How Appealing



Sunday, May 14, 2017

“Firing Comey Was a Grave Abuse of Power: In 1974, Republicans put country before Party and told Nixon it was time to go; Today’s G.O.P. seems unlikely to live up to its predecessor’s example.” Jeffrey Toobin has this Comment in the Talk of the Town section of the May 22, 2017 issue of The New Yorker.

Posted at 8:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“What’s Next for Comey? Probably Not ‘a Normal Job.'” Matthew Goldstein and Alexandra Stevenson have this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

In addition, in the Sunday Review section of that newspaper, Benjamin Wittes today has an essay titled “What We’re Losing in James Comey.”

Posted at 1:10 PM by Howard Bashman



15 years of “How Appealing” — reader mail: Today’s email (with hyperlinks, no less) is from law professor Rick Hasen — author of the “Election Law Blog“:

Congratulations on 15 fabulous years of How Appealing, which is one of only two blogs I check every morning before doing anything else. Your work is indispensable, as is your fine sense of humor.

On the tenth anniversary of my own Election Law Blog, I called you my “blogfather,” because you were my inspiration for blogging. Indeed, here’s what I told then-law student (now professor) Will Baude in his 2003 20 questions interview with me (itself an homage to your own 20 questions for appellate judges) about why I started blogging:

Back in January, I was talking about The Senate’s filibuster of judges with my Loyola Law School colleague, Kurt Lash. He told me I should check out the How Appealing blog. “What’s a blog?, I asked. A month later I was blogging, realizing that there was a need for coverage of election law in the way that Howard Bashman covers appellate law. What is so wonderful about Howard is that he is comprehensive and fair. Although he has definite opinions, he never uses his blog to stifle or distort others’ points of view. To the contrary, it is a forum for exploring many different ideas. I have tried to emulate the “fair and balanced” Bashman (I hope he won’t get sued by Fox now!).

Don’t ever change, Howard! Please don’t hang it up, and remain “fair and balanced.” We need you.

Thanks so very much for your kind words, Rick! Helping to inspire the creation of your blog and also “SCOTUSblog” are two of the most wonderful things that have resulted from operating this blog. It has also been a pleasure getting to know you and linking to your writings and blog posts over the years. I will post another reader email tomorrow.

Posted at 12:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Greg Abbott plays an outsized role in filling U.S. judicial vacancies”: Maria Recio of The Austin American-Statesman has this report.

Posted at 12:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Animus Amicus: A group of law professors tells a federal court that religious bias lies at the heart of Trump’s travel ban.” Slate has posted online this new installment of its “Amicus” podcast featuring Dahlia Lithwick.

Posted at 11:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“D.C. Circuit Review — Reviewed: A Small Thought About the Chief Judge of the D.C. Circuit.” Aaron Nielson has this post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

Posted at 11:11 AM by Howard Bashman