How Appealing



Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Two divided three-judge panel rulings of note from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit: Under the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, Congress established rather short time constraints within which federal appellate courts must rule on appeals from orders remanding or refusing to remand class actions to state court. Today a divided three-judge panel holds that the clock doesn’t start ticking until the appellate court exercises its discretion to accept the appeal. You can access today’s ruling, which entirely avoids discussing a related interesting question that I wrote about recently, at this link.

In today’s other ruling of note, a divided three-judge panel holds that the U.S. Supreme Court‘s fairly recent ruling in Crawford v. Washington is not retroactively applicable on habeas corpus to cases that were final when the Crawford decision issued. In so ruling, the majority concludes that Crawford does not constitute a watershed rule of criminal procedure that affects the fundamental fairness and accuracy of a criminal proceeding.

Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Backs Searches in Some Cases”: Charles Lane of The Washington Post provides this news update.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Supreme Court Splits in Limiting Police Searches.”

Stephen Henderson of Knight Ridder Newspapers reports that “Supreme Court puts constraints on house searches with co-tenants.”

Bill Rankin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides a news update headlined “Supreme Court rules Ga. home search illegal.”

And at his eponymous blog, Orin Kerr has a post titled “Social Norms and Fourth Amendment Protection: An Initial Comment on Georgia v. Randolph.”

By the way, the U.S. Supreme Court‘s ruling today in Georgia v. Randolph, No. 04-1067, not only contains Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.’s first dissenting opinion since joining the Court, but it also represents the first time that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy provided the fifth vote necessary to create a majority since Justice Sandra Day O’Connor retired from the Court. Although Justice Kennedy’s vote was not technically the key swing vote, because the judgment under review could still have been affirmed by an equally divided Court (albeit without any precedential effect), it appears that Justice Kennedy is ready to fill the sometimes dramatic role of crucial swing vote going forward.

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Complaints Against Judges Declined in FY 2005”: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued this news release yesterday. Additional information is available in tables that can be accessed online here and here.

Posted at 4:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lafave case ‘over for good’; When a judge rejects a plea deal for the former teacher, prosecutors say they have no choice but to drop the charges”: This article appears today in The St. Petersburg Times. And columnist Sue Carlton has an essay entitled “Getting back to normal: The Lafave sex scandal placed the victim’s home under siege; How does a mother protect her son from further harm?

The Tampa Tribune today contains articles headlined “Lafave Case Over” and “Lafave Not So Pretty To Victim’s Father.”

And The Ocala Star-Banner contains articles headlined “Charges dropped against Lafave; Family begged state to cease case after judge refused plea” and “‘Prurient’ media dive onto story.” The newspaper has also posted online the State Attorney’s Nolle Prosequi.

Posted at 3:54 PM by Howard Bashman



Fifth Circuit denies rehearing en banc of decision setting aside criminal defendant’s death sentence because a juror was discovered to be packin’ heat: Today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, accompanied by an explanation from the original three-judge panel, can be accessed here.

My earlier coverage of the Fifth Circuit’s decision setting aside the death sentence appears in a post titled “Gun-toting juror causes Fifth Circuit to set aside Texas death sentence on habeas review” that begins, “It wasn’t that the juror was so pro-death that he was hoping to impose the sentence himself.”

Posted at 3:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court to Decide Future of Detainees’ Suits”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A federal appellate court pressed the Bush administration Wednesday to say how much authority judges have in examining hundreds of claims by detainees challenging the legality of their detentions at Guantanamo Bay.”

Posted at 2:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chat room insults lead to internet libel victory”: The Times of London today contains an article that begins, “A woman who posted false sexual allegations against a UKIP parliamentary candidate on the internet has become the first person in a British chat room to be successfully sued for libel.”

The newspaper also contains an essay entitled “Verdict casts dark cloud over freedom of speech” by Mark Stephens. The essay begins, ”
Yesterday’s ruling is a dark day for freedom of speech with broad implications. The judge has applied the old-fashioned, anachronistic tenets of libel law to the fast-evolving medium of blogging, which recognises the democratisation of knowledge.”

Elsewhere, The Guardian (UK) provides a news update headlined “Expert warns of more chatroom libel awards.”

Posted at 12:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Law lords overturn school uniform ‘jilbab’ ruling”: The Times of London provides a news update that begins, “The law lords today overturned a court ruling that a teenager’s human rights were violated when she was banned from wearing full-length Islamic dress at school.”

Today’s ruling of the House of Lords can be accessed both here and here.

In other press coverage, The Sun (UK) provides a news update headlined “Uniform ruling overturned.”

Bloomberg News reports that “U.K.’s Highest Court Backs School Ban on Muslim Dress.”

And The Associated Press reports that “British Court Rules Against Muslim Girl.”

Posted at 12:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Millionaire Held for Contempt for 10 Years”: The Associated Press provides this report about a Philadelphia-area man who apparently now holds the record for time served in prison for civil contempt.

Back in 2002, then-Third Circuit Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. issued an opinion on behalf of a three-judge panel in this matter which concluded that “Because the state courts have repeatedly found that Mr. Chadwick has the present ability to comply with the July 1994 state court order, we cannot disturb the state courts’ decision that there is no federal constitutional bar to Mr. Chadwick’s indefinite confinement for civil contempt so long as he retains the ability to comply with the order requiring him to pay over the money at issue.”

Posted at 11:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“Judicial Vacancies, Nominations, and Pensions”: At National Review Online’s “Bench Memos” blog, Ed Whelan has a post that begins, “The recent announcement by Third Circuit Judge Franklin S. Van Antwerpen that he will take ‘senior status’ on October 23, 2006, provides a useful lesson in the effect of the judicial-pension system on judicial vacancies and nominations.”

Posted at 11:04 AM by Howard Bashman



Today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in an argued case: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Court limits search power.” The founder of “SCOTUSblog” argued the case for the prevailing party.

Today’s lone ruling comes in the case of Georgia v. Randolph, No. 04-1067. Justice David H. Souter delivered the opinion of the Court. You can access the syllabus here; Justice Souter’s opinion here; Justice John Paul Stevens’ concurring opinion here; Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s concurring opinion here; Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.’s dissenting opinion here; Justice Antonin Scalia’s dissenting opinion here; Justice Clarence Thomas’s dissenting opinion here; and the oral argument transcript here.

Posted at 10:03 AM by Howard Bashman



“Superior Says He Didn’t See Agent’s Report on Moussaoui”: Neil A. Lewis has this article today in The New York Times. In addition, columnist Maureen Dowd has an op-ed entitled “Fly Into a Building? Who Could Imagine?” (TimesSelect subscription required).

The Washington Post today reports that “Moussaoui Memo Unseen, Court Told; Ex-FBI Official Was Unaware of Agent’s Warning.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that “Moussaoui Arrest No Cause for Alarm at FBI; If they had searched his belongings, agents might have stopped the 9/11 attacks, but in 2001 the case wasn’t a priority, a former top official says.”

And The Richmond Times-Dispatch contains an article headlined “Ex-FBI official: Plot data didn’t reach him.”

Posted at 7:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“Ruling Limits Investors’ Legal Options; High Court Decides Against Large State Class-Action Suits”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.

Posted at 7:22 AM by Howard Bashman



“L.A. Officials Know to Expect Attorney’s Call; Stephen Yagman began the practice of holding leaders to account for the actions of police”: The Los Angeles Times contains this article today.

Posted at 7:20 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court backs police in porn sting”: The Washington Times today contains an article that begins, “The Supreme Court yesterday ruled in favor of police who obtained a search warrant for a man’s home in anticipation that he would accept mail delivery of child pornography he ordered as part of a sting operation.”

Posted at 7:15 AM by Howard Bashman