How Appealing



Friday, June 19, 2009

“Supreme Court makes age-bias suits harder to win; The justices, overturning a jury award won by a 54-year-old who was demoted, say workers bear the full burden of proof”: David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

Joan Biskupic of USA Today reports today that “High court raises bar on age-bias lawsuits; Workers must prove age was major factor.”

And Marcia Coyle of The National Law Journal reports that “Supreme Court Increases Burden on Age Bias Plaintiffs.”

Posted at 11:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Reject Inmate Right to DNA Tests”: Adam Liptak has this article today in The New York Times. The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “Unparalleled and Denied.”

Today in The Washington Post, Robert Barnes has an article headlined “Court Limits Access to DNA Evidence; Justices Rule That Inmates Lack Constitutional Right to Testing.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court rules DNA tests for prisoners not a constitutional right; By a 5-4 vote, the justices say current protections are enough for convicts who believe old genetic evidence will exonerate them.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “The Supreme Court’s DNA ruling: Wrong on rights; The majority opinion by five conservative justice belittles the protections of the Bill of Rights.”

Joan Biskupic of USA Today has an article headlined “Court: Prisoners don’t have right to evidence; Roberts says access to DNA testing should be left for states to decide.”

law.com’s Tony Mauro reports that “High Court Rejects Post-Conviction DNA Access.”

And The Anchorage Daily News reports that “Supreme Court says Alaska rapist has no right to DNA test; Chief justice says William Osborne tried to side-step state procedures.”

Posted at 11:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Benefits denied to girl conceived with dead father’s sperm; A U.S. appeals court says the Los Angeles 10-year-old is not entitled to Social Security survivor payments because of California inheritance law and lack of evidence the father gave consent”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

The Associated Press reports that “No benefits for LA girl born from dead man’s sperm.”

And Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports that “Court Upholds Denial of Benefits to Posthumously-Conceived Child.”

You can access Wednesday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 8:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Sotomayor’s ‘courtesy calls’ not just photo ops; Stream of visits crucial to confirmation”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

Posted at 7:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Cities’ gun restrictions begin to topple; After big D.C. case in ’08, San Francisco and Philadelphia have seen setbacks for local gun controls; More laws are expected to come under fire”: The Christian Science Monitor has this report.

Posted at 7:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“In stark legal turnaround, Obama now resembles Bush”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers has an article that begins, “President Barack Obama is morphing into George W. Bush, as administration attorneys repeatedly adopt the executive-authority and national-security rationales that their Republican predecessors preferred.”

Posted at 7:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“U.S. House impeaches Kent”: The Houston Chronicle has a news update that begins, “The House today impeached imprisoned U.S. District Court Judge Samuel B. Kent and sent his case to the Senate for trial. The Senate is expected to quickly convene a trial — possibly within a matter of weeks — to cut off the judge’s $174,000 annual federal salary. The House overwhelmingly adopted four articles of impeachment against the 59-year-old jurist on rapid-fire roll call votes over the course of 30 minutes. The vote on the first article of impeachment was 389-0. Not a single member of the House spoke on Kent’s behalf.”

You can view the four article impeachment resolution at this link.

Posted at 3:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Court Stiffs Veterans Caught in Privacy Breach”: At Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post that begins, “Veterans suffering anxiety and paranoia following the theft of a government hard drive containing the medical histories and Social Security numbers of 198,000 of their brethren cannot recover financial damages, a federal appeals court says.”

My earlier coverage of Wednesday’s Eleventh Circuit ruling appears at this link.

Posted at 3:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Outstanding OT08 cases”: At this post, “SCOTUSblog” names the ten argued U.S. Supreme Court cases yet to be decided this Term. More decisions are expected to be announced on Monday at 10 a.m. eastern time.

Posted at 3:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“In-Chambers Opinions: A Footnote to the Chrysler Case.” Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Posted at 3:05 PM by Howard Bashman



“Fumo, Arnao lose bids for a new trial”: Yesterday in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Emilie Lounsberry had an article that begins, “The judge who presided over the corruption trial of former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo roundly rejected Fumo’s bid for a new trial yesterday, saying the evidence was ‘more than sufficient’ to support the sweeping convictions in the case.”

According to the article, the trial judge “also rejected defense arguments that he should have dismissed a juror who had posted Facebook and Twitter messages during the trial, saying they were ‘nothing more than harmless rumblings having no prejudicial effect.'”

You can access Wednesday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania at this link.

Posted at 9:40 AM by Howard Bashman