Judges, federal

Contract law is a combination of common law and statute law. Common law is judges law, which is continually being revised as important cases come up in the courts. State or federal governments make statute law. 

In October 2002, a US federal judge ruled that three generic companies had infringed on AstraZeneca s patent. However, a fourth company that has its own patent for coating the drug was cleared to market the drug in generic form. 

In the August 2006 decision of a suit between the US federal government and major US cigarette manufacturers, federal Judge Gladys Kessler concluded that tobacco manufacturers ... 

At the time Anthony lived, women did not have the right to vote. Because she voted in the 1872 election, a U.S. Marshall arrested Anthony. She hoped to prove that women had the legal right to vote under the provisions of the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution. At her trial, a hostile federal judge found her guilty and fined her 100, which she refused to pay. 

The jury found that 45 defendants had not been negligent with regard to the gun sales in minority neighborhoods. The jury was unable to come to a decision regarding the remaining 23 defendants. However, federal judge Harvey Weinstein, who had announced earlier that he would make the final decision in the case, then dismissed the suits, noting that... 

In another example, in 2004 a judge ordered the USDA to identify the Hawaiian locations of four companies operating open air test sites for bio-pharmaceutical crops. The order had been earlier denied as it was considered to contain confidential business information protected from disclosure under federal law. Public disclosure could result in the destruction of the fields by anti-GM extremists. Vandalism such as this does little to protect the health of the public or the environment. Rather, it causes the dispersal of transgenic crops into the environment, thus creating the very harm feared by these adversaries (Jaffe, 2004a). 

In his trial in district court, Rosenthal wanted to explain to jurors that he was acting with the blessing of California voters and of the city of Oakland, and that there was a medical necessity for patients to receive marijuana. However, federal district judge Charles Breyer refused to allow any such testimony to be presented at trial, deeming it irrelevant to a federal case. 

The jury voted to convict Rosenthal. However, after jurors learned about the information they had been denied, many of them expressed outrage and said that they would have decided differently if they had known about the state authorization. Judge Breyer decided not to give Rosenthal any jail time. Federal prosecutors objected to what they saw as too lenient a sentence and have appealed. 

U.S. federal district court judge rejects a U.S. Justice Department attempt to overturn Oregon s physician-assisted suicide law. The Justice Department claimed that the state law violated the federal Controlled Substances Act. 

Federal Judge Robert E. Jones in April of 2002 upheld Oregon s law and criticized the attorney general for attempting to stifle debate on the issue. Justice Department representatives said were considering an appeal. No appeal had been filed as of late April 2002. 

Penalties for possession of Schedule I and II drugs (methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, PCP, LSD, and marijuana among others) are far more severe than are the penalties for possession of Schedule III drugs, but they should not be dismissed entirely. Federal sentencing guidelines for possession of ketamine, regardless of the quantity, stipulate prison terms of not more than five years and individual fines of not more than 250,000. Second time offenders will almost certainly earn jail time, with a sentence determined by the judge but not to exceed 10 years. The fine is also doubled, to 500,000. 

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