How Appealing



Tuesday, September 27, 2011

En banc Fifth Circuit rules that the First Amendment prohibits religious viewpoint discrimination at the elementary school level but that the school officials being sued are entitled to qualified immunity: The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its ruling today in Morgan v. Swanson, which is perhaps better known as the “legend of the candy cane” case.

The en banc court’s decision totals 100 pages and consists of eight separate opinions.

The final section of Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod‘s opinion, which constitutes the majority opinion on the issue of whether the First Amendment prohibits religious viewpoint discrimination at the elementary school level and a dissenting opinion on the issue of qualified immunity, begins:

Imagine the United States of America where the First Amendment protects a minor’s right to play violent video games, a person’s right to hatefully protest the funerals of our heroic men and women in the miliary, and the right to possess portrayals depicting animal cruelty, such as videos of people crushing kittens with their shoes, but does not protect a child’s right to share a pencil with another child at school merely because the pencil says the word “Jesus.”

My earlier coverage of this case appears at this link.

Posted at 7:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Towards a Better Measure and Understanding Of U.S. Supreme Court Review of Courts of Appeals Decisions”: Attorneys John S. Summers and Michael J. Newman of Hangley Aronchick Segal Pudlin & Schiller have this article in today’s issue of The United States Law Week. Additional information about that law firm’s “Supreme Court Project” can be accessed here.

Posted at 2:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“As Federal Crime List Grows, Threshold of Guilt Declines”: Gary Fields and John R. Emshwiller have this article today in The Wall Street Journal.

Posted at 1:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lee residents prepare to battle Big Tobacco; First of about 150 plaintiffs heads to court”: This article appears today in The News-Press of Fort Myers, Florida.

Posted at 11:09 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justice John Paul Stevens Talks Death Penalty, Citizens United, New Memoir”: Mike Sacks has this report at The Huffington Post.

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“Obama Lawyers Signal Likely Supreme Court Appeal on Health Care”: Greg Stohr and Laura Litvan of Bloomberg News have this report.

Posted at 9:23 AM by Howard Bashman