How Appealing



Friday, January 25, 2013

“Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial Over Airport Arrest”: David Kravets has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “Court Upholds Airline Passenger’s Claim of First Amendment Retaliation.”

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “Man Who Took off His Shirt at TSA Checkpoint, to Reveal Fourth Amendment Written on His Chest, May Proceed with First and Fourth Amendment Claim.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 10:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Ruling Upsets Conventional Wisdom On Recess Appointments”: Carrie Johnson had this audio segment on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Terry Moran of ABC News has a report headlined “Obama’s ‘Abuse of Power’ Argument on Recess Appointments.”

Online at Slate, Emily Bazelon has a jurisprudence essay titled “The Meaning of The: How that one little word has gotten Obama into a heap of constitutional trouble.”

And online at The Atlantic, law professor Garrett Epps has an essay titled “Democrats Reap the Fruits of Filibuster Fecklessness at the D.C. Circuit Court: On Friday, judges ruled that Obama appointments to the NLRB were unconstitutional; After years of Bush-era grandstanding, Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.”

My earlier coverage of today’s D.C. Circuit ruling appears here and here.

Posted at 6:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Has Justice changed sides on pre-emption of claims vs generics?” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

Posted at 5:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“Aaron Swartz didn’t face prison until Feds took over his case; The late Internet activist was facing a stern warning from local prosecutors; But then the U.S. Attorney’s office, run by Carmen Ortiz, chose to make an example of Aaron Swartz, a new report says”: Declan McCullagh of c|net has this article reporting on an essay titled “The Swartz suicide and the sick culture of the Justice Dept.” that Harvey A. Silverglate published this week in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly.

Posted at 4:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Mistrial in ex-cheerleader’s libel lawsuit”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Jurors couldn’t decide whether two lewd posts about a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader were substantially true or not, leading a federal judge to declare a mistrial Friday in her $11 million defamation lawsuit against a gossip website.”

Posted at 4:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge unseals ‘Jane Doe’ lawsuit documents sought by suspended Justice Orie Melvin”: Paula Reed Ward of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has this news update reporting on a ruling that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania issued today.

In related coverage, The Post-Gazette has a news update headlined “Lawyer: Justice Orie Melvin worked too hard to be corrupt political operative.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Justice Melvin’s ‘innocent’ attorney tells jury.”

Posted at 3:52 PM by Howard Bashman



D.C. Circuit rules that President Obama’s recess appointments to the NLRB were invalid: You can access today’s very important ruing of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

Chief Judge David B. Sentelle wrote the majority opinion, in which Circuit Judge Karen LeCraft Henderson joined in full and Circuit Judge Thomas B. Griffith joined in part. Judge Griffith also issued an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.

In today’s ruling, the three-judge panel first unanimously holds that, for purposes of the U.S. Constitution’s Recess Appointments clause, a “Recess” of the U.S. Senate “is limited to intersession recesses.” Second, Chief Judge Sentelle, joined by Judge Henderson, proceed to hold “that the President may only make recess appointments to fill vacancies that arise during the recess” in which the recess appointment is made. Thus, vacancies that existed before the recess began cannot be filled under the Recess Appointments clause, according to today’s ruling.

In early coverage, Tom Schoenberg of Bloomberg News reports that “Obama NLRB Recess Appointments Unlawful, Court Says.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Court: Obama appointments are unconstitutional.”

Update: In other news coverage, Steven Greenhouse of The New York Times has a news update headlined “Court Rejects Recess Appointments to Labor Board.”

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Court says Obama exceeded authority in making appointments.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Court rules Obama recess appointments unconstitutional.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has a news update headlined “Obama recess appointments unconstitutional, court.”

David Jackson of USA Today has a news update headlined “Appeals court strikes down Obama recess appointments; It’s not known whether the Supreme Court will step into this White House-Congress dispute.”

Bill Mears of CNN.com has a blog post titled “Appeals court rules Obama recess appointments unconstitutional.”

Reuters reports that “Court says Obama recess appointments invalid.”

Politico.com reports that “Appeals Court rules Obama recess appointments unconstitutional.”

Roll Call reports that “Federal Appeals Court Rules Obama Recess Appointments Were Unconstitutional.”

The Hill has a blog post titled “Obama recess appointments to labor board ruled unconstitutional.”

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “D.C. Circuit Declares NLRB Recess Appointments Unconstitutional.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “President’s appointment power curbed.”

Posted at 10:48 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court justice gives LAW’s first Esdaile Lecture; Breyer: ‘We are Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.'” BU Today has this report. The article begins, “Not long ago Stephen Breyer was in the Burkina Faso capital of Ouagadougou addressing that nation’s 72 judges.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court Justice Breyer says court applies old values to new events.”

You can view the video of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s lecture yesterday at the Boston University School of Law online and on-demand by clicking here.

Posted at 10:28 AM by Howard Bashman



“Dealing With Aaron Swartz in the Nixonian Tradition: Overzealous Overcharging Leads to a Tragic Result.” John Dean has this essay today at Justia’s Verdict.

And Carl Malamud’s remarks at the memorial for Aaron Swartz at the Internet Archive can be accessed online under the heading “Aaron’s Army.”

Posted at 9:02 AM by Howard Bashman



“New Senate Rules to Curtail the Excesses of a Filibuster”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Washington Post reports today that “Senate leaders reach deal modifying filibuster rules, keep 60-vote hurdle.”

Today’s edition of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Senate approves modest filibuster changes; The two packages will alter procedural rules to speed up the process in certain cases, but they fall far short of the sweeping reforms sought by liberal senators and their allies.”

USA Today reports today that “U.S. Senate OKs tweak to filibuster rules.”

The Washington Times reports today that “‘Nuclear option’ averted as Senate leaders reach agreement on filibuster rules; Liberals call move insufficient.”

The Associated Press reports that “Senate OKs modest restrictions on filibusters.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Senate Changes Rule on Filibusters, Keeps Supermajority.”

Reuters reports that “Senate changes its rules to ease gridlock.”

Politico.com has an article headlined “On filibuster, Harry Reid puts pin back in Democrats’ nuclear threat.”

The Hill reports that “Liberals irate as Senate passes watered-down filibuster reform.”

Roll Call has articles headlined “Filibuster Changes Get Senate Approval” and “Changes to Filibuster May Give Senate Leaders Political Heartburn.”

TPM DC has articles headlined “Senate Approves Modest Changes To Filibuster Rule” and “Filibuster Reform Ends With A Whimper: How It Fell Apart.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Todd Ruger has a post titled “Informal Senate Agreement on Filibuster Reform Could Speed Confirmations.”

Posted at 8:36 AM by Howard Bashman



“Obama short of judges for his liberal agenda; GOP appointees dominate bench”: Today’s edition of The Washington Times contains this article.

Posted at 8:26 AM by Howard Bashman