Shinzo Abe’s Biggest Failure Is His Greatest Legacy: Preservation of Japan’s Anti-Military Constitutional Provision

MICHAEL C. DORF

In response to the news that Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned due to health reasons, Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf comments on Abe’s efforts to amend Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution, which was imposed on the country by Supreme Allied Commander Douglas MacArthur after World War II. Dorf describes one bad reason and two good reasons that have been offered for a change in Article 9, but he argues that the case for retaining Article 9 is stronger.

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In re: Sisk

Docket: 18-17445

Opinion Date: September 1, 2020

Judge: Per Curiam

Areas of Law: Bankruptcy, Legal Ethics

The Ninth Circuit previously reversed, in part, bankruptcy appellate panel decisions. The court subsequently denied the debtors’ applications, as prevailing parties, for attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, 28 U.S.C. 2412(d). The EAJA did not authorize attorney fees because a bankruptcy court does not fall within the EAJA’s definition of “United States,” and uncontested Chapter 13 bankruptcy cases are not “civil actions brought by or against the United States.” The EAJA is a limited waiver of the government’s sovereign immunity; it must be strictly construed in favor of maintaining immunity not specifically and clearly waived.

Jaimes-Cardenas v. Barr

Docket: 19-71849

Opinion Date: September 1, 2020

Judge: Michael Daly Hawkins

Areas of Law: Immigration Law

Jaimes-Cardenas, a citizen of Mexico, first entered the U.S. without inspection in 2008, He married a U.S. citizen, Flora, who was addicted to methamphetamines. Flora was violent and abusive. One incident led to Jaimes-Cardenas’s arrest, after which he voluntarily returned to Mexico. Months later, he returned to the U.S. Flora was pregnant with their first child. Flora became increasingly abusive and started selling drugs. She left Jaimes-Cardenas and their children, who were placed in foster care. The police found methamphetamine in Jaimes-Cardenas's apartment. Despite Flora’s statement that the methamphetamine was hers, police charged Jaimes-Cardenas with possession, manufacture, and delivery of methamphetamine, and with hindering prosecution for his failure to report Flora. Jaimes-Cardenas’s counsel informed him that he would likely face ICE detention and removal if he fought the case. He pleaded to possession of methamphetamine. DHS charged him as inadmissible for entering without inspection, 8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(A)(i), and having been convicted of a law or regulation related to a controlled substance offense, section 1182(a)(2)(A)(i)(II). Jaimes-Cardenas applied for special cancellation of removal for victims of domestic violence 8 U.S.C. 1229b(b)(2). The BIA and the Ninth Circuit upheld the IJ's determination that the authority provided for the domestic violence waiver, even if granted, does not waive the section 1182](a)(2) controlled substance offense but only applies to crimes of domestic violence and stalking or violations of a domestic violence protective order.