How Appealing



Monday, November 15, 2010

“Appeals Court sets stage for Proposition 8 arguments”: The Sacramento Bee has a blog post that begins, “The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals announced today how it wants opposing sides to lay out their cases during a critical Dec. 6 hearing on California’s gay marriage ban.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Prop. 8 hearing details.”

You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 10:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Gallegly animal bill passes House, but Senate might run out of time”: The Ventura County Star has a news update that begins, “Rep. Elton Gallegly said Monday that his bill to ban the sale of videos showing the mutilation and torture of small animals might be dead for this year after House Democrats made what he called an unwarranted change.”

And The Associated Press reports that “House votes on bill to stop animal ‘crush videos.’

Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Virginia Thomas apparently stepping down from ‘tea party’ group; The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is going to ‘take a back seat’ at the conservative nonprofit she founded; The group’s partisan tone has drawn criticism from legal ethics experts”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.

And Nina Totenberg of NPR reports that “Clarence Thomas’ Wife Quits Tea Party-Linked Group.”

Posted at 9:01 PM by Howard Bashman



“Gun Rights Advocates Challenge D.C. Firearm Restrictions”: Today at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Mike Scarcella has a post that begins, “Calling this city’s gun laws the most ‘radically restrictive’ in the country, a lawyer for a group of District of Columbia residents urged a federal appeals court in Washington today to strike down laws that requires gun owners to register all firearms and pass a training course.”

Posted at 4:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Virginia Thomas stepping down as head of Liberty Central”: The Washington Post has a news update that begins, “Virginia Thomas, political activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has decided to relinquish control of Liberty Central, the conservative group she founded less than a year ago, so that the organization can escape the ‘distractions’ of her media celebrity, a spokeswoman said.”

Posted at 4:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals Court Struggles With ‘Red Flags Rule'”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” David Ingram has a post today that begins, “A federal appeals court in Washington wrangled today with the definitions of ‘credit’ and ‘any person’ as it tried to determine whether the Federal Trade Commission overstepped its authority in regulating the legal profession.”

Posted at 2:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“High court to decide Monday whether illegal immigrants must pay higher college tuition”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has a blog post that begins, “The California Supreme Court is scheduled to decide Monday whether undocumented immigrants may continue to receive in-state tuition rates at the state’s colleges and universities or be required to pay the higher rates charged to students from other states.”

According to this notice of forthcoming filings from the Supreme Court of California, the decision will issue at 1 p.m. eastern time today.

Update: You can access the ruling at this link.

In early news coverage of the ruling, Howard Mintz of The San Jose Mercury News has an update headlined “State Supreme Court upholds law providing college benefits to undocumented students.”

The Contra Costa Times has a news update headlined “California Supreme Court upholds immigrant-tuition law.”

And Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has a blog post titled “In-state tuition for illegal immigrants is preserved with California Supreme Court ruling.”

Posted at 10:48 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s opinion in an argued case and Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court today issued one opinion in an argued case.

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court in Abbott v. United States, No. 09-479. The decision was unanimous, with Justice Elena Kagan recused. You can access the oral argument transcript and audio via this link.

You can access today’s Order List at this link. The Court granted review in two cases.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court OKs longer prison term in gun, drug crimes” and “Court won’t get involved in patient advocate case.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “A day for criminal law.”

Posted at 10:04 AM by Howard Bashman



“Oklahoma Surprise: Islam as an Election Issue.” Today’s edition of The New York Times contains an article that begins, “Cory Williams, a Democratic state representative from Stillwater, expected his opponent in the recent election to label him a free-spending liberal allied with President Obama. He did not foresee that he would be accused of trying to subject Oklahomans to Islamic law.”

Posted at 8:52 AM by Howard Bashman



Judge experiences PDF redaction failure in Laos coup plot case: At his “Under the Radar” blog at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein today has a post titled “Judge slashes Laos coup plot case, exposes secret testimony” that begins, “Federal prosecutors suffered a major setback Friday as a federal judge threw out large portions of an unusual criminal case charging twelve California men with plotting to overthrow the government of Laos.”

Posted at 8:44 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Scalia, Breyer speak at lecture series”: This article appears today in The Daily Toreador, the student newspaper of Texas Tech University.

On Saturday, I had this post linking to additional coverage.

Posted at 8:35 AM by Howard Bashman



“Judges cite ‘Kill Haole Day’; After a court rejects anonymity for plaintiffs suing Kamehameha Schools, the dissents note racism”: Today in The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Ken Kobayashi has an article that begins, “A federal appeals court ruling that rejected a challenge to the Kamehameha Schools admissions practice includes a heated debate over whether four non-Hawaiian students would be subject to racial attacks if their identities were revealed.”

My earlier coverage of the Ninth Circuit’s order denying rehearing en banc can be accessed here.

Posted at 8:22 AM by Howard Bashman