How Appealing



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

“Markel’s death remains a mystery”: Sean Rossman of The Tallahassee Democrat has a news update that begins, “Seven months after someone shot Florida State law professor Dan Markel in the garage of his Betton Hills home, the Tallahassee Police Department has yet to make an arrest or identify a suspect.”

Posted at 11:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Guantanamo Conviction of Australian Is Overturned”: Matt Apuzzo will have this article in Thursday’s edition of The New York Times.

Carol J. Williams of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Military court throws out Australian’s Guantanamo war crimes conviction.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Military Appeals Court Tosses First-Ever Guantanamo Bay Conviction; Court sides with Australian who repudiated guilty plea after 2007 deal.” You can freely access the full text of the article via Google.

Michael Doyle of McClatchy Washington Bureau reports that “Court annuls guilty plea of Australian ex-detainee.”

Reuters reports that “U.S. court overturns conviction of Australian once held at Guantanamo” and “Australian held at Guantanamo says he was tortured for five years.”

The Associated Press reports that “Court nixes Guantanamo conviction of Australian ex-detainee.”

And Lyle Denniston has a blog post titled “Another setback for Guantanamo trials.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Military Commissions Review at this link.

Posted at 11:44 PM by Howard Bashman



Two strikes, you’re out for non-compliant district judge in the Sixth Circuit: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit didn’t like it the first time that Senior U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Tarnow imposed a sentence of one day’s imprisonment for a defendant’s possession of a substantial number of child pornography images.

Today, the Sixth Circuit holds that it really, really didn’t like it when Judge Tarnow imposed the identical one-day sentence of imprisonment on remand. To signify its displeasure, Judge Tarnow won’t get a third chance to get it right. Today’s Sixth Circuit ruling orders the case reassigned to another district judge.

Posted at 1:38 PM by Howard Bashman



Access the newly posted public comments on the FRAP word limit reduction proposal: These may represent the final batch of public comments submitted yesterday evening before the period for submission of public comments ended at 11:59 p.m. eastern time yesterday.

Three attorneys at Wiley Rein LLP submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

The State Bar of California’s Committee on Appellate Courts submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

The State Bar of California’s Committee on Federal Courts submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

Earthjustice, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, and Western Environmental Law Center submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

The members of the appellate, writ, and constitutional law practice at Enterprise Counsel Group, ALC submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

Patrick Bryant submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

Steven Finell submitted this public comment opposing the word limit reduction proposal.

And the public comment that I submitted yesterday evening opposing the word limit reduction proposal also appeared online this morning.

Posted at 1:22 PM by Howard Bashman



In the current issue of the Columbia Journal of Law & the Arts: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia have written “Prefaces to Scalia/Ginsburg: A (Gentle) Parody of Operatic Proportions.”

You can access Derrick Wang’s libretto for “Scalia/Ginsburg: A (Gentle) Parody of Operatic Proportions,” replete with some 248 footnotes.

And for those who demand even more Ginsburg, Rebecca Giblin and Jane C. Ginsburg (the not as notorious JCG) have an article in the issue titled “We (Still) Need to Talk About Aereo: New Controversies and Unresolved Questions After the Supreme Court’s Decision.”

Perhaps one final reason to access the publication’s web site — www.lawandarts.org — is that on a quick read it appears to pertain either to lawn darts or the law of darts.

Posted at 11:25 AM by Howard Bashman



“Alabama Supreme Court and federal judge could both rule on gay marriage licenses within week”: Kent Faulk of The Birmingham News has this report, along with an article headlined “Group says it has 28,000 petitions seeking ethics investigation of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.”

Brian Lyman of The Montgomery Advertiser reports that “Probate judge wants AG to stop same-sex marriage suit.”

And today’s edition of The Dothan Eagle contains a front page article headlined “No marriage licenses for Houston County until Supreme Court ruling.”

Posted at 8:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Drilling rules in Munroe Falls conflict with state law, divided Ohio Supreme Court rules”: This front page article appears in today’s edition of The Akron Beacon Journal.

Today’s edition of The Cleveland Plain Dealer contains a front page article headlined “Ohio Supreme Court rules Munroe Falls regulations on oil and gas drilling are improper.”

And The Columbus Dispatch reports that “Local governments cannot regulate fracking, Ohio Supreme Court rules.”

You can access yesterday’s 4-to-3 ruling of the Supreme Court of Ohio at this link.

Posted at 8:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“If administration loses looming Supreme Court case on ObamaCare, what’s next?” Shannon Bream has this report at FoxNews.com.

Posted at 8:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“White House facing rocky legal road on immigration”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has this report.

Gerstein writes, “Obama vowed to appeal the ruling, but that challenge will head to a court considered the most conservative federal appeals court in the country: the 5th Circuit. Its active judges are Republican by a 2-1 margin.”

Posted at 8:12 AM by Howard Bashman



“Head of New York’s Top Court Says Judges Should Oversee Grand Juries in Deaths Involving Police”: This article appears in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 8:09 AM by Howard Bashman



“Rand Paul and the Libertarian Case Against Judicial Restraint; Sen. Paul takes sides in a libertarian-conservative battle over SCOTUS and the Constitution”: Damon Root had this post yesterday at Reason’s “Hit & Run” blog.

Posted at 8:02 AM by Howard Bashman