How Appealing



Sunday, April 29, 2007

“Civil-rights icon Hill nears 100; Richmond native held crucial role in building Brown v. Board case”: This article appears today in The Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Posted at 10:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Temptation of Justice Thomas: In his latest anti-abortion opinion, Clarence Thomas hints at a moment of doubt.” Evan P. Schultz will have this essay in the April 30, 2007 issue of Legal Times.

And in the April 30, 2007 issue of The National Law Journal, American Bar Association President Karen J. Mathis has an essay entitled “Better Judicial Pay: Lawyers must take the lead.”

Law Professor David Fontana has an essay entitled “Appointing prosecutors:Make it less political.”

And Dan Small has an essay entitled “Attorney General Gonzales: How to get him to go.”

Posted at 10:08 PM by Howard Bashman



The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Philadelphia judge owns unsafe rental properties, and the judge is running for a seat on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania: That newspaper today contains articles headlined “Dilapidation on his docket“; “Judge’s public office, staff used for personal business; A court-paid worker was on the case, collecting rent and signing leases for Berry; He says that will stop“; and “An unreal scheme used in attempt to conceal assets.”

And in other coverage of this year’s Pa. Supreme Court elections, yesterday’s newspaper contained a fund raising-related article headlined “Judicial hopefuls treading the line.”

Posted at 7:03 PM by Howard Bashman



Philadelphia Phillies 6, Florida Marlins 1: The largest attendance at Citizens Bank Park thus far this season was present for the Phillies first Sunday home game of the year, due to the rain-out earlier this month of a Sunday home game against the Houston Astros.

Today’s large crowd, which included my son and me, nearly witnessed a historic pitching performance, as Phillies starter Jamie Moyer took a no-hitter two outs deep into the top of the seventh inning.

The typical no-hitter features at least one or two tremendous defensive plays, and today’s game had at least two to offer. Phillies third baseman Abraham Nunez made an amazing defensive play for the second out in the third inning, when the Marlins catcher hit a line drive that glanced off the top of Nunez’s glove when he tried to jump as high as possible to make the catch. The ball dribbled just behind Nunez, who turned around, picked it up, and threw out the catcher at first base by a stride on a short-hop that first baseman Ryan Howard easily handled. Moyer ended his chance at a perfect game by walking the first batter in the fourth inning. Hanley Ramirez, who drew the walk, was erased when second baseman Dan Uggla grounded into a fielder’s choice. Then third baseman Miguel Cabrera hit a shot into the left field power alley that appeared to be heading for a double, but somehow Phillies left fielder Jayson Werth made an amazing snow-cone catch at the warning track. Uggla at that point was steps away from third base and was resigned to his fate, so Werth upon turning around threw the ball back to shortstop Jimmy Rollins, who then lobbed the ball to first baseman Ryan Howard to record the double play at first base.

Thanks to that double play to end the fourth inning, Moyer had faced the minimum number of batters when Cabrera returned to the plate as the third batter in the top of the seventh inning. On a 3-1 count, he lined the ball into the left field corner for a double. The no-hitter was no more. The very next batter, however, lined out to second base, ending the inning.

Moyer was the lead-off batter in the bottom of the seventh inning, and he hit a line drive of his own into the left field corner for a double, barely reaching second base before the tag. It was his second hit of the game, as he led off the third inning with a pop fly single that froze the left fielder in his tracks. In the bottom of the seventh, Moyer reached third base on a wild pitch, but the next three batters for the Phillies recorded outs that were not productive enough to score him from third.

Perhaps running the bases tired Moyer, who had already thrown 86 pitches to that point and is nearly two years older than me. He walked the first Marlins batter in the top of the eighth inning and then, after recording a strikeout, gave up a single to the next batter. With runners at first and second, one out, and Moyer having thrown 100 pitches, his day was over. New-found set-up man Brett Myers came in to record two successive strikeouts, and the eighth inning ended without the Marlins putting any runs on the board.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, a double from pinch hitter Greg Dobbs with the bases loaded brought in three more runs for the Phillies, making the score 6-0, and thereby rendering unnecessary for today at least the services of the Phillies recently unreliable closer, Tom “Flash” Gordon. After giving up a meaningless run to the Marlins in the top of the ninth, the game ended with the final score 6-1. Tthe large crowd left happy, whether or not they were carrying a bobblehead Phanatic or enjoyed today’s King Tut celebration.

Although eleven wins thus far for the month of April will not enable the Phillies to avoid a losing record for April 2007, the past two years the Phillies only achieved ten wins in April. So, this month’s record does represent at least a slight improvement. You can access the box score of today’s game at this link, while wraps are available here and here.

Posted at 6:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“In Indiana, a fight over ‘In God We Trust’ license plates; In Indiana, the extra fee for specialty tags doesn’t apply to one that invokes the divine; Critics go to court”: The Los Angeles Times contains this article today.

Posted at 9:42 AM by Howard Bashman



Why is today not day three of “Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski’s take-down of blogs is itself taken down”? Because the audio is back online! You can listen by visiting this web page and then, once there, simply clicking on the link labeled “listen.” Plus, the written transcript, although less than 100% accurate, remains available online via Google cache. The first reference to “How Appealing” appears shortly after the 14-minute mark of the audio.

A bit later in this very same audio segment, Judge Kozinski explains how he determined that David Lat was probably the author of the blog “Underneath Their Robes” before Lat’s official unmasking occurred in an article that Jeffrey Toobin published in The New Yorker.

My earlier, related posts can be accessed via their respective titles:

Don’t hate the player“;

‘I can’t really have breakfast, really enjoy my day, until I hear the great thoughts of Howard Bashman’“;

Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski’s take-down of blogs is itself taken down“;

Welcome to day two of ‘Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski’s take-down of blogs is itself taken down’ “;

Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski talks about blogs“; and

‘Judge Kozinski Talks About Cyberlaw.’

Posted at 9:37 AM by Howard Bashman



“Ban All the Lawyers: Prisoners at Guantanamo don’t really need them, or so says the Justice Department.” This editorial appears today in The Washington Post.

Posted at 9:25 AM by Howard Bashman



“Woman in Escort Case Plans to Name Names in Defense”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “Deborah Jeane Palfrey has not been at all shy about it: for more than a decade she ran an escort service that catered to upscale clients in the nation’s capital, sending college-educated women to men’s homes or hotel rooms.”

And The Washington Post today contains a front page article headlined “‘I Abhor Injustice,’ Alleged Madam Says.”

Posted at 9:23 AM by Howard Bashman



“Campaign law dogs McCain; He says he wants to clean up politics; GOP activists say he’s muzzling speech”: This article appears today in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Posted at 9:10 AM by Howard Bashman



“Partial-Birth Bigotry: The know-nothing left blames the latest abortion ruling on Catholicism.” The Wall Street Journal has posted at OpinionJournal, allowing for free access, this op-ed by Law Professor John Yoo that appeared in The WSJ yesterday.

Posted at 8:44 AM by Howard Bashman



“Duquesne Univ. Honors Alito”: That was the title of last night’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “America & the Courts” program. According to C-SPAN’s detailed description of the broadcast, “U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito receives the Carol Los Mansmann Award for Distinguished Public Service from Duquesne Univ. Law School in Pittsburgh, PA. Third Circuit Chief Judge Anthony Scirica & Justice Alito’s wife, Martha-Ann Alito, also make remarks.” You can view the broadcast online by clicking here (RealPlayer required).

No word yet on whether a certain Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice will also boycott the webcast of the event.

Posted at 12:15 AM by Howard Bashman