#Illinois Appeal Lawyer

[appealcounsel]

Illinois Appeal Lawyer | Appeal Lawyer

Looking for an Illinois appeal lawyer? Our experienced team is here to help with any type of appeal, including criminal, civil, and family law cases. We provide expert guidance throughout the entire appeals process, ensuring that all legal options are explored to challenge decisions made in your case. Whether you’re seeking to overturn a conviction, challenge a verdict, or reduce your sentence, we’re dedicated to providing you with the best possible representation. As trusted appeal lawyers in Illinois, we understand the importance of fighting for your rights and will work tirelessly to achieve a favorable outcome for you.

website address: https://www.appealcounsel.com/ Address:

Illinois Office: 939 W. North Ave. Suite 750 Chicago, IL 60642 contact us: +1 312-517-3877,

Michigan Office: 46701 Commerce Center Drive Suite 006-1311 Plymouth, MI 48170 Contact: +1 313-312-8484

[baldwinheights]

[brownstonelawil]

Brownstone Law

Brownstone Law is a top appellate law firm in Illinois. Our appeals lawyers handle civil and criminal appeals.

Visit Our Website

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

Markled Tyler Perry RESCUES boys (& girls) that cry wolf.

Illinois Appeals Court Affirms Actor Jussie Smollett's Convictions and Jail Sentence | Newsmax.com

https://www.newsmax.com/us/jussie-smollett-illinois-appeal/2023/12/01/id/1144444/

An appeals court upheld the disorderly conduct convictions Friday of actor Jussie Smollett, who was accused of staging a racist, homophobic attack against himself in 2019 and lying about it to Chicago police.

Smollett, who appeared in the TV show "Empire," challenged the role of a special prosecutor, jury selection, evidence and many other aspects of the case. But all were turned aside in a 2-1 opinion from the Illinois Appellate Court.

Smollett had reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic attack by two men wearing ski masks. The search for the attackers soon turned into an investigation of Smollett himself, leading to his arrest on charges he had orchestrated the whole thing.

Authorities said he paid two men whom he knew from work on "Empire," which filmed in Chicago. Prosecutors said Smollett told the men what slurs to shout, and to yell that he was in "MAGA country," a reference to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan.

A jury convicted Smollett in 2021 on five felony counts of disorderly conduct, a charge that can be filed in Illinois when a person lies to police.

He now will have to finish a 150-day stint in jail that was part of his sentence. Smollett spent just six days in jail while his appeal was pending.

A message seeking comment from his attorney, Nenye Uche, was not immediately returned. Lawyers for Smollett, who is Black and gay, have publicly claimed that he was the target of a racist justice system and people playing politics.

Appellate Justice Freddrenna Lyle would have thrown out the convictions. She said it was "fundamentally unfair" to appoint a special prosecutor and charge Smollett when he had already performed community service as part of a 2019 deal with Cook County prosecutors to close the case.

"It was common sense that Smollett was bargaining for a complete resolution of the matter, not simply a temporary one," Lyle said.

Special prosecutor Dan Webb was appointed to look into why the case was dropped. A grand jury subsequently restored charges against Smollett in 2020, and Webb concluded there were "substantial abuses of discretion" in the state's attorney office during the earlier round.

Smollett was not immune to a fresh round of charges, appellate Justices David Navarro and Mary Ellen Coghlan said in the majority opinion.

"The record does not contain any evidence that (prosecutors) agreed Smollett would not be further prosecuted in exchange for forfeiting his bond and performing community service," they said.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission

[follow-up-news]

The New York attorney general’s office has filed judgments in Westchester County, the first indication that the state is preparing to try to seize Donald Trump’s golf course and private estate north of Manhattan, known as Seven Springs. State lawyers entered the judgments with the clerk’s office in Westchester County on March 6, just one week after Judge Arthur Engoron made official his $464 million decision against Trump, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, and the Trump Organization. Entering a judgment would be the first step a creditor would take to attempt to recover property. Additional steps, such as putting liens on assets or moving to foreclose on properties, or taking other actions in court would follow, if the asset is going to be seized. The judgment is already entered in New York city where Trump’s properties including Trump Tower, his penthouse at Trump Tower, 40 Wall Street, his hotel abutting Central Park, and numerous apartment buildings are located. Judgments have not been entered in Florida counties including Miami or Palm Beach where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and the Trump National Doral Golf Club and resort are located or Cook County, Illinois, where Trump’s hotel in Chicago is located, according to a review of records Thursday by CNN. Trump now has four days to satisfy the judgment or sway an appeals court to allow him to post a smaller amount or defer posting the payment until after the appeal.

