District Court, D. Nebraska — appointed by William Jefferson Clinton
CITIZENS IN CHARGE v. Gale
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2011-08-30 · cited 9×
The case concerned a challenge by advocacy organizations, voters, and the Libertarian Party to a Nebraska statute (Neb. Rev. Stat. § 32-629(2)) that limited petition circulation for ballot initiatives and party formation to state residents only. Plaintiffs argued the residency requirement infringed their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to political speech and association by raising costs, limiting access to experienced circulators, and preventing nonresidents from witnessing signatures. After trial, the court reviewed evidence of increased burdens on petition efforts, minimal documented fraud by out-of-state circulators, and legislative history reflecting concerns over paid circulators, then determined that the law imposed severe burdens on core political rights without sufficient justification tied to the state's interests.
electionsfree speechcivil rights
United States v. Burghardt
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2011-06-21
The case involved the sentencing of a defendant who pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), with the government seeking a 15-year mandatory minimum enhancement under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) based on three prior convictions, including a 1993 attempted burglary. The defendant challenged whether the attempted burglary qualified as a violent felony under the ACCA. The court held that the ACCA enhancement did not apply, as the attempted burglary conviction did not meet the statutory definition of a violent felony. It therefore calculated the sentence under the Guidelines without the career-offender provisions, resulting in a total offense level of 23 and a range of 70-87 months, and imposed a sentence of 70 months' imprisonment plus five years of supervised release after considering the § 3553(a) factors. The reasoning centered on Supreme Court precedent interpreting the ACCA's residual clause to require conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another, which the attempted burglary did not satisfy.
criminal lawguns
Hastings v. Papillion-LaVista School District
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2011-01-25
This case involves an employment discrimination claim brought by Patricia Hastings, a special education paraeducator, against the Papillion-La Vista School District after her termination in December 2008. Hastings alleged violations of the ADA, ADEA, and Nebraska age discrimination law, claiming her firing for falsifying time sheets was actually motivated by her temporary standing restriction, history of cancer, and age. The defendant moved for summary judgment, arguing Hastings could not show she was disabled under the ADA as it existed at the time or establish a prima facie case of age discrimination. The court denied the motion, finding genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the district's stated reason for termination was a pretext for discrimination, including evidence of how other employees were treated and perceptions of Hastings' medical conditions.
labor & employmentcivil rights
United States v. Correa
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2010-10-27
In United States v. Correa, the defendant was charged with possession with intent to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine and moved to suppress evidence and statements obtained during a drug interdiction encounter with officers on a Greyhound bus in Omaha. The magistrate judge recommended denying the motion, but the district court conducted a de novo review of the objection, focusing on whether the officers' actions amounted to a seizure under the Fourth Amendment and whether the defendant's consent to search was voluntary. The court examined the officers' plainclothes approach, boarding tactics, questioning about tickets and travel, and the defendant's nervous behavior and inconsistent statements, while noting that common interdiction indicators like cash tickets from source cities are consistent with innocent travel and do not establish reasonable suspicion. The analysis referenced Eighth Circuit precedents holding that such factors alone are insufficient to justify a non-consensual encounter or search.
criminal lawprocedure
Streck, Inc. v. Research & Diagnostic Systems, Inc.
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2010-09-30 · cited 2×
This case is Streck's appeal under 35 U.S.C. § 146 from a PTO Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences decision in Interference No. 105,522 that awarded priority of invention for a hematology control composition to R&D and canceled Streck's patents. The district court consolidated review with a related infringement action and considered the full trial record, including over fifty additional exhibits and live witness testimony not presented to the Board. Applying a preponderance of the evidence standard, the court examined the parties' respective dates of conception and reduction to practice for the count (a stabilized reticulocyte component combined with a fixed white blood cell component capable of a five-part differential), as well as issues of abandonment, suppression, or concealment. The opinion sets out findings on the inventors' activities, the intended purpose of the integrated control, and the sufficiency of the evidence supporting each side's priority claims.
business & regulatoryprocedure
United States v. Magallanes
District Court, D. Nebraska · 2010-08-03 · cited 2×
In United States v. Magallanes, the defendant was charged with two counts of possessing methamphetamine and cocaine with intent to distribute under 21 U.S.C. § 841. The district court reviewed the government's objection to the magistrate judge's findings and recommendation granting the defendant's motion to suppress evidence obtained from a November 2009 traffic stop on Interstate 80, where a deputy cited brief crossings onto the highway shoulder by an out-of-state vehicle as the basis for the stop. The court conducted a de novo review, agreed with the magistrate's factual and legal findings including the deputy's lack of credibility, overruled the objections, and granted suppression of the evidence from the stop and subsequent search.
criminal lawprocedure