Appellate Highlights

U.S. Courts Of Appeal

IMMIGRATION – The **Second Circuit ruled that the immigration judge failed to properly examine the political context of the assaults on petitioner, who claimed she was beaten in her native Congo by government soldiers who thought her husband had a role in an assassination attempt. Though the persecution may not have been entirely motivated by petitioner’s political opinions, the judge failed to apply the proper standards for cases in which persecutors may have mixed motives. Petition for review granted. Vumi v. Gonzales

GOVERNMENT, PREEMPTION – Plaintiff brought an action against New Jersey regarding the state’s attempts to regulate its transportation and storage of solid waste from and through the state to out-of-state landfill sites. The **Third Circuit found that although the Termination Act’s pre-emption clause often pre-empts state regulations, it does not do so automatically, and the state regulations can still hold if they are not discriminatory or unreasonably burdensome. Reversed. New York Susquehanna and Western Railway Corporation v. Jackson