11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit that accuses the Alabama Legislature of racially discriminating against the city of Birmingham by preventing the majority-black city from setting its own minimum wage within the city limits.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a judge's decision to dismiss the lawsuit. The court says "plaintiffs have stated a plausible claim that the Minimum Wage Act had the purpose and effect of depriving Birmingham's black citizens equal economic opportunities on the basis of race."

The city of Gardendale, Alabama has stopped its efforts to form its own school district after a federal appeals court ruled the mostly white city can’t legally separate from the mostly black Jefferson County School System.

Gardendale Mayor Stan Hogeland and City Schools Board of Education President Michael Hogue sent a letter to the Jefferson County Board of Education yesterday saying they will not appeal the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision, and will not seek to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.

A federal judge has ruled that an Alabama inmate battling serious health issues does, in fact, have good enough veins to safely undergo a lethal injection.

U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre denied a request from Doyle Lee Hamm to block his execution, currently scheduled for tomorrow. Hamm and his attorney have argued that lethal injection would be unconstitutionally cruel in his case, as drug use along with lymphoma and hepatitis C have severely compromised Hamm's veins. His lawyer also argues it would be inhumane to execute someone already battling cancer.

A federal appeals court says a mostly white Alabama city won’t be allowed to break away from a mostly black county school system in order to form its own educational district.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a lower court was wrong to let the Birmingham suburb of Gardendale split from the Jefferson County school system. The city is more than 80 percent white, while the court decision says the county system is heavily black.

The Supreme Court has paved the way for a death row inmate to be put to death on Thursday, despite his lawyers pleading he doesn’t currently remember his crime or even understand his looming execution.

Attorneys for Vernon Madison petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday asking them to review his case and whether executing him would constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Justices rejected that request this morning without issuing a written explanation.

A federal judge has halted the execution of an Alabama inmate just hours before he was to be put to death.Chief U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins on Thursday stayed the execution of 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn  Borden. 

The reprieve came about four hours before Borden was set to be given a lethal injection at a southwest Alabama prison.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled Alabama can proceed with the execution of a man convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law in 1993.   

 A divided court on Wednesday overturned a stay issued by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Jeffery Lynn Borden is scheduled to receive a lethal injection Thursday at a south Alabama prison.

The state of Alabama is asking the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to proceed with the execution of a man convicted of killing his estranged wife and father-in-law back in 1993.

Yesterday, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the nation's high court to overturn an injunction currently blocking Thursday's scheduled execution of 56-year-old Jeffery Lynn Borden.

A federal appeals court has revived a lawsuit filed by four Alabama death-row inmates challenging the state's use of a controversial sedative at the start of lethal injections.  

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that a federal judge prematurely dismissed the inmates' claims. The judges ordered the lower court to hold an evidentiary hearing on whether midazolam will effectively render inmates unconscious during executions.

A death row inmate in Alabama is looking to halt his upcoming execution due to the use of a sedative that his lawyers say has “failed to work properly in four states”.

Attorneys for inmate Robert Melson appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week for an emergency stay of his execution. Melson is scheduled to be put to death a week from today for the killings of three Gadsden restaurant employees during a 1995 robbery.

Fast food workers and civil rights groups are appealing the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging an Alabama state law blocking the city of Birmingham's plans to raise the minimum wage.

The plaintiffs appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday.

Birmingham was poised to raise the minimum hourly wage in the city to $10.10 last year. But before the wage hike was implemented, the Alabama Legislature swiftly passed a law requiring a uniform state minimum wage.

President-elect Donald Trump has met with one of the judges on his shortlist for potential Supreme Court nominees.   

Judge William Pryor met with Trump in New York Saturday, a person familiar with the meeting said Tuesday. The person, who asked for anonymity because the details of the meeting are not public, provided no further information.

The state of Alabama is preparing to execute a death row inmate who was convicted in the 1982 killing of a man in a murder-for-hire arrangement.

Tommy Arthur is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 6 p.m. this evening.

Arthur, now 74, was convicted of murdering Troy Wicker in 1982 as the man slept inside his Muscle Shoals home. Investigators said Arthur was having an affair with Wicker's wife. She later testified that she promised him $10,000 to kill her husband.

The state of Alabama is asking an appellate court to let the November execution of an inmate go forward.

The state attorney general's office on Friday asked the 11th U.S. circuit Court of Appeals to reject Tommy Arthur's request for a stay.

The state argues Arthur has used abusive litigation tactics to "escape" execution. Arthur had been scheduled for execution on six previous occasions, but was given court-issued reprieves.

A federal appeals court is upholding a ruling that says union supporters can leaflet fellow employees inside a lobby of the Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama.

A decision released by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today comes in a United Auto Workers complaint filed against the German automaker before the National Labor Relations Board.

A 74-year-old Alabama inmate scheduled to be executed in November is asking an appellate court to review his claim that Alabama's lethal injection procedure is inhumane.

Lawyers for Thomas Arthur filed the appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Arthur's attorneys argued a federal judge prematurely dismissed Arthur's challenge and had misapplied a requirement for inmates to name an alternate execution method. Arthur suggested a firing squad and another lethal injection drug.

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley is appealing the dismissal of the state's lawsuit against the federal government over refugee placement.

Officials with the governor's office filed the appeal today with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

Bentley asked a federal judge in January to block refugees from coming to the state unless federal officials provided a full background check and medical information on each refugee.

 A judge has denied former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman's request to get out of prison while he continues to appeal his 2006 bribery conviction.    U.S. District Judge Clay Land of Georgia said while Siegelman raised "significant issues that deserve serious consideration," he believes the 11th U.S.

 A federal appeals court has upheld Alabama's ballot access law that was challenged by third-party presidential candidates trying to get their names before voters in 2012.    The Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld the decision of a trial court dismissing the lawsuit.    Alabama requires third-party candidates to collect signatures equal to 3 percent of the votes cast in the last governor's election in order to be listed on the ballot with their party affiliation.

A federal appeals court has temporarily barred the federal government from forcing a Catholic broadcasting network in Alabama to comply with a law requiring them to cover contraceptives for women.

Eternal Word Television Network, which has studios in a Birmingham suburb, is appealing a federal judge's order from last week dismissing its lawsuit, which maintained that requiring employers to include contraception in their health care coverage is unconstitutional.

A federal appeals court has rejected a suit challenging Alabama's property tax structure.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta ruled against black and white plaintiffs from Sumter and Lawrence counties who contended that Alabama's property tax system is rooted in racial discrimination and cripples the ability of rural, predominantly black school systems to raise revenue.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit rejected their challenges to Alabama's cap on property tax rates and the state's system of classifying property.

Federal judges are rejecting Alabama State University's appeal of a $1 million court judgment for sexual harassment.

The Montgomery Advertiser reported that the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the school in a 23-page decision on Tuesday.

Three former employees won more than $1 million total in a lawsuit that claimed two top administrators made numerous inappropriate comments and created a hostile work environment.

A three-judge panel from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hold 15 hearings in Montgomery next week, the latest in the court's practice of holding hearings across the southeast.

   At least four of the hearings to be held Tuesday through Friday involve Alabama cases.

   One of the hearings set for Wednesday is regarding an issue that is part of a lawsuit challenging a state law that prohibits the Alabama Education Association and the Alabama State Employees Association from using automatic payroll deduction to collect dues from workers.