How Appealing



Monday, May 2, 2005

“Decision unsettles scheduling; Michigan had braced for a possible change of seasons, mainly in two sports for girls”: The Detroit News provides an update that begins, “Athletes and sports administrators at 1,500 high schools in Michigan were thrown into a scheduling limbo Monday when a decision by the Supreme Court kept alive the sports seasons lawsuit, returning it to a lower court for consideration on one final point that may be no more than a technicality.”

Posted at 11:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Senate Rule Proposal Sparks Concern; Preventing Judicial Filibusters Could Remove ‘Stabilizing Influences’ From Rulebook”: Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain this article (free access provided).

Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times will report that “Ad War Heats Up in the Maneuvering on Judicial Picks.”

Meanwhile, you can access online dueling press releases from The Committee for Justice and People For the American Way: “CFJ: Reid and PFAW Caught Misrepresenting CRS Report on Past Judicial Filibusters” and “Tsk, Tsk. There They Go Again; Right-Wing Judicial Groups Can’t – or Won’t – Get the Record Straight.”

Posted at 10:52 PM by Howard Bashman



U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirms life sentence imposed on inmate who mailed anthrax hoax letter to federal judge, causing the closure of the federal courthouse in Amarillo, Texas: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Back in 2002, The Amarillo Globe-News reported on the incident here and here. And on August 23, 2003, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas issued a press release entitled “Federal Jury Finds Man Guilty of Threatening Federal Judge With Anthrax.”

Posted at 9:04 PM by Howard Bashman



Say goodbye to “The Indiana Law Blog“: Marcia Oddi announced last month that she would be ending her blog, which began in March 2003, as of the end of April 2005. Her announcement precipitated many emails (see here, here, and here) from readers who will miss her tireless efforts in blogging about Indiana law.

Posted at 8:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Will Hear Pentagon Claim to Campus Access”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times provides this news update.

Stephen Henderson of Knight Ridder Newspapers reports that “Supreme Court agrees to hear military recruitment case.”

Patti Waldmeir of Financial Times reports that “US Supreme Court to decide military recruiting case.”

And law.com reports that “High Court to Review Ruling on Funds Tied to Military Recruitment at Law Schools.”

Posted at 8:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge allows GOP’s statistical analysis for now”: The Seattle Times provides a news update that begins, “Judge John Bridges this morning said he would allow Republicans to offer statistical analysis to show how illegal voters cast ballots in the November governor’s election.”

Posted at 6:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Robertson: Judges worse than Al Qaeda.” The New York Daily News today contains an article that begins, “Federal judges are a more serious threat to America than Al Qaeda and the Sept. 11 terrorists, the Rev. Pat Robertson claimed yesterday.”

The Virginian-Pilot reports today that “‘Out-of-control’ federal judges endanger U.S., Robertson says.”

And The Los Angeles Times reports today that “Robertson Says Giuliani Would Be ‘Good President’; The conservative praises the GOP moderate; But he is wary of having Muslims as U.S. judges.”

Posted at 6:20 PM by Howard Bashman



The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit declares its experiment with disclosing the composition of oral argument panels the week before oral argument to be a failure: Today, the Federal Circuit’s web site includes the following announcement: “The court has decided to cancel the experiment of posting the composition of the panels prior to the week of oral argument effective with the June 2005 calendar.” In my opinion, this is an unfortunate outcome.

Posted at 6:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Attitudes Toward Filibuster Are About Power, Not Partisanship”: Terry M. Neal has this essay online at washingtonpost.com.

At National Review Online, Shannen W. Coffin has an essay entitled “Don Presidente: President Bush must step it up on judges.”

Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Harold Johnson and Timothy Sandefur have an op-ed entitled “Judge doesn’t deserve the Dixiecrat treatment.”

In The Portland (Me.) Press Herald, Michael A. Duddy has an op-ed entitled “Maine has no use for filibusters.”

People For the American Way today issued a news release entitled “New Filibuster Ad: People For Ready with Rebuttal to Progress for America; New People For ad challenges sympathetic portrayal of nominees Owen, Brown.” The PFAW rebuttal ad can be viewed at this link (Windows Media).

And the ad from Progress for America can be viewed at this link (QuickTime).

Posted at 5:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Immigrant Pleas Crushing Federal Appellate Courts; As caseloads skyrocket, judges blame the work done by the Board of Immigration Appeals”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 1:45 PM by Howard Bashman



Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts oral arguments can be viewed live online: Today that court is hearing oral argument in a case challenging the court’s earlier same-sex marriage ruling. You can view the oral argument live online via this link or by clicking here.

