Mamedov, Jannet v. Ashcroft, John D. (On Petitions for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals)
Before POSNER, KANNE, and WOOD, Circuit Judges.USA v. Jaffe, Sherman (ND Ill.)
POSNER, Circuit Judge. The Mamedov family was ordered removed after its claim for asylum was rejected. The family comes from Turkmenistan, one of the formerly Soviet republics in central Asia, like the better known Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The overwhelming majority of its people are Turkmens of the Muslim faith. Jews are distinctly unpopular, and only about a thousand remain. Ahmed Mamedov’s father was a Turkmen, presumably Muslim although this is not certain, but Mamedov’s mother was Jewish and he was raised as a Jew. * * * At their asylum hearing the Mamedovs submitted affidavits from seven refugees from Turkmenistan who are in mixed marriages and who have been granted asylum in the U.S. The affidavits describe firings and beatings. * * *As in a number of recent cases, the opinion by the immigration judge, whose denial of asylum the Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed without issuing its own opinion, is unreasoned. [cites omitted] But here we note a further problem that we had not heretofore been aware of. Immigration judges characteristically
issue oral rather than written opinions—that we knew and while it is not an ideal practice, it is common enough even among federal district judges and we do not wish to suggest that it is irregular. The wrinkle is that no copy, either paper or electronic, of the opinion is given to either the parties or the immigration judge until and unless the alien files a notice of appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.The copy of the opinion that appears in the appendix to the petitioner’s brief in this court contains handwritten corrections, evidently by the judge. The copy is not dated. The notice of appeal had to be and was filed within 30 days of the rendition of the immigration judge’s oral opinion and order, but we do not know how long after that the judge edited the opinion. Most of his changes are purely technical, but where the transcribed opinion states that “it is unclear that the attack [by the police on Mamedov] was based solely on the fact that the respondent’s mother possessed a Jewish nationality,” the immigration judge wrote in, after “solely,” “or in [sic] even partially.”
That was a substantive change, and there is no indication that the immigration judge was merely recalling a passage from his oral opinion that had somehow not been transcribed. Rewriting an already issued opinion when the author later
discovers that there is going to be an appeal invites criticism similar to that leveled against the use of nunc pro tunc orders to rewrite history. * * *For these reasons [many not listed in this ILB summary], the Board’s order is set aside and the case remanded.
Before EASTERBROOK, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.Sartor, Carolyn D. v. Spherion Corporation (ND Ill.)
EVANS, Circuit Judge. With personal and financial problems mounting, attorney Sherman Jaffe admittedly showed poor judgment when he financed the purchase of a Chicago property with a fraudulently obtained mortgage loan of more than $60,000 for a property worth just $25,000. The key question in this case is whether Jaffe, who specialized in real estate law for some 30 years and had a real estate broker’s license, merely showed bad judgment by blindly taking the advice of a client, Theresa Holt, or whether his mistake was knowingly participating in Holt’s scheme to defraud a mortgage lender. Because we find sufficient evidence to support the jury’s conclusion that Jaffe knew what he was getting into, we affirm his conviction.
Before EASTERBROOK, EVANS, and SYKES, Circuit Judges.Posted by Marcia Oddi at November 1, 2004 11:35 AM
SYKES, Circuit Judge. Carolyn Sartor, an African-American woman, filed suit against Spherion, her former employer, alleging intentional discrimination on the basis of sex and race. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Spherion. * * *Sartor has failed to bring forward evidence that a similarly-situated employee was treated more favorably than she. As a result, she has failed to establish a prima facie case of intentional discrimination on the basis of sex or race. The decision of the district court granting summary judgment to Spherion is therefore AFFIRMED.