Marsha J. Pechman

Taylor v. United States Attorney General

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2011-07-13

The case involved Robert Taylor, a Canadian citizen and U.S. military veteran, who sought de novo review of the denial of his naturalization application after convictions for sexual offenses against minors, including a 1995 Canadian sexual assault conviction that led to his prior deportation. Taylor argued that military service exempted him from proving good moral character, that his Canadian conviction was not an aggravated felony, and that a Canadian pardon removed any bar to naturalization. The court granted the government's motion to dismiss, holding that Taylor failed to establish good moral character because the 1995 conviction qualified as sexual abuse of a minor under the modified categorical approach and thus as an aggravated felony under the INA. The court further reasoned that the foreign pardon was conditional and revocable rather than full and unconditional, and that no equal protection violation arose from refusing to recognize it absent a comparable U.S. expungement for similar conduct.

immigrationcriminal law

Amazon. Com LLC v. Lay

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2010-10-25 · cited 8×

In this case, Amazon challenged requests by the North Carolina Department of Revenue, through its secretary, for customer names, addresses, and purchase details as part of an audit into Amazon's sales and use tax obligations for transactions with North Carolina residents. The court granted Amazon's motion for summary judgment and denied the Department's motions to dismiss, declaring that the information requests violate the First Amendment and the Video Privacy Protection Act when the Department retains access to detailed purchase records like ASIN numbers. The core reasoning was that the requests would enable the Department to identify the specific expressive content of individual customers' purchases, thereby implicating their rights to anonymous speech and association, even though the Department claimed it only needed general information to calculate tax liability and had already received generic product codes.

free speechbusiness & regulatorytaxes

Jimenez v. City of Chicago

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2010-08-18 · cited 1×

In this civil suit brought by Jimenez after his murder conviction was reversed, the defendants subpoenaed documents and a deposition from third-party journalist Carolyn Nielsen concerning her communications with Jimenez during and after his trial. Nielsen moved to quash the subpoenas, for a protective order, and for attorney’s fees, invoking journalist’s privilege and undue burden. The court granted the motion in full, applying Ninth Circuit precedent that recognizes a journalist’s privilege and finding it applicable to Nielsen’s student and freelance reporting activities. The court also awarded fees under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37 because the defendants had not first pursued alternative discovery methods from the parties.

civil rightsfree speechprocedure

Ultimate Timing, L.L.C. v. Simms

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2010-05-27 · cited 8×

CYCLE BARN, INC. v. Arctic Cat Sales, Inc.

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2010-03-24 · cited 1×

Warden v. Nickels

District Court, W.D. Washington · 2010-03-11 · cited 5×

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Marsha J. Pechman

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Decision record