How Appealing



Wednesday, February 20, 2013

“Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court narrowly upholds law that bars gay couples from adopting children”: The Associated Press has this report.

Posted at 11:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear GOP donor from Alabama’s lawsuit on campaign limits”: Mary Orndorff Troyan has this article today in The Montgomery Advertiser.

Posted at 10:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Will 2nd Circuit limit on UBS liability in terror case have ripples?” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

Posted at 10:09 PM by Howard Bashman



“The More Things Change . . .” Linda Greenhouse has this post at the “Opinionator” blog of The New York Times.

Posted at 9:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Orie Melvin jury to resume deliberations Thursday”: Paula Reed Ward of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a news update that begins, “The jury deliberating the case of suspended Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin and her sister, Janine Orie, will return Thursday to begin its fourth day of discussions.”

Posted at 4:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lessig on ‘Aaron’s Laws — Law and Justice in a Digital Age'”: Harvard Law School has posted this video online at YouTube. And the audio of the presentation together with the slides used during the presentation can be heard and viewed via this link.

And this afternoon’s broadcast of “Radio Boston” on Boston’s NPR News station WBUR-FM 90.9 contained an audio segment titled “Carmen Ortiz: A Case Of Prosecutorial Diligence Or Legal Overreach?

Posted at 4:25 PM by Howard Bashman



Boobies now and boobies later in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit: The Express-Times of Easton, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “‘I Heart Boobies!’ bracelets arguments heard by full appellate court.”

Peter Hall of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “Easton’s ‘boobies’ case before federal appeals court.”

And The Associated Press reports that “US appeals court hears Pa. girls’ fight over ‘boobies’ bracelets at school.”

When the audio of today’s en banc reargument becomes available online, I will link to it. My most recent earlier coverage of this case appears in this post from last night. [Update: The audio of today’s en banc reargument can be accessed via this link (30.5 MB Windows Media audio file).]

Meanwhile, two weeks from today, the Third Circuit will return to the same topic in a slightly different context, when a three-judge panel of the court is scheduled to hear oral argument in the case captioned Amber Arpaio v. Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

At Forbes,com, Kashmir Hill had a post titled “‘Girls Gone Wild’ Owes $3 Million To Amber Arpaio, The Woman Ashley Dupre Pretended to Be.” The federal district court’s ruling refusing to vacate default judgment can be accessed here.

Earlier coverage of the lawsuit’s initiation is available from The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Daily News.

Posted at 4:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ortiz Under Fire: Critics Say Swartz Tragedy Is Evidence Of Troublesome Pattern.” Boston’s NPR News station WBUR-FM 90.9 had this report today. That link also provides free access to the text of an article headlined “Ortiz under fire — Critics: Swartz tragedy evidence of troublesome pattern at USAO” that recently appeared in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. A related report that WBUR posted online today is headlined “U.S. Attorney’s Office Takes Heat From Judges.”

Online at Nieman Journalism Lab, Ann Marie Lipinski has an essay titled “Eugene Patterson and Aaron Swartz: Ghosts speaking across the page.”

In the current issue of Seattle Weekly, Chris Ruen has an article headlined “The Misplaced Zeal of Aaron Swartz: The late activist’s efforts helped put power and public sympathy into the hands of corporations at the expense of artists, musicians, and the people.”

And rt.com reports that “Anonymous hacked US State Dept, investment firm in homage to Aaron Swartz, Lulzsec.”

Lastly, yesterday evening law professor Lawrence Lessig delivered a lecture titled “Aaron’s Laws: Law and Justice in a Digital Age.” When the video of that lecture becomes available online for on-demand viewing, I will link to it.

Posted at 4:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justices question Va. limits on access to public records; Two men claim Virginia’s law limiting access to public records discriminates against out-of-state residents”: Brad Heath of USA Today has this news update.

And Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press reports that “Court conflicted on allowing outside use of FOIA.”

You can access at this link the transcript of today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in McBurney v. Young, No. 12-17.

Update: In other coverage, at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Argument recap: Agnosticism as an argument.”

Posted at 2:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Jury has question in third day of deliberations in trial of Pa. Justice Joan Orie Melvin”: The Associated Press has this report.

Posted at 1:40 PM by Howard Bashman



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

1 Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Chaidez v. United States, No. 11-820. Justice Clarence Thomas issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Sotomayor delivered the opinion of the Court in Evans v. Michigan, No. 11-1327. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. issued a dissenting opinion. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court in Johnson v. Williams, No. 11-465. Justice Antonin Scalia issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. You can access the oral argument via this link.

4. Justice Stephen G. Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court in Henderson v. United States, No. 11-9307. Justice Scalia issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas and Alito joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

5. And Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Gunn v. Minton, No. 11-1118. You can access the oral argument via this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court narrows scope of previous immigration ruling” and “Court bars retrial of Michigan arson suspect.”

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“Wiccan inmates can sue to gain chaplain”: In today’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has this article reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued yesterday.

Update: In other coverage, Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has an article headlined “Appeals court revives women inmates’ bid for Wiccan chaplain; Female prisoners at the Central California Women’s Facility say Wiccans outnumber Jews, Muslims and Catholics; A district court rejected their suit.”

And The Associated Press reports that “California may have to hire Wiccan chaplain.”

Posted at 9:00 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Takes on A Case Regarding ‘Arising Under’ Jurisdiction: A Prediction as to How the Court Will Resolve Gunn v. Minton.” Rodger Citron has this essay online today at Justia’s Verdict.

Posted at 8:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Minnesota Supreme Court Rules for the Defendant in a Suit Alleging Online Defamation”: Julie Hilden has this essay online today at Justia’s Verdict.

Posted at 8:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Unanimous juries for criminal convictions? Supreme Court declines case; The Supreme Court declines to take up a case challenging the right of states to permit non-unanimous verdicts; Critics say verdicts reached by divided juries violate the Sixth Amendment.” Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor has this report.

Posted at 8:22 AM by Howard Bashman