Three-judge Ninth Circuit panel issues unpublished opinion because “[t]he panel finds that a published opinion might cast unjust aspersions upon those not before the court”: A longtime reader emails:
Here’s something I haven’t seen before. The Ninth Circuit today overturned a manslaughter conviction, 2-1, in an unpublished decision, stating that a published opinion “might cast unjust aspersions on parties not before the court.” Putting aside the significance of the case, which is described in the article linked below, I’ve never seen that rationale cited before as a basis for not publishing a decision, and a quick Westlaw search revealed no other cases justifying an unpublished decision on like grounds. And the panel must know that an unpublished decision is going to be available on Lexis and Westlaw, and also will be published in the Federal Appendix.
The article to which the email refers is a news update written by Greg Moran of The San Diego Union-Tribune headlined “Appeals court rules for new trial in Stephanie Crowe killing.”
You can access today’s non-precedential ruling of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.
“Democrats Seek to Impose Tougher Supreme Court Ethics”: Eric Lichtblau has this post at “The Caucus” blog of The New York Times.
“Obama Admin Sides With Power Company in Mont. Riverbed Fight”: Lawrence Hurley of Greenwire has this report (via The New York Times).
“Supreme Court justice joins faculty”: Today’s edition of The GW Hatchet contains an article that begins, “Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas will share a classroom this semester with his former law clerk and GW Law School professor Gregory Maggs.”
And in today’s edition of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, columnist Linda P. Campbell has an op-ed entitled “Clarence Thomas might be an icon after all.”
“Newspaper Chain Drops Righthaven — ‘It Was a Dumb Idea'”: At Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post that begins, “The new chief executive of MediaNews Group, publisher of the Denver Post and 50 other newspapers, said it was ‘a dumb idea’ for the nation’s second-largest newspaper chain to sign up with copyright troll Righthaven.”
“Second Circuit panel reverses child porn restitution award to ‘Amy'”: At his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog, Doug Berman has a post that begins, “The Second Circuit has today issued an important new opinion in the on-going saga concerning whether and how the kids victimized by being featured in illegal child pornography can secure restitution awards from defendants who downloaded these pictures via the internet.”
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit at this link.
“Appeals court dismisses Virginia challenge to health-care law”: Jim Nolan of The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this news update.
The New York Times has a news update headlined “Court Blocks Suit Against Health Law.”
The Roanoke Times has a news update headlined “Federal judges reject Virginia’s challenge of Obama health care law; Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has pledged to appeal case to the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The Associated Press reports that “Federal court tosses lawsuits over health reform.”
Reuters reports that “Court tosses Virginia challenge to healthcare law.”
Bloomberg News reports that “Health-Care Law Upheld by Federal Appeals Court.”
Politico.com reports that “Health care law cases rejected by 4th Circuit Court of Appeals..”
At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Andrew Ramonas has a post titled “4th Circuit Rejects Virginia’s Challenge to Health Care Reform Law.”
And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Health care challenge rejected; Health insurance challenge rebuffed by Fourth Circuit, finding it a premature attempt to block a federal tax provision.”
My earlier coverage of today’s Fourth Circuit rulings appears at this link.
“Rates of Unpublished Opinions in the Different Circuits — And Especially the Fourth Circuit”: Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
Fourth Circuit avoids reaching the merits in two challenges to federal healthcare mandate: You can access today’s ruling in Virginia v. Sebelius at this link, while today’s ruling in Liberty University v. Geithner can be accessed here.
In the suit brought by Liberty University, the three-judge panel has ruled by a 2-to-1 vote that “Because this suit constitutes a pre-enforcement action seeking to restrain the assessment of a tax, the Anti-Injunction Act strips us of jurisdiction.” And, in the suit brought by Virginia, the court has unanumously ruled that Virginia lacks standing to bring the suit.
Circuit Judge Diana Gribbon Motz wrote the opinion of the court in both cases.
“Strip-club no-touch law upheld in court”: The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch contains this article today reporting on a non-precedential ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued yesterday.
“Top Ohio court mulls child-porn evidence dispute”: In today’s edition of The Toledo Blade, Jim Provance has an article that begins, “How long can a computer hard drive be left behind before it is considered abandoned and subject to search by police without a warrant?”
You can view the video of yesterday’s oral argument in the Supreme Court of Ohio via this link. The court’s Public Information Office prepared this summary of the case, and you can access the briefs and other documents filed in the case via this link.
“Yale Law School to host Navajo Supreme Court argument”: This article appears today in The Daily Times of Farmington, New Mexico.
A similar event, scheduled to occur last October, ended up being cancelled.
“Why liberals fear the ‘Lochner’ decision”: Columnist George F. Will has this op-ed today in The Washington Post.
“Patent Bill Viewed as Bailout for a Law Firm”: This article appears today in The New York Times.
“Do conflicts among Marine lawyers put justice at risk?” Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers has this report.
“Lessons Maybe Learned”: Linda Greenhouse has this post at the “Opinionator” blog of The New York Times.
