8th circuit court of appeals judges

Home Daily News First execution using fentanyl carried out… Death Penalty By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted August 14, 2018, 1:44 pm CDT Photo by CACorrections via Wikimedia Commons. Nebraska inmate Carey Dean Moore became the first person to be executed with the drug fentanyl on Tuesday after a federal appeals court rejected a drug company’s challenge to two other drugs used in the four-drug lethal cocktail. Moore, 60, was executed for killing two cab drivers in 1997, report the Associated Press, USA Today, the Omaha World-Herald, NPR and the Washington Post. Moore mouthed the words “I love you” to his family about an hour before he died, according to tweets by a KLKN reporter. Witnesses said Moore coughed before dying, but there did not appear to be other complications. Moore released a statement admitting guilt while asserting that at least four others on Nebraska’s death row claim to be innocent. The four drugs used in Moore’s execution were … [Read more...] about First execution using fentanyl carried out after 8th Circuit rejects appeal

Home Daily News PACs have freedom of speech and association,… Election Law By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted September 12, 2018, 8:35 am CDT IQoncept/Shutterstock.com. A federal appeals court has ruled that a Missouri law banning donations between political action committees violates the First Amendment. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday, report the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Associated Press and the Constitutional Law Prof Blog. The ban “limits the donor-PAC’s speech and associational rights under the First Amendment,” the court said in an opinion by Circuit Judge Steven Colloton. Voters had approved a state constitutional ban on PAC-to-PAC donations in November 2016. The Missouri Ethics Commission, which investigates violations of campaign finance laws, had contended the donation ban was needed to enforce caps on individual contributions that were also adopted in the November referendum. The commission said the ban also … [Read more...] about PACs have freedom of speech and association, 8th Circuit says in allowing transfers between PACs

Home Daily News State and governor can’t be sued over public… Public Defenders By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted January 15, 2019, 1:45 pm CST Missouri and its governor have immunity in a suit claiming indigent defendants in the state aren’t receiving meaningful representation in violation of the Sixth Amendment, a federal appeals court has ruled. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis ruled Jan. 10 in a would-be class action filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, report the Columbia Daily Tribune and KCUR.org. The panel opinion by Circuit Judge Duane Benton said the governor and the state have sovereign immunity, and the governor also has legislative immunity from a claim that he wrongly withheld appropriated funds. Former Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon had withheld about $7 million in public defender funds in 2016. The state’s new governor, Eric Greitens, did not release the money. The suit had alleged the state failed to provide enough … [Read more...] about State and governor can’t be sued over public defender caseloads, 8th Circuit says

Home Daily News 8th Circuit rejects lawyer's challenge to… Bar Associations By Debra Cassens Weiss September 3, 2019, 1:52 pm CDT Image from Wikimedia Commons. A federal appeals court has rejected a lawyer’s challenge to North Dakota’s procedures for collecting mandatory bar dues. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday after the U.S. Supreme Court told the appeals court to reconsider an earlier ruling against Arnold Fleck in light of the Supreme Court’s June 2018 decision Janus v. AFSCME. The National Law Journal, Bloomberg Law and Law360 have coverage. Janus held that requiring public employees to pay union dues for collective bargaining violates their free speech rights under the First Amendment. Janus was decided 28 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Keller v. State Bar of California that compulsory state bars can use lawyer dues to fund activities to regulate the legal profession and improve the quality of legal services, … [Read more...] about 8th Circuit rejects lawyer’s challenge to mandatory bar dues

Home Daily News Animal park must move lemurs and tigers because… Animal Law By Debra Cassens Weiss Posted April 17, 2018, 8:00 am CDT Lemurs./Shutterstock.com. A former zoo in Iowa must transfer its lemurs and tigers to other facilities because of a violation by the Endangered Species Act, a federal appeals court has ruled. The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal magistrate judge’s decision to transfer the animals from the former Cricket Hollow Zoo in Manchester to facilities in Wisconsin and Indiana because of inadequate care. How Appealing links to coverage by Courthouse News Service and last Wednesday’s opinion. The decision upholds one by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jon Scoles of Waterloo, Iowa. Scoles had ruled the zoo violated the Endangered Species Act by keeping lemurs, a social animal, in isolation and failing to develop an enrichment plan for them. Scoles had also found the zoo violated the act because it did not provide clean … [Read more...] about Animal park must move lemurs and tigers because of Endangered Species Act violation, court says