Select Page

Constitutional Law—First Circuit Questions Correctional Facility’s Blanket Ban on Inmate Preaching—Spratt v. Rhode Island Department of Corrections, 482 F.3d 33 (1st Cir. 2007)

First Circuit Review 2008 The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) protects the religious freedom of individuals confined to government institutions.  Enacted in 2000, RLUIPA prohibits mental and correctional facilities from imposing...

Commercial and Consumer Credit Law—First Circuit Properly Construes Holder in Due Course Doctrine Under Massachusetts Law—Jelmoli Holding, Inc. v. Raymond James Financial Services, Inc., 470 F.3d 14 (1st Cir. 2006)

First Circuit Review 2008 Under Massachusetts law, a holder in due course takes a negotiable instrument free from the claims of others; however, when the taker obtains the instrument with notice of another’s claim to the instrument, notice will negate the taker’s...

Criminal Law—First Circuit Upholds Constitutionality of Juvenile Convictions as Predicate Offenses Under the Armed Career Criminal Act—United States v. Matthews, 498 F.3d 25 (1st Cir. 2007)

First Circuit Review 2008 The Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) is a recidivist statute that punishes repeated criminal behavior.  Specifically, the ACCA enhances the minimum penalty for those who unlawfully possess firearms and have a history of prior felony...

Constitutional Law—Diminished Expectations of Privacy and the Human Genome: Circuits Align on Mandatory DNA Profiling of Convicted Felons—United States v. Weikert, 504 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2007)

First Circuit Review 2008 Pursuant to congressional mandate, individuals convicted of certain predicate offenses must submit to mandatory deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extraction. Such an intrusion on personal autonomy implicates the Fourth Amendment, which affords all...

Labor and Employment Law—A Deferential Standard for Administrators Within a Statute Meant to Protect Workers—Bard v. Boston Shipping Association, 471 F.3d 229 (1st Cir. 2006)

First Circuit Review 2008 The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) was enacted in 1974 to protect the millions of Americans affected by employer-funded pension plans.  The denial of pension and disability benefits to employees by plan administrators has...