseloads • D.C. Circuit Rejects Judicial Independence Case • Obama Picks Housing Agency Lawyer for State Dept. Watchdog • Former D.C. Public Defender Featured in Gideon Film • Q&A: Holland & Knight's Paul Kiernan • FBI Supervisor Cooked Dinner for Bulger and Cronies The nation's overburdened immigration courts could be in line for major reinforcements — hundreds of new judges, clerks and staff lawyers — under Congress' latest proposal to overhaul the immigration system. Read More » Updated at 2:48 p.m. An administrative law judge for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs can't sue the agency for alleged violations of his judicial independence, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled today. J.... Read More » A former senior U.S. Justice Department official who is now the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency's inspector general has secured President Barack Obama's backing to serve as the U.S. State Department's watchdog. Obama on Thursday nominated Steve Linick to be... Read More » "Gideon's Army," a documentary about the struggles facing public defenders in the South, is set to make its national television debut July 1 on HBO. One the lawyers at the heart of the film, Jonathan Rapping, spent the first decade... Read More » Paul Kiernan has been the executive partner of Holland & Knight's Washington office for nearly five years. During that time, the firm has made a high-profile move to a new building and grown headcount to about 135 attorneys. Washington is... Read More » A lawyer for James "Whitey" Bulger hammered former FBI supervisor John Morris on Friday over his social ties to the alleged mobster that included presiding over dinner parties. Read More » SUPREME COURT CASES Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional as deprivation of equal liberty of persons that is protected by Fifth Amendment (Kennedy, J.) Read More » Attempt to compel person to recommend his employer approve investment did not constitute "obtaining of property from another" for purposes of Hobbs Act definition of extortion (Scalia, J.) Read More » Proponents of California same-sex marriage law initiative lacked standing to appeal federal district court's disapproval after California governor and state and local officials refused to defend challenged law (Roberts, C.J.) Read More » Provision in 1965 Voting Rights Act determining which states must receive federal preclearance based on past history of discrimination in voting is outdated and unconstitutional (Roberts, C.J.) Read More » Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a claim of retaliatory adverse employment action requires proof of but-for causation, not merely proof that improper motive was one of multiple causes of the challenged employment action. (U.S. Supreme Court, 06-24-2013) Read More » Biological father who had never had custody of child could not rely on Indian Child Welfare Act to obtain custody after birth mother agreed to adoption of child by non-Indian adoptive couple (Alito, J.) Read More » | 
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