[lightshade07]

I was feeling silly so I wrote an entire essay about my current interest in mock trial then realized not every school had it so here's a persuasive essay on why they should!!

    The Real-World Benefits of Mock Trial

Mock Trial would undoubtedly be an extracurricular activity that would benefit your school and its students. By participating in Mock Trial, students have the opportunity to develop a variety of skills including teamwork, analytical thinking, confidence in public speaking, and the ability to think on one's feet. This essay will address the benefits of incorporating at your school. These benefits include the skills addressed above, evidence from my past school of its success, and lastly, the fact that this club would appeal to many students.

Firstly, Mock Trial at your school would help students with both their individuality and teamwork. Mock Trial helps students practice public speaking in a rewarding way because when students “work in the courtroom” they can present their arguments. If they have carefully pieced together their arguments, then it all comes down to confidence. Public speaking is an important skill for most careers and in any role on a mock trial team, whether a witness or a lawyer, this skill is put to use. 

Analytical thinking is also practiced in and out of the courtroom as students look at the case from different angles, and eventually put that thinking into action as they write out scripts. As they use these different angles, they are also able to better see other people’s perspectives. This skill can translate into student relationships as well, as they learn to understand other people’s viewpoints more clearly. 

Mock Trial builds both individuality and teamwork. Students need to put their heads together, communicate, and trust each other as a full team to compete. The bond that forms between the student acting as a lawyer and the student acting as their witness especially shows this. 

As further evidence that Mock Trial would be beneficial to your school , I can also add my own personal account as well as support from the Illinois State Bar Association. The year I served at my school, we practiced roles for both the prosecution and defense.  I was the defendant of the case while we presented The Defense. When we were The Prosecution, I was the prosecutor in charge of the defendant's cross-examination. I can personally attest to the fact that Mock Trial changed me for the better. I became more confident in myself, I was able to communicate with others more effectively, and it brought me closer to my dream of pursuing a career in law enforcement or law. In the end, my team and I became a family fighting for justice, even if it was fictional. 

The connections made with others aren’t temporary and remain even after the conclusion of the case. I’ve heard other students express their gratitude towards the club and how much it helped,  and on a less serious note, the fun they had. There are also multiple supporting accounts from students from Illinois, and the Contra Costa Bar Association. These students have all attested, in one way or another, how Mock Trial has helped them. For example, in 2023, Imani Barnes, after her time in Mock Trial, applied for law school stating “I gained a higher level of comfort with public speaking which was (and still is) very difficult for me. I also developed better critical thinking skills when having to use evidence to tell a compelling story in a competition, and by modifying and improving the strength of our case as the competition progressed.” 

Though there is likely currently a Debate Club at your school and this could be seen as an overlap, I beg to differ. While the debate team offers some of the skills noted above,  Mock Trial differentiates itself by appealing to more students. For example, for those who participate in theater, playing your persona as a witness is quite similar to playing your character on the stage. It also appeals to students like myself who would like to pursue a career involved with law. It also has the benefit of arguing both sides. In Debate Club, you may have a counterclaim, but in Mock Trial, you are given the opportunity to serve as both the prosecution and defense for the same case. 

In conclusion, I believe Mock Trial would be a beneficial extracurricular activity at your school because it helps students both individually and with teamwork. There is evidence of its success and appeal to a variety of students.

Please ask one of your instructors or myself about mock trial if this interests you. Spread awareness and start your own clubs!!!

[newstfionline]

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump’s Plan to End Birthright Citizenship (NYT) A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked President Trump’s executive order to end automatic citizenship for babies born on American soil, dealing the president his first setback as he attempts to upend the nation’s immigration laws and reverse decades of precedent. In a hearing held three days after Mr. Trump issued his executive order, a Federal District Court judge, John C. Coughenour, sided with Washington, Arizona, Illinois and Oregon, the four states that sued, signing a restraining order that blocks Mr. Trump’s executive order for 14 days, renewable upon expiration. “This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” he said. “Frankly,” he continued, challenging Trump administration lawyers, “I have difficulty understanding how a member of the bar would state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order. It just boggles my mind.” Mr. Trump responded hours later, telling reporters at the White House, “Obviously we’ll appeal it.”

