The main issue in this appeal is whether the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may obtain an administrative warrant to carry out its authority under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), 15 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq., to inspect places containing regulated chemical substances. We hold that EPA has such authority, and we therefore affirm the district court's issuance of a warrant authorizing the agency to inspect the M/V Sanctuary for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). We also affirm the...  

We are asked to review several rulings of the district court in the trial and sentencing of Michael Lawrence Branch for the possession and distribution of cocaine base and the illegal possession of a firearm. Branch's principal claim is that the district court erred under the Fourth Amendment in failing to suppress evidence seized from his person and vehicle during a traffic stop. In particular, Branch claims that the basis for the search of his car, a positive alert by a drug-sniffing dog, was...  

In this action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Mary Buckley alleged a variety of race discrimination, sex discrimination, and retaliation claims stemming from her employment as a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (the "DEA").1 During a five-day trial conducted in the Eastern District of Virginia in the fall of 2006, the district court granted judgment as a matter of law to the government on Buckley's failure-to-promote retaliation claim, and the...  

Edgar Henry and Kimberly Henry, who entered conditional guilty pleas to one count related to marijuana growing, appeal the district court's denial of their motions to dismiss the indictment based on a violation of the Speedy Trial Act, 18 U.S.C. §§ 3161-3174. The Henrys contend, and we agree, that a 103-day continuance ordered by the district court did not comply with the strict requirements for granting an ends-of-justice continuance set out in Zedner v. United States, 547 U.S. 489...  

Nancy Jean Siegel is currently under indictment for numerous fraud-based offenses, including mail and wire fraud, see 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 1341 & 1343 (West 2000 & Supp. 2008). Siegel also faces a charge of committing murder to prevent the reporting of her crimes. See 18 U.S.C.A. § 1512(a)(1)(C) (West 2000 & Supp. 2008). A week before her trial was scheduled to commence, the district court granted Siegel's motion to strike as surplusage allegations in the indictment about certain...  

Dorothy Anim, a citizen of Cameroon, petitions for review of the denial of her application for asylum and other relief. As part of her case before the immigration judge (IJ), Anim submitted copies of three convocations (summonses to appear) issued to her by the Cameroon police shortly after she fled the country. The IJ denied Anim's application, relying mainly on a letter authored by a U.S. Department of State official that reported, based on an overseas investigation, that the convocations...  

Ifeanyi Iko ("Iko"), an inmate in a Maryland state correctional facility, died after being forcibly removed from his cell and transferred to another cell by a team of seven correctional officers ("Appellants," or the "officers"). Iko's estate and family ("Plaintiffs")... ... ... filed this survival and wrongful death action against the officers pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The officers moved for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. The district...  

This defamation case centers on the notorious U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Abu Ghraib prison is the place where Iraqi detainees were subjected to horrific abuse. It is also the place where plaintiffs, CACI Premier Technology, Inc. and CACI International Inc. (together, CACI), interrogated Iraqi detainees for the U.S. military. Defendant Randi Rhodes, a talk-radio host, blamed CACI in part for the Abu Ghraib abuses on her show, which was broadcast by defendant... ... ... Piquant, LLC,...  

David E. Welch appeals a final order of the Administrative Review Board (ARB) finding that his discharge by Cardinal Bankshares Corporation did not violate the whistleblower protection provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. For the reasons set forth within, we affirm... I... Cardinal Bankshares Corporation is a bank holding company with its common stock listed on the NASDAQ Bulletin Board. As of December 31, 2001, Cardinal had outstanding over 1.5 million shares of common stock, held by...  

A jury convicted Kareem B. Farrior of possession with intent to distribute an unspecified quantity of crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C) (West 1999 & Supp. 2008) (Count One), and possession with intent to distribute 50 grams or more of crack cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C.A. § 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(A) (West 1999 & Supp. 2008) (Count Two). Because Farrior had two previous convictions for felony drug offenses, the district court sentenced him as a...  

