Where the Department of Homeland Security’s new definition of “public charge” in the Immigration and Nationality Act, or INA, was permissible, a nonprofit’s challenge to the definition failed because it could not show a likelihood of success on its claim. ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Constitutional Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge Robert B. King

Charges against a Virginia man who was subjected to a warrantless search and seizure will be dropped after a full panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the search violated in the Fourth Amendment in a ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Henry F. Floyd Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge Julius N. Richardson Search and seizure

A majority of the en banc court refused to allow the suspicionless stop of the defendant following a report of “shots fired.” The stop was not justified by exigent circumstances and thus was not reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Background ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge Albert Diaz Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Judge James A. Wynn Jr. Judge Julius N. Richardson Judge Roger L. Gregory Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker

Where the government opted to not make an initial closing argument, it should not have been allowed to make a rebuttal closing argument after the defendant’s closing. But because the defendant did not show he was prejudiced by the altered ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A trust failed to remove the original corporate trustee after it merged with another bank. The trust agreement provided the original corporate trustee could only be removed for cause, and after the merger, the new combined bank stood in the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Contract Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Although two stores suffered property damage while law enforcement was executing search warrants, the damage did not rise to the level of a Fourth Amendment violation because it was not “major” and was plausibly connected to the execution of the ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Rights Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Where a defendant pleads guilty to aiding-and-abetting the distribution of a controlled substance, the sentencing court may consider drugs possessed or consumed for “personal use.” In a case of first impression, the court held there is no personal use exception ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Where a company has evaded paying damages stemming from its breach of a licensing agreement, an anti-clawback injunction preventing collected funds from being sent to the United Kingdom was within the court’s authority, respected comity and was procedurally sound. A ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Civil Practice Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

A motion to suppress a “substantial” quantity of illegal drugs discovered after the defendant was stopped at a traffic checkpoint was correctly denied because the stop was for a proper purpose and the officers acted reasonably. Background In July 2014, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Criminal Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III

Where the Federal Power Act, or FPA, requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, or FERC, to take steps before it can bring claims against those charged with manipulation of the energy markets, the five-year statute of limitations for filing suit ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Administrative Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III