Inside the Plan to Receive Thousands of Mexicans Deported From the U.S. (NYT) Mexico’s plan to receive thousands of its deported citizens from the United States is nothing short of ambitious. Plans are underway to build nine reception centers along the border—massive tents set up in parking lots, stadiums and warehouses—with mobile kitchens operated by the armed forces. Details of the initiative—called “Mexico Embraces You”—were revealed only this week, although Mexican officials said they had been devising it for the past few months, ever since Donald J. Trump pledged to conduct the largest expulsion of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history. Nearly every branch of government—34 federal agencies and 16 state governments—is expected to participate in one way or another: busing people to their hometowns, organizing logistics, providing medical attention, enrolling the recently returned in social welfare programs like pensions and paid apprenticeships, along with handing out cash cards worth about $100 each. Officials say they are also negotiating agreements with Mexican companies to link people to jobs. President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico has called the expected large-scale deportations a “unilateral move” and has said she does not agree with them. But as the country with the single largest number of unauthorized citizens living in the United States—an estimated four million people as of 2022—Mexico has found itself obligated to prepare.

Vacation visitors (Foreign Policy) Not for the first time, Argentines’ changing spending habits point to the country’s economic troubles. In 2023, sky-high year-over-year inflation of more than 100 percent produced a restaurant boom as Argentines tried to spend money before it lost value. Now, President Javier Milei’s economic reforms have reduced inflation but increased the value of the Argentine peso relative to other currencies, such as Brazil’s real. That has produced a reversal in the two countries’ holiday vacation flows. Usually, well-off Brazilian vacationers flock to Argentina for more affordable rental homes during the South American summer months. But this year, it is Argentines who are crowding southern Brazilian beach towns.

A fierce storm is lashing Ireland and Scotland with record winds, downing power lines (AP) Ireland was hit with wind gusts of 114 miles (183 kilometers) an hour, the strongest on record, as a winter storm battered the country and northern parts of the U.K. on Friday, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power. Schools were closed, trains halted and hundreds of flights canceled in the Republic of Ireland, neighboring Northern Ireland and Scotland as the system, named Storn Éowyn by weather authorities, roared in. Forecasters issued a rare “red” weather warning, meaning danger to life, for Friday across the whole island of Ireland and central and southwest Scotland.

Ukraine Is Losing Fewer Soldiers Than Russia—but It’s Still Losing the War (NYT) The war of attrition between Russia and Ukraine is killing soldiers at a pace unseen in Europe since World War II. Ukrainian artillery fire, explosive drones and mines are killing Russian troops, as they repeatedly charge across the no-man’s land. As Ukrainian positions are exposed, they are suffering heavy casualties inflicted from afar by Russian drones, shells and glide bombs. Calculating the scale of the casualties, and therefore the war’s trajectory, is difficult. Working with incomplete information, experts estimate that Ukraine has suffered about half of Russia’s irreplaceable losses—deaths and injuries that take soldiers out of battle indefinitely—in the nearly three-year-old war. Russia is still winning. Its much larger population and more effective recruitment have allowed it to replace losses more effectively, and to gradually push forward, said Franz-Stefan Gady, a Vienna-based military analyst. “The fat man grows thinner. But the thin man dies,” Mr. Gady said.

China Pushes Neighboring Countries to Rein In Scams After Rare Public Outcry (WSJ) Authorities in Beijing are ramping up pressure on neighbors to rein in cyberscams after the high-profile kidnapping of a young Chinese actor who says he was trafficked into a criminal enclave in Myanmar. Parts of war-torn Myanmar and other countries in Southeast Asia have become havens for sprawling scam compounds, where hundreds of thousands of people are forced to swindle billions of dollars out of victims in the U.S., China and elsewhere. The scammers, many of whom have themselves been duped and effectively enslaved by criminal gangs, often ensnare victims in fake relationships and persuade them to pour money into bogus investments. This week, the Chinese government called an unusual crisis meeting in the southern city of Kunming with officials from other countries in the region. The officials from Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China pledged to arrest ringleaders, shut down so-called scam dens and free victims of human trafficking, according to a report on Chinese state television. China has in recent years arrested tens of thousands of people suspected of involvement in the scams, including in raids of scam compounds led by Chinese law enforcement abroad. But Beijing has been criticized for not doing enough to stop the practice, as many of the alleged crimelords behind the scams are Chinese.

