How Appealing



Monday, October 15, 2007

“For Mukasey, a quiz about independence at Justice; The nominee for attorney general appears Oct. 17 at the Senate; Democrats aim to size up his will to resist political pressure from the White House”: This article will appear Tuesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

Posted at 11:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Upcoming events: Justice Antonin Scalia will deliver the keynote address at the Second Annual John F. Scarpa Conference on Law, Politics, and Culture tomorrow at Villanova University. Details are available here and here.

And this Friday in Malibu, California, the Pepperdine University School of Law, in association with the National Constitution Center, will host a Caruso Family Chair Symposium on the Constitution titled, “An Enigmatic Court? Examining the Roberts Court as it Begins Year Three.” Details are available here and here.

Posted at 8:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lawyer Who Quit Temporarily Tapped As AG”: Lara Jakes Jordan of The Associated Press has an article that begins, “A funny thing happened to Peter Keisler after he quit the Justice Department: They put him in charge.”

Posted at 4:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“James L. Oakes, Federal Appeals Court Judge, Dies at 83”: Adam Liptak will have this obituary Tuesday in The New York Times.

The home page of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also contains a related announcement.

And you can access the judge’s Federal Judicial Center biography at this link.

Posted at 4:08 PM by Howard Bashman



The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has issued its ruling in Novell, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp.: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

The decision — issued by a unanimous two-judge panel — begins:

We are asked here to review cross appeals from two interlocutory orders in an antitrust action by Novell, Inc. against Microsoft Corp. Novell seeks treble damages under sec. 4 of the Clayton Act for injuries allegedly suffered as a result of Microsoft’s anticompetitive conduct in violation of secs. 1 and 2 of the Sherman Act. In its suit filed in the District of Utah and transferred by the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation to the District of Maryland, Novell made six specific claims for damages to software applications it owned between 1994 and 1996. Two of the six claims allege that Microsoft’s conduct injured competition in the market for PC operating systems, a market in which Novell’s products did not directly compete. The district court declined to dismiss these claims over Microsoft’s objection that Novell, as neither a consumer nor a competitor in the relevant market, lacks antitrust standing to bring them. Microsoft appeals the denial of this motion to dismiss.

The remaining four claims allege harm to competition in the software-application market, in which Novell did compete. The district court dismissed these claims as untimely, and Novell appeals.

Today’s Fourth Circuit decision affirms both aspects of the district court’s ruling.

Posted at 3:02 PM by Howard Bashman



Do you wish you knew the addresses, telephone numbers, regular business hours and final collection times for outgoing mail for every United States post office? Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision holding that such information must be disclosed in response to a request made under the Freedom of Information Act.

Posted at 1:10 PM by Howard Bashman



The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issues two decisions holding that patent-related legal malpractice suits “arise under” the patent laws and thus belong in federal court: You can access today’s rulings here and here.

The second of those two decisions is noteworthy because at some point the defendants, who removed the case from state court to federal court, decided that they would prefer the case to be in federal court, while the plaintiffs, who initially filed the lawsuit in state court, decided that they would prefer to remain in federal court.

Posted at 11:44 AM by Howard Bashman



“Lawyers: New law makes child-porn defense tougher.” Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers today has an article that begins, “As the Justice Department steps up an aggressive crackdown on Internet child pornography, a little-noticed provision of a sex offender law is making it harder for defense attorneys to review some of the most important evidence against its suspected purveyors and consumers.”

Posted at 10:47 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court Rejects Microsoft, Best Buy Appeal”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Microsoft Corp. and a unit of Best Buy Co. Inc. in a lawsuit alleging the two companies fraudulently signed up customers for Microsoft’s online service.”

Posted at 10:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“FISA Follies: Psst! The Dems and Bush Don’t Really Disagree Much on FISA. (Don’t Tell Anyone!)” Benjamin Wittes has this essay online today at The New Republic.

Posted at 10:10 AM by Howard Bashman



“Demystifying the U.S. Supreme Court’s Cert Granted Process”: This week’s installment of my “On Appeal” column for law.com can be accessed at this link.

And in the current issue of the Texas Law Review, Law Professor David R. Stras has a book review essay titled “The Supreme Court’s Gatekeepers: The Role of Law Clerks in the Certiorari Process.” Therein, Stras reports on “the results from the first empirical examination of every pool memo from four Terms of the Supreme Court: October Terms 1984, 1985, 1991 and 1992.”

Posted at 8:24 AM by Howard Bashman



“Clarence Thomas is not the hypocrite; It’s not fair to use affirmative action against the Supreme Court’s lone black judge”: James Kirchick has this op-ed today in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 8:18 AM by Howard Bashman



“Going to See a Ghost: Majid Khan and the Abuses of the ‘War on Terror.'” Today in The Washington Post, Gitanjali S. Gutierrez has an op-ed that begins, “Today at Guantanamo Bay, I am supposed to meet a ghost.”

Posted at 8:08 AM by Howard Bashman



“Interim Heads Increasingly Run Federal Agencies”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “For now, the most powerful law enforcement official in the federal government is a 47-year-old lawyer little known outside Washington. Or inside Washington, for that matter. He is acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, who is running the Justice Department until a new attorney general is confirmed by the Senate to replace Alberto R. Gonzales.”

And today’s edition of USA Today reports that “Mukasey hearings might not draw big fight; Many agree he’s the ‘right man’ for attorney general.”

Posted at 7:54 AM by Howard Bashman



“When Does Pregnancy Begin?: A Federal Appeals Court Decision Implicates a New Abortion Question.” Sherry F. Colb has this essay today at FindLaw.

Posted at 7:35 AM by Howard Bashman



“Craig to file appeal Monday”: KTVB.com provides a report that begins, “Senator Larry Craig said Sunday he and his attorneys will file an appeal Monday morning, after a judge earlier denied Craig’s earlier attempt to overturn his guilty plea.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Sen. Craig to File Appeal.”

Posted at 7:33 AM by Howard Bashman