How Appealing



Tuesday, May 28, 2013

“GOP Senators To Supreme Court: Curtail The President’s Recess Appointment Power.” Sahil Kapur of TPM DC has this report.

Posted at 6:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“White House Eyes Lawyers for D.C. Circuit Vacancies”: Todd Ruger has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Posted at 4:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Therefore, under these circumstances, the FCC cannot tell Comcast how to exercise its editorial discretion about what networks to carry any more than the Government can * * * tell SCOTUSblog or How Appealing or The Volokh Conspiracy what legal briefs to feature.” So writes D.C. Circuit Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh in his concurring opinion issued today in that court’s ruling in Comcast Cable Communications v. FCC.

Ironically, an appellate court’s mentioning of the “How Appealing” blog by name in a judicial opinion is, in essence, a guaranteed method for having the opinion highlighted here. Thus, by mentioning “How Appealing,” it is as though a branch of the federal government is indeed dictating that the judicial opinion in question be featured here.

Nevertheless, today’s D.C. Circuit ruling in the Comcast case unquestionably merited discussion here even before I learned that a concurring opinion mentioned this blog, as evidenced by the substantial post devoted to the case that existed before a kind reader drew the concurring opinion’s mention of certain legal blogs to my attention.

Posted at 2:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Why the New White House Push for Judicial Nominees Won’t Work: The confirmation system is so broken that it takes a year for qualified nominees to be approved; That’s leaving dozens of courts woefully understaffed.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

Today at the “Daily Intelligencer” blog of New York magazine, Jonathan Chait has a post titled “Obama to Senate: Obstruct This.”

And today at Roll Call’s “WGDB” blog, Niels Lesniewski has a post titled “Obama, Senate Democrats Teeing Up Judicial Wars.”

Posted at 1:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Killed-at-16 Transparency Test: Obama Owes Us Answers About This Dead American; What is the White House hiding about the demise of a boy they say they didn’t target but admit to blowing up?” Conor Friedersdorf has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

Posted at 12:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“U.S. appeals court sides with Comcast in Tennis Channel dispute”: David Ingram of Reuters has this report.

And Broadcasting & Cable reports that “Court Rules Comcast Did Not Discriminate Against Tennis Channel; Finds insufficient evidence to support FCC decision.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

Update: In other coverage, Tom Schoenberg of Bloomberg News reports that “Comcast Defeats FCC Order on Distributing Tennis Channel.”

And at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Comcast Beats FCC at Appeals Court in Carriage Discrimination Dispute; A unanimous ruling holds that the FCC hadn’t brought enough evidence when finding that Comcast had discriminated against the Tennis Channel.”

Posted at 11:44 AM by Howard Bashman



Majority on divided en banc Sixth Circuit affirms imposition of federal death penalty for a murder that federal prosecutors asserted was committed 227 feet inside the boundaries of the Manistee National Forest in western Michigan: You can access today’s ruling of the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Appeals court affirms Gabrion death sentence.”

And in previous coverage, The Grand Rapids Press and The Muskegon Chronicle have published articles headlined “Supreme Court asked to address Marvin Gabrion 1997 murder conviction“; “U.S. Appeals Court overturns death sentence for Marvin Gabrion, but conviction stands“; “Federal prosecutors ask court to re-hear decision to negate death penalty for Marvin Gabrion“: and “Convicted murderer Gabrion back on death row pending new federal court hearing.”

The Sixth Circuit’s earlier three-judge panel rulings in the case can be accessed here and here.

Posted at 10:33 AM by Howard Bashman



“Bondholders spark U.S. legal drama over Argentine debt; A crucial ruling is expected on payment for group of holdouts that refused to settle with Argentina after it defaulted on nearly $100 billion in debt in 2002”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 10:28 AM by Howard Bashman



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

1. Justice Stephen G. Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court in Trevino v. Thaler, No. 11-10189. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. And Justice Antonin Scalia issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. And Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court in McQuiggin v. Perkins, No. 12-126. Justice Scalia issued a dissenting opinion, in which the Chief Justice and Justices Thomas joined in full, and in which Justice Alito joined in large measure. You can access the oral argument via this link.

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court has posted today’s Order List at this link. The Court granted review in two new cases.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court to see if Miss. lawsuit OK on global issue“; “Court won’t hear challenge to copyright board“; and “Court stays out of Planned Parenthood funding case.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “Justices agree to hear LCD displays price-fixing case” and “Justices decline to hear Planned Parenthood funding case.”

And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Planned Parenthood Funding Cutoff Bid Rejected by Court“; “United Airlines Rejected by Top Court on Disabilities Law“; and “Court Appeal Over $16 Billion in Savings Bonds Rejected.”

Posted at 9:34 AM by Howard Bashman