How Appealing



Monday, June 2, 2014

“Obama circumvents laws with ‘signing statements,’ a tool he promised to use lightly”: This article will appear in Tuesday’s edition of The Washington Post.

Posted at 11:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Obama’s new emissions rules likely to face a friendly court”: Lawrence Hurley of Reuters has an article that begins, “The fate of President Barack Obama’s new regulations for curbing greenhouse gas emissions from existing U.S. power plants likely lies in the hands of a Washington, D.C., appeals court he largely reshaped through a series of key appointments.”

Posted at 11:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“The judgment of the district court upholding the constitutionality of the New Orleans licensing scheme for tour guides is affirmed.” Today. a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a First Amendment challenge to a City of New Orleans requirement that those who conduct tours for hire in the city have a tour guide license.

Two judges joined in the court’s three-page opinion, while the third judge concurred in the result.

Back on April 30, 2014, I had this post linking to coverage of the appellate oral argument and the argument audio.

Posted at 11:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals Court: Digital Music Store Was Illegal Pyramid Scheme; A federal appeals court determines that BurnLounge was focused on building revenue through participant recruitment, not through sales of any product.” Eriq Gardner has this post at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.

Posted at 11:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judges challenge Archdiocesan positions in bankruptcy case”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a news update that begins, “Judges at the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday appeared to challenge a key argument in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee’s efforts to protect $60 million it holds in a trust for the care of cemeteries from being used to pay creditors in its bankruptcy.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Judges question use of archdiocese trust fund.”

You can access via this link (3.47 MB mp3 audio file) the audio of today’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Posted at 10:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Baseball and American Life: Panelists spoke at a Great Washington Writers Series luncheon on the topic, ‘Let’s Talk Baseball.'” According to C-SPAN’s description of this event:

Panelists included Supreme Court Associate Justice Samuel Alito, New York Times columnist David Brooks, ESPN’s Tim Kurkjian, USA Today’s Christine Brennan, and columnist George Will. The moderator was Talmage Boston, attorney and author of two books on baseball, including Baseball and the Baby Boomer.

C-SPAN has posted online the video of the event at this link.

Posted at 10:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Did Argentina lie to the U.S. Supreme Court?” Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this report.

Posted at 6:14 PM by Howard Bashman



Briefing is now complete in my clients’ Third Circuit interlocutory appeal by permission presenting the question “Whether a defendant may remove a case a second time based on diversity jurisdiction more than one year after the commencement of the case?” Today, I filed my clients’ Reply Brief for Appellants.

In mid-May, defendant GlaxoSmithKline filed its Brief of Appellee.

And back in mid-April, I filed my clients’ Brief for Appellants.

Additional background on the case can be accessed in this earlier post.

Sometime soon, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is likely to assign a date for oral argument or submission on the briefs. And approximately two weeks before that date, the court will advise whether oral argument is desired.

Posted at 4:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli: Telling tales of life in the capital.” The Wilton (Conn.) Bulletin has this report today.

Posted at 1:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chemical Weapons Treaty Does Not Apply to Domestic Dispute, Justices Rule”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court throws out conviction based on chemical weapons ban.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Court: Wife’s toxin use on spouse’s lover no ‘chemical weapons’ plot.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today has a report headlined “Court: Chem weapons treaty can’t trap jilted wife; An affair, a love child, an act of revenge, government surveillance — all wrapped up in a chemical weapons treaty.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “Supreme Court Limits Use of Chemical Weapons Treaty for Domestic Crimes; Justices Throw Out Conviction of Pennsylvania Woman Who Used Chemical Irritant Against Romantic Rival.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times has a news update headlined “Poisoning your husband’s lover is NOT a chemical weapons attack: Supreme Court.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer has a news update headlined “U.S. Supreme Court: not terrorism, just a love triangle.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. top court tosses woman’s chemical weapons conviction.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Poison Case Voided as Court Trims Chemical-Weapon Law.”

Josh Gerstein of Politico.com reports that “SCOTUS tosses mistress-poisoning conviction.”

At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro and Marcia Coyle have a post titled “In Poisoned Mailbox Case, Justices Bypass Ruling on U.S. Treaty Power.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Opinion analysis: World law and ‘romantic jealousy.’

Posted at 1:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Reporter Over Identity of Source”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this news update.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Supreme Court refuses to take reporter’s case on revealing confidential source.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Supreme Court turns down NYT reporter’s plea for confidentiality.”

Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “Supreme Court Avoids Issue of Journalists’ Right to Protect Sources; High Court Rejects Appeal by New York Times Reporter Who Wrote Book on CIA.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “Supreme court declines to hear NYT journalist leak case.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Times Reporter Rejected by High Court on Leak Testimony.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Tony Mauro has a post titled “Justices Decline to Review Reporters’ Privilege Dispute.”

Posted at 1:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Press Credentials Seem to Hinge on the Government’s Whims”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

It begins, “Scotusblog has covered the Supreme Court in depth and with distinction since 2002.”

Posted at 12:33 PM by Howard Bashman



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

1. Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Limelight Networks, Inc. v. Akamai Technologies, Inc., No. 12-786. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc., No. 13-369. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. And Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court in Bond v. United States, No. 12-158. Justice Antonin Scalia issued an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined in full and Justice Alito joined in part. Justice Thomas issued an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which Justice Scalia joined in full and Justice Alito joined in part. And Justice Alito also issued an opinion concurring in the judgment. You can access the oral argument via this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press has reports headlined “Justices: Treaty can’t be invoked in assault case” and “Court: Company didn’t induce patent infringement.”

Posted at 10:04 AM by Howard Bashman