How Appealing



Tuesday, May 27, 2014

“Feds seek extra redactions in drone memo”: Josh Gerstein of Poliico.com has a blog post that begins, “The Justice Department plans to ask a federal appeals court to delete additional material from a drone-related legal opinion before it’s made public — redactions that would go beyond those the court approved last month, a government lawyer said in a legal filing Tuesday night.”

Posted at 11:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Court’s Emphatic Ban on Executing the Intellectually Disabled: A divided court doubled down on its 2002 Atkins decision, ruling that Florida can’t kill Freddie Lee Hall just because his IQ has sometimes passed an arbitrary mark.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The Atlantic.

And online at Slate, Emily Bazelon has a jurisprudence essay titled “The Death Penalty Just Got a Tiny Bit Saner: Today’s Supreme Court decision makes it harder for states to execute the mentally disabled.”

Posted at 8:50 PM by Howard Bashman



In the June 2014 issue of ABA Journal magazine: Mark Walsh has an article headlined “SCOTUS ruling may enliven the debate over affirmative action.”

Lorelei Laird has an article headlined “Is Sherlock ‘complete’? 7th Circuit will consider when literary characters are free from copyright.”

Victor Li has the cover story headlined “Who owns the law? Technology reignites the war over just how public documents should be.”

Lorelei Laird also has an article headlined “California’s ban on standard-caged birds poses a chicken-egg problem.”

And the new installment of Bryan A. Garner’s “On Words” column is headlined “A Tale of 2 Associates: How polish and attention to detail can win the motion.”

Posted at 3:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“Support for same-sex marriage reaches a ‘tipping point’; Polls now show unwavering majority support for same-sex marriage in the United States as federal judges rule against state bans on such unions, a trend particularly popular among younger Americans”: Brad Knickerbocker of The Christian Science Monitor has this report.

Posted at 1:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court says Secret Service agents are immune in Bush protest lawsuit”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this news update.

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Supreme Court rejects free-speech suit from anti-Bush protesters.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today has an article headlined “Ten years after, Bush protesters lose free speech case.”

The Statesman Journal of Salem, Oregon has a news update headlined “Supreme Court rules against Oregon protestor.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Secret Service Agents Get Legal Shield From Supreme Court.”

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Secret Service Agents Awarded Immunity in Bush Protest Case.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Opinion analysis: Too close to the president for comfort.”

Posted at 1:23 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Rules Against Florida I.Q. Rule in Death Cases”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court strikes Florida law on intellectually disabled death row inmates.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “High court limits death penalty in cases of intellectual disability.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “High Court Rejects Florida’s IQ Standard for Death Penalty; Justices Rule IQ Score of 70 Is Too Rigid as Cutoff for Execution.” You can freely access the full text of the article via Google.

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “High court bars rigid IQ cutoff for executions.”

Michael Doyle of McClatchy Washington Bureau reports that “Supreme Court strikes down Florida’s strict IQ cutoff for death penalty eligibility.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “High Court Strengthens Ban on Executing Mentally Disabled.”

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Justices, Divided, Rule For Death-Row Inmates With Low IQ.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Opinion analysis: A new limit on the death penalty.”

Posted at 1:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Prenda Law, as Judge Otis Wright II put it in a case similar to this, was a ‘porno-trolling collective.'” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today issued its ruling in AF Holdings, LLC v. Does.

My earlier coverage of the appeal’s oral argument can be accessed here.

Update: Bloomberg News reports that “Porn Copyright Holder’s Bid for Internet IDs Tossed by Court.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Zoe Tillman has a post titled “D.C. Circuit Finds Abuses by ‘Porno-Trolling Collective.’

Posted at 11:50 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s rulings in argued cases of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court today issued rulings in four argued cases.

1. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Michigan v. Bay Mills Indian Community, No. 12-515. Justice Sonia Sotomayor issued a concurring opinion. Justice Antonin Scalia issued a dissenting opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Scalia, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. And Justice Ginsburg also issued a dissenting opinion. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Alito delivered the opinion of the Court in Plumhoff v. Rickard, No. 12-1117. There were no separate opinions, but Justices Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer did not join the opinion of the Court in full. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Wood v. Moss, No. 13-115. You can access the oral argument via this link.

4. And Justice Anthony M. Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court in Hall v. Florida, No. 12-10882. Justice Alito issued a dissenting opinion, in which the Chief Justice and Justices Scalia and Thomas joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Justices rule for death row inmates with low IQ“; “Court blocks protester case against Secret Service“; “Supreme Court says Mich. can’t block Indian casino“; and “High court sides with police over fatal chase.”

And Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. top court rules for Florida death row inmate over IQ test” and “U.S. court rules for Secret Service agents in protest case.”

Posted at 10:07 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court has posted the Order List at this link. The Court granted review in one case and called for the views of the Solicitor General in two cases.

Additionally, the Court issued a unanimous per curiam summary reversal of the Supreme Court of Illinois in Martinez v. Illinois, No. 13-5967.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court to hear dispute over state tax collection” and “Justices won’t make reporter to testify on sources.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Stating the obvious, after a while.”

Posted at 9:35 AM by Howard Bashman



“Will The Supreme Court Kill Public-Employee Unions? The massive stakes in the court case Harris v. Quinn.” Andy Kroll has this essay online at Mother Jones.

Posted at 8:24 AM by Howard Bashman



“What Did the Framers Really Mean?” In today’s edition of The New York Times, columnist Joe Nocera has an op-ed that begins, “Three days after the publication of Michael Waldman’s new book, ‘The Second Amendment: A Biography,’ Elliot Rodger, 22, went on a killing spree, stabbing three people and then shooting another eight, killing four of them, including himself.”

Posted at 8:20 AM by Howard Bashman



“Christie’s Lawyer Problem: Conservatives say he hasn’t fought hard enough against liberal judges.” Eliana Johnson has this article today at National Review Online.

Posted at 7:30 AM by Howard Bashman



“William and Mary Law School Commencement Address: Justice Antonin Scalia gave the commencement address to the 2014 graduating class of the Mashall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary.” C-SPAN has posted the video at this link.

Posted at 7:28 AM by Howard Bashman