How Appealing



Wednesday, November 11, 2009

“Showdown on Judicial Nominee Set for Next Week”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” David Ingram has a post that begins, “Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is following through on a plan to cut off debate on President Barack Obama’s most contentious circuit court nominee so far.”

And today’s edition of Investor’s Business Daily contains a related editorial entitled “Another Radical Judge.”

Posted at 10:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lawyer Learns that Roberts Speaks Only for Himself”: Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Posted at 3:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘I Believe’ tag fails test in court; Judge says S.C. religious plate based on discriminatory law”: Today’s edition of The Post and Courier of Charleston, South Carolina contains an article that begins, “A federal district court ruled Tuesday that the ‘I Believe’ license plate approved by the S.C. Legislature violates the constitutional separation of church and state and cannot be issued.” The newspaper has posted online this photograph of the rejected license plate.

The State of Columbia, South Carolina reports today that “Judge strikes down plate; Words on Christian cross ruled unconstitutional by federal jurist who says it promotes one religion over another.”

The Greenville News reports that “Legislation creating ‘I Believe’ license plans unconstitutional, judge rules.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Federal judge nixes SC license tag with cross.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina at this link.

Posted at 2:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“Class Actions Look for a Home”: Today in The Daily Journal of California, Lawrence Hurley has an article that begins, “In a major class action case, the U.S. Supreme Court looks likely to reverse a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that makes it easier to sue big companies in plaintiff-friendly California state courts.”

And Dow Jones Newswires report that “US Supreme Court Appears Set To Change Corporate Location Test.”

Posted at 1:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“While the issue is difficult and close, we believe that the rule against juror impeachment cannot be applied so inflexibly as to bar juror testimony in those rare and grave cases where claims of racial or ethnic bias during jury deliberations implicate a defendant’s right to due process and an impartial jury.” An email from a juror to the attorney for a criminal defendant in a case tried in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire resulted in this rather interesting ruling yesterday from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Posted at 11:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court ruling issued on Eagle Mountain landfill”: The “Daily News Digest” blog of The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, California has a post that begins, “A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling [yesterday] on the proposed Eagle Mountain landfill near Joshua Tree National Park.”

At the recently restarted blog “How Green Is My Country,” Sarah Rispin has a post titled “Ninth Circuit Affirms Reversal of BLM Decision Allowing Landfill Next to Joshua Tree.”

At the “Native Intelligence” blog of LAObserved, Deanne Stillman has this post about the ruling.

And Kaiser Ventures has issued a news release titled “U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Announces Its Decision on the Eagle Mountain Land Exchange.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Senior Circuit Judge Stephen S. Trott‘s dissenting opinion begins:

What sane person would want to attempt to acquire property for a landfill? Our well-meaning environmental laws have unintentionally made such an endeavor a fool’s errand. This case is yet another example of how daunting — if not impossible — such an adventure can be. Ulysses thought he encountered fearsome obstacles as he headed home to Ithaca on the Argo, but nothing that compares to the “due process” of unchecked environmental law. Not the Cyclops, not the Sirens, and not even Scylla and Charybdis can measure up to the obstacles Kaiser has faced in this endeavor.

The dissenting opinion begins on page 33 of yesterday’s ruling.

Posted at 10:57 AM by Howard Bashman



“Pfizer and Kelo’s Ghost Town: Pfizer bugs out, long after the land grab.” This editorial appears today in The Wall Street Journal.

Related news coverage can be accessed here from The Hartford Courant and here, here, here, here, and here from The Day of New London, Connecticut.

Posted at 8:35 AM by Howard Bashman