How Appealing



Friday, February 11, 2011

“Senators Skip Over Federal Circuit Nominee”: Today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” David Ingram has a post that begins, “One of President Barack Obama’s nominees for an appellate judgeship has been waiting 10 months for a confirmation hearing, an unusual length of time given that the president’s party has control of the U.S. Senate. Edward DuMont was nominated April 14, 2010, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.”

Posted at 11:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chief justice: Budget cuts, politicization threaten Iowa court system.” The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier has a news update that begins, “Iowans should resist the urge to politicize the state’s court system in the wake of a historic election that ousted three sitting state Supreme Court justices in November, the court’s new chief justice said.”

And The Sioux City Journal reports today that “Petition calls for end to judicial impeachment move.”

Posted at 10:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“First Do No Harm: Why judges should butt out of the fight over health care reform.” Law professor Christopher Jon Sprigman has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

In the February 24, 2011 issue of The New York Review of Books, law professor David Cole has an essay entitled “Is Health Care Reform Unconstitutional?

And at Reason.com, Damon W. Root has an essay entitled “Are We All Originalists Now? The debate over ObamaCare highlights a growing division on the legal left.”

Posted at 10:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Retired Supreme Court Justice Joe Greenhill dies in Austin; ‘Giant’ among Texas jurists left deep mark on state high court”: Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has this news update.

Posted at 10:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“DOJ Moves to Limit Star Law Professor’s Role in Greenhouse Gas Emissions Case”: Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire today has an article that begins, “The Justice Department has intervened to minimize the role of prominent Harvard Law School professor Laurence Tribe in an upcoming Supreme Court case that touches on the volatile subject of climate change.”

Posted at 5:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court of New Jersey Will Review Attorneys’ Fee Enhancement Case”: Bruce Greenberg has this post today at his “New Jersey Appellate Law” blog. At issue in the case is whether New Jersey state courts should adopt as a matter of state law the U.S. Supreme Court‘s holding last Term in Perdue v. Kenny A.

Posted at 12:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Teen’s ‘bitch’ yell in theater ruled disorderly conduct”: Online at the First Amendment Center, David L. Hudson Jr. has this report.

Posted at 12:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Investment firm’s secrets slip out”: Today in The Boston Globe, columnist Steven Syre has an essay that begins, “If it hadn’t been for a strange turn of events at the state’s highest court, sensitive details about the vast wealth of secretive Boston investment firm Wellington Management Co. might have never seen the light of day.”

Posted at 8:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Kin lose awards tied to ’82 killings; Court says suits filed too late”: The Boston Globe today contains an article that begins, “After decades of legal wrangling, the families of two men who were gunned down on Boston’s waterfront in 1982 by longtime FBI informant James ‘Whitey’ Bulger proved the government was to blame and were awarded nearly $8.5 million two years ago. But, yesterday, a federal Appeals Court reversed the decision, ruling that the families of Michael Donahue and Edward ‘Brian’ Halloran were not entitled to anything because they filed their civil suits against the government too late.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s First Circuit ruling appears at this link.

Posted at 8:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“Access to justice becoming a privilege of the rich, judge warns”: Today in The Toronto Globe and Mail, Kirk Makin has an article that begins, “The middle class has been shut out of a justice system that caters primarily to the very rich and the very poor, the country’s top judge has told a group of legal luminaries.”

Posted at 8:22 AM by Howard Bashman



“New chief justice urges local lawyers and judges to work with Legislature”: Denny Walsh has this article today in The Sacramento Bee.

Posted at 8:06 AM by Howard Bashman



“Loughner lawyers fight mugshot release”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this post at his “Under the Radar” blog.

The Arizona Republic reports today that “Jared Loughner lawyers try to halt release of mug shots.”

And earlier this week, The Oklahoman reported that “Oklahoma judge to take cases of judge killed in Arizona; U.S. District Judge Tim Leonard, a federal judge in Oklahoma City, will handle some of the criminal cases that were assigned to U.S. District Judge John Roll, an Arizona federal judge who died in a mass shooting last month at a congresswoman’s event in Tucson, Ariz.

Posted at 7:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Drug defendant retried on high court’s order is acquitted”: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe contains an article that begins, “A Jamaica Plain man has been acquitted in a retrial of a cocaine trafficking case that went to the US Supreme Court and resulted in a landmark decision affecting evidence in criminal trials around the country. A jury found Luis Melendez-Diaz, 32, not guilty yesterday in Suffolk Superior Court.”

And The Associated Press has an article headlined “Acquittal for Mass. man in Supreme Court case.”

Posted at 7:46 AM by Howard Bashman