How Appealing



Wednesday, January 14, 2015

“Justices parse federal, state laws in drug case that led to man’s deportation”: Robert Barnes will have this article in Thursday’s edition of The Washington Post.

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Justices sock Obama administration on drug deportations.”

Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Justices sympathetic to man deported for minor drug crime.”

On this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Nina Totenberg had an audio segment titled “Supreme Court Considers Whether A Sock Is Drug Paraphernalia.”

And online at Bloomberg View, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay titled “How a Sock Could Lead to Deportation.”

You can access at this link the transcript of today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in Mellouli v. Holder, No. 13-1034.

Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“United, American owe World Trade Center developer billions: lawyer.” Reuters has a report that begins, “The developer rebuilding the World Trade Center in New York told a federal appeals court on Wednesday that he is entitled to recoup billions of dollars from two airline companies, even though he has already collected $4 billion in insurance money for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that destroyed the site.”

Posted at 8:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Prison Visitation Ban May Have Been Unfair”: Back in January 2014, Courthouse News Service had a report that begins, “Public criticism may have led prison officials to suspend the visitation privileges of a woman married to a Georgia inmate, a federal judge ruled.” You can access last January’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia at this link.

Yesterday, a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a decision in which all three of the judges wrote separately. The majority held that the prison officials were entitled to qualified immunity on all of the plaintiff’s claims. The majority consisted of two judges sitting by designation, one of whom called for a reexamination of an aspect of the Eleventh Circuit’s qualified immunity jurisprudence. Circuit Judge Beverly B. Martin issued a dissenting opinion. Under these circumstances, this case would seem to have a better than ordinary chance of obtaining rehearing en banc should plaintiff seek that form of further review.

Posted at 1:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Tough Attorney General Pick Loretta Lynch Vies For Senate Confirmation”: Carrie Johnson had this audio segment on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Posted at 11:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“View from the courtroom: Justice Scalia, a bit late to the stage.” Mark Walsh had this post yesterday at “SCOTUSblog.”

Posted at 11:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“The End of ‘Disparate Impact’? The third time could be the charm for the Supreme Court to throw it out.” Hans A. von Spakovsky and Elizabeth Slattery have this essay at National Review Online.

Posted at 11:25 AM by Howard Bashman



“Do the Religious Beliefs of Supreme Court Justices Influence Their Decisions? A Moment Symposium with Robert Barnes / Lyle Denniston / Tony Mauro / Sarah Posner / Leslie C. Griffin / Stephen Wermiel / Marshall Breger / Emily Bazelon / Dahlia Lithwick.” This symposium appears in the January-February 2015 issue of Moment magazine.

Posted at 10:30 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court today issued two rulingsin argued cases.

1. Justice Sonia Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court in T-Mobile South, LLC v. City of Roswell, No. 13-975. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. issued a concurring opinion. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined in full and Justice Clarence Thomas joined in part. And Justice Thomas issued a dissenting opinion. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. And Justice Antonin Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court in Jennings v. Stevens, 13-7211. Justice Thomas issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Alito joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Takes Broad View on Hostage-Taker’s Penalty”: Adam Liptak has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court upholds bank robbery law from John Dillinger era.”

And Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “High Court Says Moving Hostage Could Trigger Additional Penalties; Supreme Court Gave Broad Reading to Depression-Era Bank Robbery Statute.”

Posted at 9:55 AM by Howard Bashman