How Appealing



Tuesday, May 8, 2012

“James R. Browning dies at 93; led 9th Circuit Court of Appeals; James R. Browning, appointed by President Kennedy, was a force on the federal appeals court for more than half a century, including 12 years as chief judge; His powers of persuasion helped defeat an effort in Congress to split up the 9th Circuit”: Carol J. Williams will have this article Wednesday in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 6:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Viewing child pornography is not necessarily possession – NY top court”: Reuters has a report that begins, “Viewing child pornography on the Internet without taking further action such as printing or saving files does not necessarily constitute possession, New York’s top court ruled on Tuesday.”

You can access today’s ruling of the New York State Court of Appeals at this link.

Posted at 5:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“The question here is whether the First Amendment prevents Illinois prosecutors from enforcing the eavesdropping statute against people who openly record police officers performing their official duties in public.” The majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the eavesdropping statute and directed the entry of a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the eavesdropping statute as applied to audio recording of the sort at issue in the case in a ruling issued today.

Circuit Judge Diane S. Sykes wrote the majority opinion, in which Circuit Judge David F. Hamilton joined. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner (non-kidney edition) issued a dissenting opinion.

Update: In early coverage, The Chicago Tribune has a news update headlined “Federal appeals court bans enforcement of Illinois eavesdropping law.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a blog post titled “Federal appeals court blocks Illinois law against recording police doing their jobs.”

At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “Seventh Circuit: Ban on Audio Recording of Police Officers Likely Unconstitutional.”

And the ACLU of Illinois has issued a news release headlined “Victory for First Amendment Right to Audio Record Police.”

Posted at 11:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“NH Supreme Court offers compromise on rule-making constitutional amendment plan”: Last Friday’s edition of The Manchester (N.H.) Union Leader contained an article that begins, “Faced with the possibility of losing the exclusive rule-making authority it has had for three decades, the state Supreme Court on Wednesday offered a compromise plan that would give lawmakers ‘concurrent’ power to regulate court administrative and procedural matters by statute.”

Posted at 9:37 AM by Howard Bashman



“New Indiana Supreme Court Justice Mark Massa dons robes of office; ‘This is where he belongs,’ former prosecutor says of Mark Massa after Supreme Court ceremony”: The Indianapolis Star contains this article today.

Posted at 8:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“Louisiana Supreme Court returns to Cabildo to celebrate bicentennial”: This article appears today in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

Posted at 8:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“Judge who led the Ninth circuit in expansive time dies”: In today’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “James Browning, who was chief judge of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals during the years of its greatest expansion, and whose name now adorns its San Francisco courthouse, died Saturday at age 93.”

And late yesterday, the Public Information Office of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a news release headlined “Ninth Circuit Mourns Loss of Legendary Chief Judge Emeritus James R. Browning.”

Posted at 8:20 AM by Howard Bashman



“R.I. murder suspect to be tried in federal court”: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe contains an article that begins, “An appeals court ruled Monday that a man being held in Rhode Island on a murder charge is to face federal charges, and a possible death sentence, despite efforts by Rhode Island’s governor to keep the case under state jurisdiction, according to court documents.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s en banc First Circuit ruling appears in the post immediately below.

Posted at 8:03 AM by Howard Bashman