How Appealing



Monday, August 14, 2006

“Former Colleague in Solicitor General’s Office Becomes Chief Justice’s Administrative Assistant”: law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this news update.

Posted at 5:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Newsmaker: A blogger’s battle from behind bars.” Last Friday, c|net News.com published an interview with jailed video blogger Josh Wolf.

Posted at 3:57 PM by Howard Bashman



On rehearing, the majority on a divided three-judge Fourth Circuit panel again holds that a racially derogatory comment made by a co-worker in the immediate aftermath of the arrest of the DC-area snipers does not equate to a racially-hostile work environment: Today’s decision can be accessed at this link. Footnote one of today’s dissenting opinion describes the grant of rehearing and the changes to the majority opinion that resulted. My coverage of the panel’s original ruling, which issued on May 12, 2006, can be accessed here.

Posted at 3:05 PM by Howard Bashman



“Courts & The Law: Restraint vs. Rationality.” Columnist Kenneth Jost has this essay in today’s issue of CQ Weekly. Therein, he looks at the two recent same-sex marriage rulings from the States of New York and Washington.

Posted at 2:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“[E]ven the most animated application of the parsimony requirement–that the district court impose ‘a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes set forth in’ § 3553(a)(2)–cannot justify a one-day sentence in this case.” The majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit today issued an opinion that begins, “After a jury convicted William Davis of two counts of bank fraud, the district court calculated a guidelines sentencing range of 30 to 37 months. After considering the § 3553(a) factors, the court imposed a sentence of one day in prison because Davis was 70 years old at the time of sentencing and because he had committed the underlying crimes 14 years earlier. Unable to conclude that this variance is reasonable, we reverse.” Circuit Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton wrote the majority opinion, in which Chief Judge Danny J. Boggs joined.

Senior Circuit Judge Damon J. Keith issued a dissenting opinion that begins, “I am saddened and distressed by the majority’s opinion, which totally disregards the district court’s authority to impose a fair and reasonable sentence that is ‘sufficient but not greater than necessary’ to effectuate the purposes of sentencing. Reversing the district court’s sentence is a complete miscarriage of justice.”

Posted at 10:11 AM by Howard Bashman