How Appealing



Friday, March 27, 2009

“Court upholds Md. funeral home law”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Maryland’s restrictions on funeral home ownership serve a worthy goal of protecting the public and do not excessively impair interstate commerce, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a Baltimore judge’s ruling that the Maryland Morticians and Funeral Directors Act violates the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 8:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Rivera-Soto will not face sanctions for violating court order”: The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger has a news update that begins, “New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner today said Justice Roberto Rivera-Soto will not be sanctioned for publicly using the name of Hunterdon County investigator who uttered a racial slur while discussing former NBA star Jayson Williams, even after he was told about a court order not to identify the man.”

And The Associated Press reports that “No sanctions for NJ judge in Jayson Williams case.”

Posted at 8:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“Reid: Roberts ‘didn’t tell us the truth.'” Politico.com has a report that begins, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Friday that John Roberts misled the Senate during his confirmation hearings by pretending to be a moderate — and that the United States is now ‘stuck’ with him as chief justice.”

And at the “Legal Beat” blog of CQ Politics, Keith Perine has a post titled “Reid Won’t Go Nuclear Against GOP Judicial Filibusters.”

Posted at 2:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Plea for freer commercial speech”: At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post that begins, “Two companies that gather wide-ranging data on health care, including several billion reports each year on drugs that doctors are prescribing for patients, asked the Supreme Court on Friday to give the highest level of constitutional protection to assembling and selling commercial data.”

You can access the petition for writ of certiorari by clicking here.

Posted at 12:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“In 1998, the President of the United States ordered a missile strike against a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan that he believed was connected to the terrorist activities of Osama bin Laden.” So begins an opinion that the majority on a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued today.

The opening paragraph of the majority opinion continues: “The owners of the plant sued the United States, challenging several allegedly defamatory statements made by senior executive branch officials justifying the strike as well as the government’s failure to compensate them for the destruction of the plant. The district court dismissed plaintiffs’ complaint, and we affirm on the ground that it presents a nonjusticiable political question.”

Posted at 11:04 AM by Howard Bashman



“In appeals court, S.F. defends strip searches”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “With millions of dollars in damages potentially at stake, attorneys for San Francisco defended the city’s former policy of strip-searching new jail inmates Thursday, arguing that the need to curb jailhouse smuggling of weapons or drugs justified the practice.”

You can access the audio of yesterday’s en banc oral argument before an eleven-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit via this link (9.69MB Windows Media audio file).

A little over one month ago, I had this post about the Ninth Circuit’s order granting rehearing en banc. The August 2008 opinion of a divided three-judge Ninth Circuit panel in the case, in which each of the three judges wrote an opinion, can be accessed here.

Posted at 9:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“State Supreme Court awards another $40,000 to former justice”: Today’s edition of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contains an article that begins, “The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that property owners whose land was burned in a forest fire were eligible for additional damages – a decision that will double from nearly $40,000 to almost $80,000 the award for a farm partly owned by a former Supreme Court justice.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Wis. court doubles damages for 2003 forest fire.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin at this link.

Posted at 9:20 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court tells Mack to pay divorce settlement”: In today’s edition of The Reno Gazette-Journal, Martha Bellisle has an article that begins, “The Nevada Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling Thursday ordering Darren Mack, convicted of killing his estranged wife and shooting their divorce judge, to pay her estate almost $1 million under an agreement they had made verbally.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Nevada at this link.

Posted at 9:02 AM by Howard Bashman



“Clean Slates for Youths Sentenced Fraudulently”: Today in The New York Times, John Schwartz has an article that begins, “The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Thursday ordered the slate cleaned for hundreds of youths who had been sentenced by a corrupt judge.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer today reports that “Judge may overturn hundreds of cases in Luzerne scandal.”

And The Citizens Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania contains an article headlined “State court: Clear juvenile records.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Pennsylvania Supreme Court order appears at this link.

Posted at 8:57 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court grants AP’s appeal over Maynard’s e-mails”: The West Virginia Record has a report that begins, “The West Virginia Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously granted a petition filed by The Associated Press, which is seeking eight e-mails between former Justice Elliott ‘Spike’ Maynard and Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship.”

And The Associated Press reports that “WVa Supreme Court agrees to hear e-mail FOIA case.”

Posted at 8:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Sees ‘Serious’ Issues in Cellphone Photos Case”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “A federal judge said at a hearing on Thursday that ‘serious constitutional issues’ were raised in a lawsuit filed by three teenage girls and their mothers against a county district attorney who threatened to arrest the students on pornography charges after seminude photographs of them appeared on other students’ cellphones.”

And The Scranton (Pa.) Times;Tribune reports today that “Girls in ‘sexting’ scandal defy Wyoming County DA.”

Posted at 8:24 AM by Howard Bashman