Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 Congress delegates authority to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to place inmates. In determining inmate placement, the BOP must consider five individualized factors before selecting a suitable penal facility for each inmate. In 2005, the BOP...
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure requires a plaintiff to plead the basis for the court’s jurisdiction in his or her complaint. Rule 15(a) allows a plaintiff to amend his or her complaint as a matter of right, provided that...
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 In response to increasing acts of piracy on commercial airlines, Congress enacted the Federal Aviation Act (FAA), which established regulations to improve and maintain safety standards in commercial aviation. Although the FAA includes an...
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 At times in United States history, religious freedom and the right to a public education have been at odds, and these disputes have frequently spilled into the federal courts. Particularly, federal courts have often heard claims from parents...
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 A 1962 Department of Defense (DOD) directive authorizes the discharge from service of military members with religiously based conscientious objections to war. A conscientious objection is “a firm, fixed and sincere objection to participation...
Feb 1, 2009 | Case Comments, Number 2, Print Edition, Volume 42
First Circuit Review 2009 Courts employ plain-error analysis when reviewing unpreserved errors in a criminal trial, but apply harmless-error analysis for errors preserved through objection. Although most constitutional errors are subject to harmless-error analysis,...