How Appealing



Thursday, October 28, 2010

“Leaked: Obama Mentor’s Blunt Advice on Court Choices.” Charlie Savage has this post at “The Caucus” blog of The New York Times.

At the “Bench Memos” blog of National Review Online, Ed Whelan began his first of a series of posts about the letter as follows, “I’ve obtained a copy of an interesting letter that Harvard law professor Larry Tribe wrote to his protege, President Barack Obama, in the immediate aftermath of Justice Souter’s announcement of his decision to retire from the Court.” You can access the letter by clicking here.

Whelan’s other posts thus far about Tribe’s letter are titled “Tribe to Obama: Justice Kennedy Is a Prima Donna in Danger of Drifting Rightward“; “Tribe to Obama: Breyer’s Public Face Is Unappealing“; “Tribe to Obama: Please Hire Me and Give Me a Big Portfolio“; and “Larry Tribe on Larry Tribe’s Letter.”

And at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog,” Nathan Koppel and Jess Bravin provide this coverage.

Posted at 3:46 PM by Howard Bashman



“Widow to ‘child soldier’: We’re the victims.” Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald has a news update that begins, “With head bowed, Omar Khadr sat at his war crimes tribunal Thursday to hear about the hole he left in one American commando’s family when at age 15 he hurled a grenade in war-torn Afghanistan and killed Special Forces medic Chris Speer.”

The Toronto Globe and Mail has a news update headlined “Omar Khadr is ‘unworthy,’ widow of slain U.S. medic says.”

The Toronto Star has a news update headlined “Widow to Khadr: ‘You’re a murderer.’

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Widow to Gitmo prisoner: You are a murderer.”

Posted at 2:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judging Women”: Stephen J. Choi, G. Mitu Gulati, Mirya R. Holman, and Eric A. Posner have posted online at SSRN an article whose abstract begins:

Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s assertion that female judges might be “better” than male judges has generated accusations of sexism and potential bias. An equally controversial claim is that male judges are better than female judges because the latter have benefited from affirmative action. These claims are susceptible to empirical analysis.

Via “Legal Theory Blog.”

Posted at 2:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals court orders release of failed pardon applicants”: At his “Under the Radar” blog at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein has a post — in which I am quoted– that begins, “A federal appeals court has ruled that the Justice Department must disclose the names of unsuccessful applicants for presidential pardons or commutations, notwithstanding the Obama Administration’s arguments that releasing such information would violate the privacy of clemency seekers.”

Update: Elsewhere, at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post titled “Appeals Court: DOJ Must Release Names of Applicants Denied Clemency.”

Posted at 2:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“Courthouse peephole suspect gets new charges”: In yesterday’s issue of The Beaver County (Pa.) Times, J.D. Prose had an article that begins, “Prosecutors have withdrawn 20 invasion-of-privacy charges filed last month against a former Beaver County employee, but he faces seven new charges for creating a peephole and spying on women in a courthouse restroom.” (via ABA Journal’s “Law News Now” blog).

Posted at 11:32 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justice O’Connor, Arizona group spar over robocalls”: Josh Gerstein has this post at his “Under the Radar” blog at Politico.com.

Posted at 7:55 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Age of Alzheimer’s”: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Stanley Prusiner, and Ken Dychtwald have this op-ed today in The New York Times.

Posted at 7:40 AM by Howard Bashman