IDF said bombed apartments were Hezbollah base, but most killed were civilians (BBC) Julia Ramadan was terrified—the war between Israel and Hezbollah was escalating and she’d had a nightmare that her family home was being bombed. When she sent her brother a panicked voice note from her apartment in Beirut, he encouraged her to join him in Ain El Delb, a sleepy village in southern Lebanon. “It’s safe here,” he reassured her. “Come stay with us until things calm down.” Ashraf was confident their family’s apartment block would be a haven, so Julia joined him. But the next day, on 29 September, it was subject to this conflict’s deadliest single Israeli attack. Struck by Israeli missiles, the entire six-storey building collapsed, killing 73 people. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says the building was targeted because it was a Hezbollah “terrorist command centre” and it “eliminated” a Hezbollah commander. It added that “the overwhelming majority” of those killed in the strike were “confirmed to be terror operatives”. But a BBC Eye investigation verified the identity of 68 of the 73 people killed in the attack and uncovered evidence suggesting just six were linked to Hezbollah’s military wing. None of those we identified appeared to hold a senior rank. The BBC’s World Service also found that the other 62 were civilians—23 of them children.

Israel to remain in Lebanon another 30 days (Foreign Policy) The Israeli security cabinet authorized the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) late Thursday to remain in some areas of southern Lebanon past the 60-day withdrawal deadline set to expire on Sunday. Under the terms of the Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire agreement approved last November, both sides must fully remove all of their troops from the region by Jan. 26 to reinstate the borders laid out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Israel says that it must remain in the occupied territory because the Lebanese military has failed to prevent Hezbollah from operating there. Israel still occupies around 70 percent of the territory that it captured after its Oct. 1, 2024, incursion into the country, and wants its forces to remain in Lebanon for at least another 30 days.

Freedom is bittersweet for Palestinians released from Israeli jails (AP) When Dania Hanatsheh was released from an Israeli jail this week and dropped off by bus into a sea of jubilant Palestinians in Ramallah, it was an uncomfortable déjà vu. After nearly five months of detention, it was the second time the 22-year-old woman had been freed as part of a deal between Israel and Hamas to pause the war in Gaza. Hanatsheh’s elation at being free again is tinged with sadness about the devastation in Gaza, she said, as well as uncertainty about whether she could be detained in the future—a common feeling in her community. “Palestinian families are prepared to be arrested at any moment,” said Hanatsheh, one of 90 women and teenagers released by Israel during the first phase of the ceasefire deal. “You feel helpless like you can’t do anything to protect yourself.” On neither occasion was she told why she’d been arrested, she said. A list maintained by Israel’s justice ministry says Hanatsheh was detained for “supporting terror,” although she was never charged or given a trial and doesn’t belong to any militant group.

When Can We Return? The Eternal Palestinian Question (Daraj/Lebanon) In 1948, Israel and its gangs occupied Barbara village, following the fall of the city and the expulsion of its residents. One day in November of that year, a six-year-old girl fled the village on her father’s shoulders. They sheltered in one of the city’s refugee camps. Twenty years later, the father died. The girl was my grandmother. She waited to return one day also on her father’s shoulders. “Tomorrow, when we return,” was the sentence she repeated over and over when she was telling the story. “I went out on my father’s shoulder, I don’t remember what the weather was like, whether it was summer or winter,” she used to say. All she was remembering was that her father’s shoulder was her only source of security. But she grew, and became a grandmother without returning to her home village. She died in February 2023 at her home in Gaza City. My nephew, displaced a year ago in Gaza, recently told me, “Tomorrow, we want to go back to Gaza.” That is the question since 1948. Generation after generation, we have inherited that question: When will we return? The Israel-Hamas war displaced—often multiple times—more than 90% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people. About 1 million people were forced to flee Gaza City and northern Gaza, to southern Wadi Gaza. Israel’s occupation practices in Gaza are the same acts and policies, starvation, displacement, eviction and prevention: practices four generations of Palestinians in Gaza have experienced.

Screen breaks offer relief from work-related eye strain (AP) The trouble started every day at around 3 p.m., after Cathy Higgins had spent five or six hours staring at an array of computer screens at her desk. Her university job overseeing research projects involved peering closely at numbers and details on contracts, applications and budgets. “My vision was so blurry, I couldn’t even see what was on the screen, and I was squinting so much that I could not function,” Higgins said. Digital screens are pervasive, not only at work but in our homes, schools and shops. An estimated 104 million Americans of working age spend more than seven hours a day in front of screens, according to the American Optometric Association. All that screen time can take a toll. Too much exposure to screens can lead to dry or watery eyes, fuzzy vision and headaches. It can also lead to myopia, or nearsightedness, in some people, especially children. Take a break every 20 minutes from sitting at a computer. During the break, focus your eyes on something that’s about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Pausing close-up work and looking at something in the distance gives tired, tight muscles time to relax. It’s good to move around and go outside, but when you don’t have time for an outdoor walk, frequent 20-second breaks can help.

[ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly]

By Mattathias Schwartz and Mike Baker

Attorneys general from 22 states sued President Trump in two federal district courts on Tuesday to block an executive order that refuses to recognize the U.S.-born children of unauthorized immigrants as citizens, the opening salvo in what promises to be a long legal battle over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

Eighteen states and two cities, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., challenged the order in Federal District Court in Massachusetts, arguing that birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment is “automatic” and that neither the president nor Congress has the constitutional authority to revise it. Four other states filed a second lawsuit in the Western District of Washington.

Mr. Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship was “extraordinary and extreme,” said New Jersey’s attorney general, Matthew J. Platkin, who led one of the legal efforts along with the attorneys general from California and Massachusetts.

“Presidents are powerful,” he said, “but he is not a king. He cannot rewrite the Constitution with a stroke of the pen.”

Nick Brown, the attorney general in Washington, said Mr. Trump’s order would deny citizenship to 150,000 newborn children each year.

“It would render them undocumented at birth. It could even render them citizens to no country at all,” said Mr. Brown, whose state was joined by Oregon, Arizona and Illinois.

On Monday, in the opening hours of his second term as president, Mr. Trump signed an order declaring that future children born to undocumented immigrants would no longer be treated as citizens. The order would extend even to the children of some mothers in the country legally but temporarily, such as foreign students or tourists.

Mr. Trump’s executive order asserts that the children of such noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States, and thus aren’t covered by the 14th Amendment’s longstanding constitutional guarantee.

The order flew in the face of more than 100 years of legal precedent, when the courts and the executive branch interpreted the 14th Amendment as guaranteeing citizenship to every baby born in the United States, regardless of their parents’ legal status. The courts recognize only a few exceptions — such as the children of accredited diplomats, and children born in U.S. territory that is under the control of an occupying army.

“It’s so outlandish that it’s almost assured to be struck down,” predicted Akhil Reed Amar, a professor at Yale Law School, who expressed shock at the order’s breadth. Even former Vice President Kamala Harris, whose mother was a foreign student when she was born, might be impacted. “The person who drafted this order was not doing Donald Trump any favors.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Mr. Trump’s order would mean that more than 20,000 newborn children would lose their citizenship each year in his state alone. Mr. Trump is “trying to keep a promise that he made during the campaign,” Mr. Bonta said. “We’re trying to keep a promise to uphold the law.”

A spokesman for Mr. Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There are signs the judiciary could be divided on the issue. Judge James C. Ho, whom Mr. Trump nominated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, has been more sympathetic to some of Mr. Trump’s arguments, likening unauthorized immigrants to an invading army. That comparison has also been made by lawyers for the State of Texas and another declaration by Mr. Trump that illegal crossings at the southern border amount to an “ongoing invasion.”

Still, that appeals court does not hear cases originating in Massachusetts, and other courts are unlikely to even consider the Trump administration’s arguments about constitutional interpretation without a new law from Congress, said Gerard Magliocca, a professor at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He cited recent cases where the Supreme Court ruled that the executive branch can’t single-handedly address the biggest political controversies, known as “major questions.”

“If that’s true of student loans or Covid-19 rules or whatever, you’d think it would be true of citizenship as well,” he said. “The states are right and the courts are probably going to agree with them.”

The plaintiffs in the suit filed in Massachusetts included New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Michigan, Colorado, Delaware, Nevada, Hawaii, Maryland, Maine, Minnesota, New Mexico, Vermont, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Additional suits were filed by a group led by the American Civil Liberties Union in New Hampshire, and another by Lawyers for Civil Rights.

The order on birthright citizenship does not take effect for 30 days, unlike Mr. Trump’s first-term attempt to ban travel to the United States from several Muslim-majority countries, which led to airport chaos. The timing means that executive-branch agencies can work through how to implement the order while the courts decide on its legality.

Mr. Brown, the Washington state attorney general, said his team continues to review Mr. Trump’s executive orders and expects the state will be involved in more litigation in the future. But, he added, the state is not going to sue over objectionable-but-legal moves by the Trump administration, such as pardoning most of those charged for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“I have no interest in continuing to sue the president of the United States, whether it’s Donald Trump or whoever the next president is, but it is my oath to defend the Constitution,” Mr. Brown said.

