How Appealing



Thursday, May 1, 2014

“5 Law Blogs To Add To Your Daily Routine”: Ama Sarfo of Law360.com tonight has this article (subscription required for full access), which includes “How Appealing” as first on its list of five law blogs to read on a daily basis.

Posted at 11:09 PM by Howard Bashman



“Harper alleges Supreme Court Chief Justice broke key rule with phone call”: Sean Fine of The Toronto Globe and Mail has this news update.

The Toronto Star has a news update headlined “PM refused to take ‘inadvisable, inappropriate’ call from chief justice, PMO says; An unprecedented rift between the Prime Minister’s Office and the Supreme Court of Canada — the executive and judicial branches of government — burst into the open Thursday evening.”

And The Ottawa Citizen has a news update headlined “PMO says Harper avoided ‘inappropriate’ call from chief justice on Nadon.”

Posted at 11:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Convicted murderer Lockett was hit with Taser leading up to execution; State Corrections Department report details events leading up to Lockett’s execution”: The Oklahoman has this news update. You can view the report at this link.

The Tulsa World has reports headlined “Execution proceeded despite vein damage, report says” and “Officials refuse to say if they tried to revive Clayton Lockett.”

The New York Times has a news update headlined “Oklahoma Official Calls for Outside Review of Botched Execution.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Oklahoma took 51 minutes to find vein in execution.”

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Senate Confirms Nine Judges This Week”: Todd Ruger has this post today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Posted at 6:12 PM by Howard Bashman



Access online the audio of today’s Sixth Circuit oral argument in Sarah Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment et al., No. 13-5946: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has posted online today’s oral argument of this case at this link (embedded audio).

This blog’s related posts from earlier today can be accessed here and here.

And The Associated Press reports that “Internet giants eye cheerleader’s defamation suit.”

Posted at 2:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Legal Foundation of NSA Surveillance on Americans: What the final clause of the Fourth Amendment means in interpreting the government’s rights.” Conor Friedersdorf has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

Posted at 1:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“Oklahoma execution nightmare shines light on California policies”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this report.

The Guardian (UK) has a report headlined “Botched Oklahoma execution turns spotlight on US pharmaceutical firms; Loopholes found in US companies’ policies for drugs used; White House says execution ‘fell short of humane standards.” In addition, law professor Randall T Coyne has an essay titled “It’s time for the US supreme court to declare a death penalty moratorium; Clayton Lockett’s agonizing final minutes were the results of a failed experiment, proving states can no longer be trusted to run their laboratories. Let’s stop tinkering with the machinery of death.”

Today’s edition of The New York Times contains an editorial titled “State-Sponsored Horror in Oklahoma.”

Online at The Atlantic, Matt Ford has an essay titled “Clayton Lockett and the World’s Deepening Death-Penalty Divide; ‘As a very sincere friend, I think this is unworthy of the United States of America,’ one European lawmaker says.”

And online at The Week, Scott Lemieux has an essay titled “John Paul Stevens is right: The death penalty is unconstitutional; Oklahoma’s botched execution of Clayton Lockett has only underscored the barbarism of capital punishment.”

Posted at 1:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Roy Englert on the Oklahoma executions”: Will Baude has this post today at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Related video of Englert’s appearance on yesterday evening’s broadcast of The PBS NewsHour can be accessed here.

Posted at 1:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Sarah Jones’ lawsuit against website packs big impact; Tech firms and First Amendment lawyers nationwide await a decision on suit against the gossip website TheDirty.com”: In today’s edition of The Cincinnati Enquirer, Amber Hunt has this front page article previewing a case being argued today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

I will link to the oral argument audio once the Sixth Circuit posts it online. The panel hearing oral argument in the case consists of Circuit Judges Julia Smith Gibbons and Richard Allen Griffin and Senior Circuit Judge Ralph B. Guy, Jr.

Posted at 11:24 AM by Howard Bashman



Welcoming one of this blog’s newest Twitter followers: Welcome to “Anti Bryan A. Garner,” which is among the newest followers of “How Appealing” on Twitter.

Only days old, the Twitter feed “Anti Bryan A. Garner” already offers many high-value Tweets, including “The no. 1 rule of legal writing is verbosity” (inaugural Tweet); “The winning brief shows dedication to emotional appeals rather than a needless obsession with grammar or reasoning“; “You may disagree with his politics, but you can’t rebuke the clarity and reasoning of Anthony Kennedy“; “Filing a brief on time leads a judge to believe you have too much free time, not enough clients, and therefore are a bad lawyer“; and “There are no strict rules when it comes to statutory interpretation.”

Posted at 11:08 AM by Howard Bashman



“Home Stretch at the Supreme Court”: Beginning now, the Constitutional Accountability Center is hosting this panel presentation at the National Press Club.

You can access the video live, online via this link. According to the event announcement emailed to me yesterday, “The panel will be moderated by Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick and feature Erin Murphy, who recently argued and won McCutcheon v. FEC, Marty Lederman of Georgetown Law, and CAC’s Elizabeth Wydra.”

Posted at 9:29 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Will Never Kill the Death Penalty, Even With Botched Executions; Capital punishment is constitutional, but the way it’s performed may never be; Only the public can shut down the machinery of death — if it sees it killing”: Mike Sacks has this essay online today at The Daily Beast.

In today’s edition of The Oklahoman, Chris Casteel has an article headlined “U.S. Supreme Court has allowed ‘some risk of pain’ in executions; In a 2008 decision that upheld the three-drug protocol for lethal injections in Oklahoma and other states, the court acknowledged that errors could lead to pain for death row inmates.” In addition, Jaclyn Cosgrove has an article headlined “How Oklahoma’s execution drugs work: The three drugs used in a botched execution of convicted killer Clayton Derrell Lockett on Tuesday likely did not perform as intended, potentially leaving him ‘paralyzed and burning’ until his death, one pharmacology expert said Wednesday.”

And today’s edition of The Tulsa World contains an article headlined “Execution scrutiny rages after botched execution of Oklahoma inmate Clayton Lockett; Gov. Mary Fallin orders a review of the botched lethal injection of Clayton Lockett.”

Posted at 8:44 AM by Howard Bashman