How Appealing



Wednesday, February 4, 2015

“Patent ‘Death Squad’ Rules Owners Denounce Upheld by U.S. Court”: Susan Decker of Bloomberg News has an article that begins, “A U.S. appeals court upheld rules that make it easier for companies like Google Inc. and Apple Inc. to get rid of worrisome patent litigation on the cheap.”

And at “Patently-O,” Dennis Crouch has a post titled “Patentee Loses First IPR Appeal on all Grounds.”

You can access today’s ruling of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit at this link.

Posted at 11:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Applying these standards to the educational context, and considering the circumstances in totality, a reasonable jury could have found that Smith created a hostile educational environment.” Today, a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued its non-precedential, unpublished ruling in appeal that I discussed in the third paragraph of this post from September 2014.

In earlier coverage of the case, which is now heading toward a third trial, The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania reported that “Pleasant Valley cleared in teacher sex-talk case; Federal jury rules district did not retaliate against student who complained about teacher’s methods.” Paragraph three of my earlier post linked to the audio of the Third Circuit oral argument in this appeal.

Posted at 11:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Kane challenges authority of special prosecutor in leak case”: Craig R. McCoy of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this news update.

Brad Bumsted of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a news update headlined “AG Kane asks Pa. Supreme Court to end grand jury case against her.”

Steve Esack of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “Kathleen Kane asks state Supreme Court to toss grand jury case against her.”

Wallace McKelvey of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania reports that “Kathleen Kane’s attorneys lay out case to the Supreme Court.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Pennsylvania attorney general says special prosecutor appointed without authority, safeguards.”

You can access at this link the brief that the Attorney General of Pennsylvania filed today in the case captioned In re: The Thirty-fifth Statewide Investigating Grand Jury, Petition of: Attorney General, Kathleen G. Kane. And you can access the other documents filed in the case via this link.

Posted at 10:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Wolf names two for Supreme Court”: Amy Worden of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this news update.

Charles Thompson of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “Gov. Tom Wolf nominates two for Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacancies.”

And Peter Hall of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “Tom Wolf nominates two for state Supreme Court.”

In March 2014, StateCollege.com published an interview headlined “Lunch with Mimi: Judge Thomas Kistler.” One of the questions asked and answered toward the end of the interview is “Do you have any aspirations to go to a higher-level court?”

Posted at 10:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“National Constitution Center announces major new initiative”: Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz has this post today at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 10:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“Governor Wolf Announces Nominees For Supreme Court”: The Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania issued this news release today.

In early news coverage, Paula Reed Ward of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a news udpate headlined “Wolf announces Duquesne law dean Gormley as Supreme Court pick.”

Adam Brandolph of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review has a news update headlined “Duquesne law dean Gormley, Centre County judge nominated to Supreme Court.”

And The Centre Daily Times reports that “Centre County President Judge Kistler nominated to Pa. Supreme Court.”

Posted at 6:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“2nd Annual Dean’s Lecture to the Graduating Class: A Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, moderated by Georgetown Law Dean William M. Treanor.” You can view the video of this event live, online beginning at 4 p.m. eastern time today by clicking here.

Posted at 3:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“House bill to increase state judges’ retirement age advances”: Wallace McKelvey of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report today.

Posted at 3:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Roe v. Wade resolution could be walked into Supreme Court”: The American News of Aberdeen, South Dakota has an article that begins, “The Legislature’s resolution asking for the Roe v. Wade abortion decision to be reconsidered and overturned might be carried by hand to the U.S. Supreme Court, the lawmaker behind it said Tuesday.”

Posted at 1:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Same sex marriage, rational basis scrutiny and In Re Estate of Kittenbrink”: Senior U.S. District Judge Richard G. Kopf has this post today at his “Hercules and the Umpire” blog.

Posted at 10:33 AM by Howard Bashman



“Missing Supreme Court Litigant Resurfaces, Aims to Revive Case; Homeowner Had Secured a Slot on High Court’s Docket Without Benefit of an Attorney, Then Disappeared”: Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal has this report today. The article suggests that the pro se petitioner in the case is apparently not a regular reader of “SCOTUSblog.”

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman