How Appealing



Wednesday, March 23, 2005

BREAKING NEWS — “Schiavo’s Parents Appeal to Supreme Court”: Hope Yen of The Associated Press provides this report.

At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Family asks Court to act in Schiavo case.” Lyle characterizes the filing as “a hastily crafted emergency stay request, bearing some out-of-date language merely copied from earlier filings in the Court.”

Posted at 11:11 PM by Howard Bashman



Just be Koz: Tonight C-SPAN2 is broadcasting Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski‘s appearance on the “Students & Leaders” series. By clicking here, you can view online, on demand Judge Kozinski’s speech, followed by a question and answer session.

Update: Nearly midway through the broadcast, after responding to many questions involving controversial legal matters posed by his high school student audience, Judge Kozinski finally refuses to respond to a question. Ironically, the question Judge Kozinski refused to answer asked his views about the trial of this guy.

Posted at 11:00 PM by Howard Bashman



Law Professors Bruce Ackerman and John C. Eastman debate judicial filibusters on “Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane“: You can listen to today’s broadcast by clicking here (RealPlayer required). The program runs fifty-two minutes.

National Public Radio‘s “Taking Issue” hosts a written debate on the subject of judicial filibusters. Law Professor Douglas W. Kmiec has an essay entitled “Advice and Consent, Not Obstruction.” And Professor of Political Science Ross K. Baker has an essay entitled “In Defense of the Filibuster.”

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today contains an editorial entitled “Political dosie-do: Of life, death and filibusters.”

In this week’s issue of National Journal, Stuart Taylor Jr. has an essay entitled “Moderate Republicans Should Not Go ‘Nuclear’ — Yet.”

The Florida Times-Union of Jacksonville today contains an editorial entitled “Judiciary: Compromise needed.”

In The Cavalier Daily, Sophia Brumby has an op-ed entitled “Resisting radicalism.”

Finally, The Michigan Tech Lode today contains an op-ed by Ray Molzon entitled “Filibustering the filibusters.”

Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Journalist discusses potential jail time”: The Yale Daily News today contains an article that begins, “Time Magazine’s White House correspondent Matt Cooper said he is still trying to find the right words to explain to his six-year-old son that ‘daddy might not be coming home for a while.'”

Posted at 9:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Son of Ex-Assistant Sheriff Convicted in Orange County Sexual Assault Case”: The Los Angeles Times provides a news update that begins, “The son of a wealthy Orange County sheriff’s official and two other young men who filmed themselves having sex with a teenager were convicted of sexual assault today by a jury that heard evidence that the girl was too drunk to consent.”

And The Orange County Register provides a news update headlined “3 guilty in videotaped sex assault; Haidl, Spann and Nachreiner face anything from probation to 14 to 18 years in prison.”

Posted at 9:20 PM by Howard Bashman



The Knight Ridder Newspapers are reporting: An article headlined “Appeals court rejects efforts to have Schiavo’s tube reinserted” begins, “The battle over Terri Schiavo appeared to be entering its final stages Wednesday as a U.S. appeals court refused twice to order her feeding tube restored and a Florida judge issued an emergency order barring state officials from taking the brain-damaged woman into protective custody.”

And in related news, “Schiavo case heats up Senate’s brewing conflict over judicial nominations.”

Posted at 9:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“State officials may place Schiavo under protective custody”: The Miami Herald provides this news update.

And The Orlando Sentinel offers a news update headlined “Gov. Bush: DCF may intervene.”

You can access at this link the pleading that Florida’s Department of Children and Families filed today in a state trial court.

Yet this effort also appears to have failed, at least initially. According to the web site of The St. Petersburg Times, late today “Pinellas-Pasco Judge George Greer rebuffed Jeb Bush’s attempt to take custody of Terri Schiavo.”

Posted at 7:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trucker found guilty, may avoid death penalty”: The Houston Chronicle provides a news update that begins, “A federal judge today declared a mistrial in 20 of the counts against truck driver Tyrone Williams and said she believes jurors ‘have taken the death penalty off the table’ while convicting him of the other counts.”

Posted at 6:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“Bad Brains: How the Supreme Court’s teen execution decision proves too much.” Ronald Bailey today has this essay online at Reason.

Posted at 5:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Florida Senate Rejects Schiavo Bill”: The Associated Press reports here that “The Florida Senate rejected a bill Wednesday to keep Terri Schiavo alive, turning back an attempt to resolve the contentious end-of-life debate with a state law, as legislators did in 2003.”

Posted at 5:07 PM by Howard Bashman



Now the only remaining federal court hope for Terri Schiavo’s parents rests with the Supreme Court of the United States: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy serves as the Circuit Justice for the Eleventh Circuit, and thus any request for an emergency stay would first be directed to him. Typically, if the Circuit Justice decides that a stay should be denied, he will refer it to the full Court for review before an order denying relief is entered. For Justice Kennedy to grant an emergency stay, he will have to conclude both that the case is likely to be granted review on the merits (which requires the votes of four Justices) and that the result on the merits is likely to be in favor of Terri Schiavo’s parents (which requires the votes of five Justices).

The parents can ask both for an emergency stay from Justice Kennedy and, separately, for review from the full court by means of a petition for writ of certiorari. The denial of a stay does not automatically operate to deny the cert. petition, but it is a sure sign that the cert. petition is not likely to be granted.

Posted at 4:00 PM by Howard Bashman



BREAKING NEWS — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit rejects Terri Schiavo’s parents’ request for rehearing en banc: The Associated Press reports here that the vote on the petition for rehearing en banc was 10-2 against granting rehearing. The Court’s order denying rehearing en banc can be accessed here via the Eleventh Circuit’s web site or here, where I have posted it as a backup.

One point from The AP’s report deserves clarification. Two Eleventh Circuit judges — Gerald Bard Tjoflat and Charles R. Wilson — have expressly noted their dissent from the denial of rehearing en banc. Up to four other judges on the Eleventh Circuit could have voted in favor of granting rehearing en banc but then have chosen not to have their dissents noted from the denial thereof.

Posted at 3:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“Travesty Time, Again: In its death-penalty decision, the Supreme Court hits a new low.” Robert H. Bork has this essay today at National Review Online.

Posted at 3:05 PM by Howard Bashman



Attorneys for Terri Schiavo’s parents had obtained a two-hour extension of the 10 a.m. deadline for seeking rehearing en banc in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit: So advises a reader who, for his day job, reports on the Eleventh Circuit. That answers the question that I raised at the end of this post from earlier this afternoon.

Posted at 2:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Fulton likely site for Nichols trial; DA also raises questions about courthouse safety”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains an article that begins, “Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard expects Brian Nichols to be tried in Fulton County in the shooting deaths of a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent.”

Posted at 2:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Running Out Of Time, Options”: CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen today has this essay relating to the Terri Schiavo case.

Posted at 2:00 PM by Howard Bashman



Federal government’s Statement of Interest filed in the federal Terri Schiavo litigation: Many readers have emailed to ask whether I found online anywhere the federal government’s Statement of Interest filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. While I have not, the federal government’s Statement of Interest filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida can be accessed here. Presumably the federal government’s interest didn’t change much over the course of one day as the case moved from a federal district court to a federal appellate court.

Posted at 1:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Schiavo Parents Seek Review of Ruling”: The Associated Press reports here that Terri Schiavo’s parents are seeking rehearing of their appeal before the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. And CNN.com reports that “Schiavo’s parents urge full appeals court to act; Schindlers also asking Florida legislators to pass new law.”

There are twelve judges in active service on the Eleventh Circuit. For rehearing en banc to be granted, a majority of seven judges must vote in favor. Three of those twelve judges participated in the panel’s decision, voting 2-1 against the parents’ appeal. Of the remaining nine, six must vote with the dissenter for rehearing en banc to be granted. Or, stated another way, if four or more other judges on the court agree with the panel majority or otherwise find the case unworthy of en banc consideration, the request for rehearing en banc will be denied. My suspicion is that rehearing en banc will be denied, and quickly.

Because the panel’s ruling set a 10 a.m. deadline for rehearing petitions, I wonder why we haven’t heard until now that the parents have filed for rehearing. In other words, if the rehearing petition was timely-filed, it would have been filed nearly four hours ago.

Posted at 1:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Wisconsin high school violating student’s constitutional rights; Becket Fund lawyers say ‘God bless America’ protected by First Amendment”: A news release issued today begins, “The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty notified Wisconsin’s Fond du Lac High School today that it has violated a student’s constitutional rights by denying him the right to close an announcement with ‘God bless America.'” You can access at this link the letter that The Becket Fund sent today to the principal of Fond du Lac High School.

Posted at 11:44 AM by Howard Bashman