Mr. Trump’s birthright citizenship order, he added, was “plainly illegal.”

[lboogie1906]

Latasha Harlins (January 1, 1976 – March 16, 1991) was a girl who was fatally shot at age 15 by Soon Ja Du, a 49-year-old Korean American convenience store owner. Du was tried and convicted of voluntary manslaughter over the killing of her, based in part on security camera footage. The judge sentenced Du to 10 years in state prison but the sentence was suspended and the defendant was instead placed on five years’ probation with 400 hours of community service payment of $500 restitution, and her funeral costs. The sentencing was regarded as an extremely light sentence, and a failed appeal contributed to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, especially the targeting of Koreatown. The killing of Harlins came 13 days after the videotaped beating of Rodney King.

She was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Crystal Harlins and Sylvester “Vester” Acoff Sr. She had one younger brother and one younger sister. The family moved from Illinois to South Central Los Angeles in 1981. In 1982, when she was six years old, her father took a job in a steel foundry while her mother worked as a waitress in a local tavern.

On November 27, 1985, her mother was brutally shot dead outside a Los Angeles nightclub by Cora Mae Anderson, Acoff’s new girlfriend, leaving her and her younger siblings in the care of their maternal grandmother, Ruth Harlins. In middle school, ran track and was on the honor roll. At the time of her death, she was a student at Westchester High School. She had dreams of becoming a lawyer and had a love for basketball. She was known as the “neighborhood big sister”. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[yourreddancer]

When I worked doing Appeals for a major hospital, for insurance company denials, I called Ambetter AmWORST!!!!

In a federal lawsuit filed in Illinois that same year, Ambetter customers alleged that Centene companies “intentionally and knowingly misrepresented” the number of in-network providers by publishing inaccurate directories. Centene lawyers wrote in a court filing that the company “denies that it made any misrepresentations to consumers.” The case is ongoing.

And in 2021, San Diego’s city attorney sued several Centene subsidiaries for “publishing and advertising provider information they know to be false and misleading” — over a quarter of those subsidiaries’ in-network psychiatrists were unable to see new patients, the complaint said. The city is appealing after a judge sided with Centene on technical grounds.

[appealcounsel]

Illinois Appeal Lawyer | Appeal Counsel

Searching for an experienced Illinois appeal lawyer? Appeal Counsel is your trusted partner for navigating the complexities of appellate law. Our dedicated team specializes in appeals across Illinois, offering expert guidance and representation to ensure your case is presented effectively. With a proven track record and deep understanding of appellate procedures, Appeal Counsel is committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for our clients. Trust us to be your advocate in the appellate courts of Illinois. For more details click https://www.appealcounsel.com/appellate-law/illinois-appeals

[xtruss]

Attorney General James Urges U.S. Senate to Confirm Adeel Mangi to Federal Appeals Bench!

AG James and Coalition of Attorneys General Call for Senate Confirmation of Mangi, Who Would Be First Muslim Judge on Federal Appeals Court

— April 20, 2024

Adeel Abudllah Mangi appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Born: 1977 (Age 46–47) Karachi, Pakistan. Education: Pembroke College, Oxford (BA), City Law School (PGDip), Harvard University (LLM). Adeel Abdullah Mangi is a Pakistani-American lawyer who was nominated to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Joe Biden in November 2023. If confirmed, Mangi would be the first Muslim American to serve on a federal appeals court and the third Muslim-American federal judge overall.

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 11 attorneys general today urged the U.S. Senate to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominee Adeel Mangi to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mangi has broad support from legal and law enforcement communities and has decades of experience as a litigator, earning him the highest rating for a judicial nominee by the American Bar Association for his integrity, judicial temperament, and competence. If confirmed, Mangi would be the first Muslim American to sit on a federal appeals court.

“Adeel Mangi is an experienced litigator, knowledgeable jurist, and strong defender of justice who would administer the rule of law equally and fairly,” said Attorney General James. “Attacks against Mangi to derail his nomination have been Islamophobic, offensive, and misguided. Our justice system should reflect the rich diversity of our nation. I am proud to stand with my colleagues today to denounce the hateful attacks against Mangi’s nomination and to call for his confirmation.”

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Attorney General James and the coalition note that despite Mangi’s many qualifications, he is currently subject to an orchestrated campaign of anti-Muslim bias that includes dangerous claims that he is antisemitic and anti-law enforcement. The letter argues that at a time of rising hate against Muslim Americans, unfounded attacks such as those against Mangi are unacceptable and should be rejected outright.