The South Carolina Department of Mental Health, the South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs, and the South Carolina State Budget and Control Board-Insurance Reserve Fund commenced these product liability actions against Hoover Universal, Inc., invoking diversity jurisdiction and alleging damages resulting from Hoover's sale to the plaintiffs of defective trusses and sheathing, which were incorporated into public buildings constructed in the 1970s. Relying mainly on South...  

In this case, we confront a question of North Carolina law that the state courts have yet to address. We must determine whether a state default judgment, entered as a penalty for a party's failure to comply with a North Carolina court's discovery order, has collateral estoppel effect in subsequent litigation in bankruptcy court. The bankruptcy court, in a decision upheld by the district court, found that the North Carolina courts would give collateral estoppel effect to the default judgment....  

Abdi Parvizian ("Parvizian") guaranteed a debt owed to Nourison Rug Corporation ("Nourison") by Parinco of Virginia, Inc. ("Parinco"). When Parinco defaulted, Nourison sued Parvizian to recover the balance due. After the deadline for amending the pleadings had passed, Parvizian attempted to amend his answer to add the defense of release. The United States District Court for the District of Maryland denied the proposed amendment, and granted summary judgment for Nourison....  

After production employees of B.A. Mullican Lumber and Manufacturing Company ("Mullican Lumber") filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board ("NLRB" or the "Board") to decertify representation by the United Mine Workers of America (the "Union"), Mullican Lumber received information from the employees that the decertification petition revealed that a majority of the employees no longer supported the Union. Based on this information, Mullican Lumber...  

The Appellant, Lee O. Wilson, Jr., ("Wilson") appeals the district court's decision to dismiss his 42 U.S.C. § 19831 action against the Virginia Department of Corrections. Wilson claims that he is entitled to monetary damages for unconstitutional imprisonment because Virginia improperly extended the length of his prison sentence. The district court, citing to the Supreme Court's decision in Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477, 486-87 (1994), dismissed Wilson's wrongful incarceration...  

Appellant Hashmel Turner claims that the Council for the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia, violated his First Amendment rights when it implemented a policy beginning in 2005 requiring that legislative prayers be nondenominational. Because the prayers at issue here are government speech, we hold that Fredericksburg's prayer policy does not violate Turner's Free Speech and Free Exercise rights. Likewise, the requirement that the prayers be nondenominational does not violate the Establishment...  

OPINION... Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his military detention as an enemy combatant. After the district court denied all relief, al-Marri noted this appeal. A divided panel of this court reversed the judgment of the district court... ... ... and ordered that al-Marri's military detention cease. See Al-Marri v. Wright, 487 F.3d 160 (4th Cir. 2007)... Subsequently, this court vacated that judgment and considered the case en banc. The parties...  

In the days and weeks following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, someone sent letters laced with the deadly toxin anthrax through the U.S. mails to members of Congress and news organizations, and five people who handled the mail died from contact with the anthrax... In the months that followed, Nicholas Kristof, a columnist whose articles appeared in the editorial section of The New York Times, criticized the FBI's investigation of the attacks as...  

Following their convictions of two counts of honest services wire fraud and one count each of bribery, Appellants Kenneth Harvey ("Harvey") and Michael Kronstein ("Kronstein") (from time to time "Appellants"), appeal their convictions and sentences, including the trial court's orders of restitution. We affirm their convictions and sentences of incarceration. Because the district court's restitution orders were not based on findings of actual loss, however, we vacate...  

Defendant Jesus Chacon appeals from his forty-one-month prison sentence, imposed in the Eastern District of Virginia, on convictions for illegal reentry, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a), and fraud and misuse of a permanent resident card, in contravention of 18 U.S.C. § 1546. Chacon presents a single challenge to his sentence — that the district court erred in increasing his Sentencing Guidelines base offense level by sixteen levels to account for an earlier conviction for a...