The 2nd Circuit said today there was a strong likelihood it would reverse New York federal Judge Jed Rakoff’s refusal to approve a $285 million settlement between Citibank and the SEC, saying Rakoff failed to show proper deference to the SEC’s judgment.

The 2nd Circuit has faulted a trial judge for “extreme brevity” in throwing out an inmate’s lawsuit against a doctor. The circuit said Judge David N

A divided 9th Circuit has junked the 22-year sentence imposed on the “millennium bomber” and sent the decade-old case back for a presumably harsher sentence. The sentence for Algerian national Ahmed Ressam, who was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport, was “substantively” unreasonable, the court said.

Hit with sanctions stemming from a questionable bankruptcy filing on behalf of a loan-servicing company, Bryan Cave and bankruptcy boutique Klestadt & Winters found no relief on Tuesday at the 9th Circuit, which said it lacked jurisdiction to examine the sanctions.

Parts of a New York state rule requiring that attorneys who claim to be certified specialists make prescribed disclosure statements violates the First Amendment, the 2nd Circuit has ruled, agreeing with a personal injury lawyer who argued there was a lack of clear standards for enforcing the rule.