Attorney General James and the coalition conclude their letter to Senate leadership by writing that Mangi possesses the fair-mindedness, commitment to equal justice for all, and temperament befitting of a federal judge. They urge senators to be on the right side of history.

Joining Attorney General James in sending today’s letter are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

— Letitia James, New York State Attorney General

[brownstonelawil]

Role of a criminal appeal lawyer in presenting your case in Orlando

The long fight in criminal cases makes you more tired and disappointed when the decision comes against you. After a long fight, in the court, a decision that is against you makes you disappointed and sometimes hopeless. Well lucky for you that it is not the end of the road. There is more to fight and more to hope for with appeal lawyers in Orlando.

The American legal system does not leave you in a dead-end situation rather it opens a door for you to have a chance to give it another fight. The right to appeal against the decision of the lower court in a higher court is your way to fight for your rights once more.

The criminal appellate lawyers in the city of Orlando working with the Brownstone Law appeal lawyers are providing these services to give successful court fights to protect the right of their clients. Here, in this short writing, we intend to discuss some of the understandings of appeal cases when you receive a not guilty verdict.

So, let’s dive in…

What is an appeal? When the jury has given their verdict of not guilty, it means that they have made their decision with the best of their ability and understanding of the relevant law. However, to express that the court may have missed some legal points or might have failed to take some evidence into consideration that could have taken the decision to the other side gives you a way to ask for a review of the decision from a higher court.

This is called the right to appeal the verdict against you. If you feel that the outcome of the case is not according to the law and the court has made some legal errors in making the decision or you were not given a fair trial, then you can exercise the right of appeal.

You can hire a professional appeal lawyer in Orlando who is part of an experienced and reputed law firm such as Brownstone Appeal Lawyers, to present your case in the appellate court for a better and more favourable outcome.

What will the appellate court do? The appellate court is the court that hears your appeal to review the lower court decision for any error of law. It does not go through the whole trial process but only reviews your case and its decision that was made in the lower court. It ensures that the appellant was given a fair trial to reach this decision or if was there any legal flaw in making a judgment or ignorance of the evidence presented with arguments given in the court.

The judges of the appellate court take all the things into consideration that have influenced the decision including the testimonies of the witnesses. The arguments presented by an appellate lawyer in Orlando proved the basis for direction where to look for errors of law in the decision of the lower court.

The Appellate Lawyer The appeal process involves a complex set of arguments and presentation that makes your case strong to bring a favourable outcome. The drafting of arguments is what makes the case legally strong and winnable. An appeal lawyer, therefore, is a very important professional legal representation on your behalf to put these legal complications in front of the court to get a fresh trial or overturn the decision of the lower court.

Appeal lawyers in Orlando are very knowledgeable and well-versed in law for criminal appeal cases to get better and favourable outcomes of the appeal cases in the state of Florida. The whole team of Brownstone Appeal lawyers in Orlando is experts in handling appeal cases of all kinds to get a fair and legally error-free decision from the appellate courts.

They first review the case by themselves to look for the errors of law and then draft arguments based on these points to present in court. When they have studied the decision of the lower court, on which they have to file an appeal, the first thing they will put in while drafting the arguments is that the court has failed to provide a fair trial in your case.

The Possible Outcomes of the Appeal The appellate lawyer files the appeal with their drafted brief and arguments on the basis of which the appellate court starts reviewing the decision of the lower court. The brief presents all the legal errors of the decision while the oral arguments from both sides expound on these outlined errors of law. This makes it easier for the appellate judges to come to the right decision and see if there is an error made in the original decision of the court on which is appeal is being heard.

The court can come up with two possible decisions in general;

There was an error of law made in the original decision There was no error in the lower court’s decision

If your appeal lawyer manages to present your case successfully and is able to convince the appellate court that a legal error has been made in the decision, the court may come up with two possible outcomes:

The appellate court may order a fresh trial of your case The appellate court may overturn the decision and you are set free

These are the two favourable outcomes for your case with the latter being the best you can hope for. Our appeal lawyers in Orlando have seen many favourable outcomes and have seen the overturned decision in a maximum number of their cases.

A Third Kind of Outcome Talking about the outcomes of the appeal cases, there is another side of the outcomes of appeal cases that you do not want to hear. The appellate court may not find your claim of errors of law made by the lower court and uphold the original decision. This will result in the ‘not guilty’ verdict stand.

