How Appealing



Wednesday, June 15, 2016

“How Did I Get an Abortion in Texas? I Didn’t.” Valerie Peterson has this op-ed in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 11:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Third Circuit recusal procedure, the basics and beyond”: Matthew Stiegler has this post today at his “CA3blog.”

Posted at 3:57 PM by Howard Bashman



“9th Circuit Upholds Ministers’ Pot Convictions”: Courthouse News Service has a report that begins, “Federal law does not protect the right of two ministers of the Hawaii Cannabis Ministry to distribute large amounts of marijuana for their religious practices, the Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 1:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals Court Saves SEC’s Rule Changes Boosting Crowdfunded Movies; A ruling means investments won’t be restricted to those with enough financial wealth or sophistication to put up money”: Eriq Gardner has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued yesterday.

Posted at 1:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Cass Sunstein: The World According to Star Wars.” The National Constitution Center has posted this video online at YouTube.

Posted at 11:10 AM by Howard Bashman



“Trump Says Federalist Society Will Pick His Judges For Him”: Melissa Maleske of Law360.com has this report (subscription required for full access).

Posted at 11:02 AM by Howard Bashman



Reconstituted Supreme Court of Pennsylvania rejects challenge to its own reconstitution: In April 2013, Daniel Denvir reported in Philadelphia City Paper that “Philly’s Power Players Bombard City Newspapers With Libel Suits.”

A discovery-related issue arising in one of the lawsuits discussed in that article eventually reached the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. However, for various reasons (some of which this blog has already exhaustively covered), at one point Pennsylvania’s highest court consisted of only two Justices who were not recused from the case. Perceiving the lack of a quorum, those two Justices issued an order dismissing the case. Soon thereafter, however, the same two Justices reversed course and reinstated the case.

And that’s where things get more interesting. Apparently for the first time in the long history of the Pa. Supreme Court — a judicial institution that dates back to 1722 — the court initiated a procedure that resulted in the call-up of five judges serving on Pennsylvania’s two intermediate appellate court to constitute a full, seven-member Pa. Supreme Court to decide this case and this case only.

Yesterday, by a vote of 4-to-3, the specially constituted Pa. Supreme Court ruled that the discovery-related issue that was at the heart of the appeal did not qualify for immediate appellate review under Pennsylvania’s formulation of the collateral order doctrine. Before reaching that result, however, the court held by a vote of 7-to-0 that the procedures for calling up five intermediate appellate court judges to enable a decision in this appeal were lawful.

Yesterday’s ruling consists of a per curiam opinion of the court, a concurring statement, an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part on a separate procedural issue, and three opinions dissenting from the court’s conclusion that collateral order jurisdiction was lacking (here, here, and here).

The en banc ruling of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania that yesterday’s Pa. Supreme Court decision orders vacated for lack of appellate jurisdiction can be accessed here.

In the MediaLawLetter of the Media Law Resource Center, attorneys Amy B. Ginensky, Kaitlin M. Gurney, and Eli Segal — all three of whom served as counsel for defendant-appellee in the Pa. Superior Court — reported on the Pa. Superior Court’s en banc ruling in an article headlined “Camera-Shy Public-Figure Defamation Plaintiff Must Sit for His Video Deposition; No First Amendment Right to Keep Private Information Provided Through Discovery.”

Posted at 10:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“What should we think about Donald Trump’s thoughts about judges?” Judge Kevin S. Burke has this essay online today at MinnPost.

Posted at 10:27 AM by Howard Bashman