Category Archives: Florida Court Rulings
Appellate Court Strikes Down Gender-Based Pay Inequality
On April 9th, a U.S. appeals court ruled that employers cannot rely on workers’ salary histories in order to justify gender-based pay disparities. The Court based its decision on the federal Equal Pay Act, passed in 1963, deciding that Congress did not intend for discriminatory pay policies from the past to justify continuing pay… Read More »
State Supreme Court Hears Key Case on Defendants’ Access to Social Media to Build Case
On March 6th, the California Supreme Court heard a case that could have broad implications for the rest of the country regarding the ability for criminal defendants to access social media information in order to build the best, most comprehensive defense, as is their legal right. Specifically, the case could determine just how much… Read More »
Florida Supreme Court Rejects 10 Death Row Appeals In Spite Of High Court Ruling
In a somewhat unusual—perhaps even arguably suspicious move—on January 22nd, the Florida Supreme Court rejected appeals made by 10 death row inmates, releasing 10 nearly identical rulings. Each of the cases involved inmates challenging their sentencing because juries did not unanimously recommend execution in each of the cases. The appeals were linked to a… Read More »
Appeals Court Denies Potential Fourth Amendment Violation
In a recent civil rights dispute, a United States Court of Appeals ruled in the case of United States v. Vargas. In a traffic stop in Alabama, a police officer discovered methamphetamine and cocaine in the vehicle of the defendant, Oswaldo Vargas. Mr. Vargas was ultimately charged with “conspiracy to possess with intent to… Read More »
Court of Appeals Upholds 50 Year Sentence for Child Porn
The United States Court of Appeals recently upheld the 50-year sentence for a man convicted on child pornography charges. The defendant, Douglass Scheels, was charged and ultimately convicted of one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of production of child pornography. The district court imposed the 50-year sentence after determining that… Read More »
Phone Passcodes No Longer Safe in a Florida Court of Law
In 2014, a Virginia District Court ruled that phone passcodes were protected by the Fifth Amendment, while fingerprint IDs were not. The court’s reasoning was that those accused of crimes could not be compelled to incriminate themselves. In 2015, the federal district court in Eastern Pennsylvania upheld that ruling. Recently, however, a Florida state… Read More »