In Orlando, Brownstone Law appeal lawyers have a strong team of experienced lawyers who are determined to give their one hundred percent to make your appeal case successful. If you are charged with some criminal offence and want to give fight for your rights even after losing the case in a court of law, remember, it is not the end of the road.

Our team of appeal lawyers in Orlando is fully capable with a huge amount of experience at their hands to represent you in an appellate court and get a favourable decision. The complications and complexities of criminal law demand serious representation in putting your case in a court of law.

Brownstone Law Appeal Lawyers take their job very seriously and every client is a challenge for us to keep our success ratio on top. Take advantage of our expertise and knowledge combined with years of experience to put your case in a winning situation.

ORIGINALLY FOUND ON- Source: Brownstone Law(https://www.brownstonelaw.com/blog/role-of-a-criminal-appeal-lawyer-in-presenting-your-case-in-orlando/)

[driverdefens]

Defend Against Criminal Defense Appeal With an Experienced Attorney

Championing justice, Cheronis & Parente LLC excels as your trusted criminal defense appeal attorney. With a relentless pursuit of fairness, their seasoned legal team crafts strategic and compelling appeals to secure the rights and freedom of their clients. They navigate the complexities of the appellate process with precision, leveraging their deep expertise in criminal defense. Contact them today to learn more.

[californiaprelawland]

Molina v. Book

By Catherine Kavalauskas, University of California Davis Class of 2026

November 23, 2023

Molina v. Book is an ongoing Supreme Court case that rests on an infringement of citizens’ First Amendment rights. More specifically, the case hinges upon an individual’s ability to observe police activity and peacefully assemble. 

In summary, Sarah Molina and Christina Vogel, two attorneys, attended a protest in St. Louis as legal observers – the protest surrounded a fatal police shooting. The two women attended wearing bright green hats, with the “National Lawyers Guild Legal Observer” written across the front. During the protest, local police ordered a dispersal order. However, when the crowd refused to leave, the officers administered smoke canisters to the group of protesters. Vogel and Molina remained at the protest, recording these events. However, once the officers switched to tear gas, Molina and Vogel left the protest and returned to Molina’s home located several blocks away. Later, while standing outside Molina’s home, police in an armored vehicle drove by her house and threw multiple tear gas canisters at the women (2).  

In response, Molina and Vogel sued the officers, their supervisor, the city of St. Louis, and St. Clair County, Illinois. The women argued that police officers had violated their First Amendment rights. By definition, the Constitution’s First Amendment prohibits the exercise of free speech, the press, or the right of people to assemble peaceably. Furthermore, Molina and Vogel defended their right to publicly observe police activity as they, “argued that the police retaliated against them for participating as legal observers in the protest” (3). The officers attempted to deny shooting tear gas canisters at Molina and Vogel, however, an after-action report proved otherwise (4).   

Despite their efforts, Molina and Vogel’s case was dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The court ruled that words printed on clothing don’t result in First Amendment protection unless a “particularized message” is expressed. Additionally, the court argued that the “right to passively observe law enforcement activity in public” is not clearly or blatantly established in the U.S. Constitution (5).  

Regardless of the court’s ruling, Vogel and Molina continued to defend their argument; stating that no matter if their hats expressed a “particularized message,” the words were ultimately a form of “pure speech” and thus, are protected by the First Amendment. Furthermore, the two women also countered that any and all individuals have a right to observe police in public. Moreover, dissatisfied with the court’s ruling, the women petitioned that the U.S. Supreme Court hear the case. They filed their case on October 12, 2023; in court, Molina and Vogel will be represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (6). 

______________________________________________________________

1) Wikipedia. “Seal of the United States Supreme Court”. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Seal_of_the_United_States_Supreme_Court.svg . 17 Nov 2023.  

2) Aclu.org. “Molina v. Book”. https://www.aclu.org/cases/molina-v-book. 17 Nov 2023.  

3) Aclu.org. “Molina v. Book”. https://www.aclu.org/cases/molina-v-book. 17 Nov 2023.  

4) Justia. “Sarah Molina v. Daniel Book, No. 21-1830”. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca8/21-1830/21-1830-2023-02-02.html . 17 Nov 2023. 

5) Rcfp.org . “Molina v. Book”. https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/molina-v-book/. 17 Nov 2023.  

6) Rcfp.org . “Molina v. Book”. https://www.rcfp.org/briefs-comments/molina-v-book/. 17 Nov 2023.