The case is shown as sixth on the oral argument list, and the court is now hearing oral argument on the third case on its list.

Update: The oral argument in the same-sex marriage case has just gotten underway at 11:46 a.m.

Further update: The oral argument has concluded just shy of noon.

Posted at 11:40 AM by Howard Bashman



In news and commentary from The Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “GOP tries to make election case; Judge to hear statistical argument against Gregoire” and “In election struggle, Kerry rides again to Gregoire’s aid.”

An article reports that “Pastor holds the line on gay unions; Hutcherson under fire for his hand in Microsoft decision.”

And columnist Robert L. Jamieson Jr. has an essay entitled “Lawyer’s suit an unfunny affair for taxpayers” that begins, “Did you hear the one about the lady lawyer who had sex with the strapping male cop? She’s suing the police force for performance issues.”

Posted at 11:28 AM by Howard Bashman



“High-stakes libel trial to start; Former DuPage prosecutor alleges Chicago Tribune defamed him in 1999 story about wrongful conviction of Rolando Cruz for murder”: The Chicago Tribune today contains an article that begins, “For the first time in nearly 40 years, the Chicago Tribune will go to trial in a libel case, in which the paper and two of its investigative reporters are accused of tarnishing the reputation of a former DuPage County prosecutor involved in a wrongful murder conviction.”

Posted at 11:20 AM by Howard Bashman



Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List: You can access today’s Order List at this link. The Court granted review in two cases, including the Solomon Amendment case.

In early news coverage, Hope Yen of The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court to Review Recruiting Law.” The AP also reports that “Court Declines to Review Pilot Retirements.” James Vicini of Reuters reports that “US court to decide campus military recruiting case.” And Lyle Denniston at “SCOTUSblog” reports that “Court to rule on ‘Solomon Amendment.’

Posted at 10:00 AM by Howard Bashman



“Don’t ask, don’t tell” and don’t recruit on-campus at the Nation’s finest law schools: The Supreme Court of the United States could announce as early as moments from now whether the Court has agreed to review on the merits the recent ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit declaring the Solomon Amendment unconstitutional.

law.com describes the case in an article headlined “Armed Forces: Law Schools vs. Military; Lower court said feds can’t yank funds from schools that balked at hyping on-campus military recruiting.”

And in the January 7, 2005 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, I had an op-ed entitled “Striking Down the Solomon Amendment on Military Recruiting: A Hollow Victory at the Expense of Our Military.”

Posted at 9:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Does the President Agree With This Nominee?” Today in National Journal, Stuart Taylor Jr. has an essay that begins, “California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown is the most interesting of President Bush’s judicial nominees blocked by Democratic filibusters. So a look at her speeches and judicial opinions may shed light on what the fuss is all about.”

Posted at 9:00 AM by Howard Bashman



“Kennedy’s a flash point as judge battle heats up”: The Sacramento Bee today contains an article that begins, “He wasn’t President Reagan’s first choice for the U.S. Supreme Court — or his second choice, for that matter — and plenty of conservatives have never let him forget it.”

Posted at 6:55 AM by Howard Bashman



In online commentary available from FindLaw: Edward Lazarus has an essay entitled “In Public Remarks, Two Supreme Court Justices Defend the Federal Courts’ Actions in the Schiavo Case — and One Attacks the Court and His Fellow Justices.”

Michael C. Dorf has an essay entitled “Why Al Qaeda Conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui’s Guilty Plea Probably Won’t Save His Life.”

And Anthony J. Sebok has an essay entitled “Florida’s New ‘Stand Your Ground’ Law: Why It’s More Extreme than Other States’ Self-Defense Measures, And How It Got that Way.”

Posted at 6:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Frist: Showdown with Democrats over court nominees may be ‘inevitable’; Senate majority leader will push for vote on appellate judges this month.” This article appears today in USA Today.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today contains articles headlined “Pa. senators at center of divide on judge nominations” and “Democrats say Santorum blocked judges, too.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Religious right and GOP split on tactics; Resisting a push on the judiciary.”

The Daily Princetonian reports that “Politicians join Frist filibuster; Protest continues into 7th straight day.”

The Bloomington (Ill.) Pantagraph contains an editorial entitled “Filibuster a useful tool when it is correctly used.”

The Daily Times of Delaware County, Pennsylvania contains an editorial entitled “Filibuster maintains checks and balances.”

In The Athens Banner-Herald, Sara Baker has an op-ed entitled “Rally should have gotten coverage.”

And in The GW Hatchet, David Rosenbaum has an op-ed entitled “Save the filibuster.”

Posted at 6:44 AM by Howard Bashman