How Appealing



Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Judge Posner and internet research: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued this ruling today in which all three judges on the panel wrote separately.

Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner wrote the majority opinion, which includes an appendix responding to the dissent.

Circuit Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner issued a concurring opinion that begins, “A disagreement about the outcome of this relatively simple case has morphed into a debate over the propriety of appellate courts supplementing the record with Internet research.”

And Circuit Judge David F. Hamilton issued an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. In dissenting, Judge Hamilton writes, “the reversal is unprecedented, clearly based on ‘evidence’ this appellate court has found by its own internet research.”

This ruling will no doubt rekindle the debate about the extent to which appellate courts can and should perform independent factual research in deciding an appeal.

Posted at 11:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ohio Intended To Illegally Import Execution Drugs, FDA Letter Says; An FDA document says Ohio intends to import the drug, citing ‘information received by the agency’; It’s illegal to import the drug”: Chris McDaniel of BuzzFeed News has this report.

And online at The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, Mark White and Gerald Kogan have an essay titled “On death penalty drugs, what does NC have to hide?

Posted at 11:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Another Chance To Clean Up ‘Trial by Formula’ Class Actions”: Andrew M. Grossman has this post at the “Cato on Liberty” blog.

Posted at 11:36 AM by Howard Bashman