How Appealing



Saturday, August 29, 2009

“U.S. appeals court: Return MLB players’ drug-test records; Panel says data from confidential tests of baseball players was improperly seized.” Maura Dolan and Lance Pugmire had this article Thursday in The Los Angeles Times.

In Thursday’s edition of The San Jose Mercury News, Howard Mintz had an article headlined “Appeals court bars feds from using pro baseball players’ steroids test results.”

Thursday’s edition of The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “Feds improperly seized players’ steroid records.”

Thursday’s edition of The New York Times reported that “Court Rules U.S. Seized 2003 Tests Improperly.”

And The Associated Press had articles headlined “Court: Investigators wrong to seize MLB drug list” and “Court ruling small consolation for exposed players,” along with a column entitled “Hard to feel bad for outed players from ‘The List.’

You can access Wednesday’s ruling of an eleven-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

My coverage of the original three-judge panel’s ruling, which issued in December 2006, can be accessed here and here.

In other coverage of this week’s ruling, at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post titled “Court’s Steroid Ruling Pumps Up Computer Privacy.”

At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” law professor Orin Kerr has a series of posts largely critical of the en banc ruling.

And WSJ.com’s “Law Blog” has a post titled “Beyond A-Rod and ManRam: Plain Talk on the ‘Plain View Doctrine.’

Posted at 9:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“FBI loses appeal of $101.7m verdict; Circuit court cites ‘trauma’ to 4 sent to prison”: Yesterday’s edition of The Boston Globe contained an article that begins, “A federal appeals court upheld yesterday a landmark verdict for four men framed by the FBI in a gangland slaying, although the appellate judges said the $101.7 million damage judgment awarded by a lower court was ‘at the outer edge of the universe of permissible awards.””

And The Associated Press reports that “Mass. court OKs $102M wrongful-conviction award.”

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

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Board turns down judge pension claim”: Yesterday’s edition of The Boston Herald contained an article that begins, “Members of the state retirement board denied former Superior Court Judge Ernest Murphy’s disability pension request yesterday that would have granted the former judge 75 percent of his salary. Treasurer Tim Cahill, who recommended the board vote down Murphy’s request, thanked board members for ‘taking a stand’ against the pension. Murphy claimed he was suffering from post-traumatic stress following a series of Herald stories in 2002.”

Posted at 8:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Mass. Case May Be Key in Taking Gay Marriage Fight to Supreme Court”: Marcia Coyle will have this article in the August 31, 2009 issue of The National Law Journal.

Posted at 8:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘Important Questions of Federal Law’: Assessing the Supreme Court’s Case Selection Process.” The Yale Law School Supreme Court Advocacy Clinic and the Yale Law Journal Online will host this half-day conference on the morning of September 18, 2009 at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

There is no charge to attend the conference, but because space is limited pre-registration — which can be accomplished online via this link — is required.

After the conference has occurred, podcasts of conference sessions and downloadable papers from the panelists will be available via this link.

Thanks to Linda Greenhouse for informing me about this event.

Posted at 8:12 PM by Howard Bashman