“U.S. Seeks Athletes’ Urine, Blood in Steroid Probe”: Bloomberg News provides this report based on listening to a Ninth Circuit oral argument audiotape. According to the report, “U.S. attorneys asked a federal appeals court in San Francisco for access to players’ 2003 samples and other records seized last year at labs in California and Nevada, according to a recording of a Nov. 15 hearing.” The oral argument audiotape in Seal 1 v. Seal 2 — a case in which the parties’ true identities are confidential — can be downloaded via this link.
“PFAW Seeking Access to Records of ‘Concerned Alumni of Princeton’; Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito touted membership in reactionary organization”: People For the American Way issued this press release today.
Available online from law.com: An article headlined “Blog’s Demise May Chill Other Federal Lawyers’ Online Comments” begins, “Whether or not David Lat loses his job for dishing dirt about federal judges, the abrupt end to his Web log may pour cold water on other U.S. Justice Department lawyers eyeing online outlets for their creativity.”
Tony Mauro has an article headlined “High Court Recusals: No Rules, but Plenty of Controversy.”
And in other news, “Wiccan Lawsuit May Spell Toil, Taxes and Trouble for Fla. Justices.”
“Repeal challenge likely”: The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review today contains an article that begins, “Law offices and judicial chambers across Pennsylvania are buzzing with strategy sessions about a legal challenge to restore the judicial pay raise that lawmakers repealed this week along with their own controversial salary hike.” My earlier coverage is here.
“The Fifth Circuit Announces Return to New Orleans”: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued this news release today.
“Supreme Court Arguments Available to Media”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Supreme Court will release audio tapes immediately after argument sessions in upcoming cases involving abortion rights and a protest of the Pentagon’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for gays.”
“Upstate in crosshairs of prayer battle; Residents rally for elected officials’ freedom of speech”: The Greenville (S.C.) News today contains an article that begins, “The Upstate is in the crosshairs of a Constitutional controversy over prayer at government meetings, with battle lines being drawn by elected officials on one side and the American Civil Liberties Union on the other.”
“Judge Had The Skinny on A3G”: Nearly all of Justin Scheck’s newsbrief (subscription required) from today’s issue of The Recorder of San Francisco can be freely accessed here at “Legal Pad,” the blog of CalLaw.com.
In other related posts of interest, “Chateau d’If” has a post titled “The Robe Is Off.” And the blog “Previously Unpublished” offers these thoughts.
“In Delta Bankruptcy, Judge’s Ruminations Are Legal Sideshow”: This very interesting article (pass-through link) appears today in The Wall Street Journal.
“The court concludes that using a username/password combination as intended–by entering a valid username and password, albeit without authorization–does not constitute circumvention under the DMCA.” The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last week issued this opinion in a case involving an unusually interesting set of facts.
“Questioning Samuel Alito”: This segment (RealPlayer required) featuring Law Professor Jonathan Turley appeared on yesterday’s broadcast of the public radio program “Here & Now.”
“Judge Releases Contents on Mayor’s Laptop”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A judge on Thursday granted a newspaper’s request to make public gay-themed material from Spokane Mayor James E. West’s City Hall laptop computer, but placed restrictions on the release of images from a gay-oriented Web site.”
And in local coverage, The Spokesman-Review today contains an article headlined “Photos public, yet private; ‘Adult’ pictures on West’s computer kept secret for fear of ‘outing’ subjects.”
“Prosecutors say Death Row inmate deserves execution; Williams’ supporters hope governor will commute sentence”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.
And in The Los Angeles Times, Henry Weinstein reports that “Killer’s Fate Rests With Governor; D.A., other officials press Schwarzenegger not to grant Stanley Williams clemency; He says he is facing the decision with dread.”
“I have repeatedly said that while I currently feel that my externship at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has been an utter and complete waste of my time, I believe that it will prove to be valuable in ways I currently do not understand.” The blog “Psycho Lawyer: A crazy man’s journey into the practice of Law” links to me, causing me to find this interesting post bearing yesterday’s date.
“Bring It On: Why are conservatives chickening out of their big national conversation on judges?” Dahlia Lithwick has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
Meanwhile, for those who’d rather read Slate’s review of the newest Beavis & Butt-Head DVD collection, there’s hope.
“Court: Lesson on Muslims OK; Christian students, parents challenged role-playing exercise.” Claire Cooper, legal affairs writer for The Sacramento Bee, has this article today in that newspaper.
And today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko reports that “Court clears school of pushing religion with lesson on Islam.”
You can access yesterday’s non-precedential ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.
U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation that mandates split of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit: According to this press release from Earthjustice, the provision was a part of the budget reconciliation bill that passed the House by a vote of 217-215 early this morning. See page 519 of this PDF file for the text of the provision.
The Los Angeles Times reports today, in an article headlined “House GOP Passes Cuts, Barely; The late-night victory helps Republicans save face after the chamber’s rejection of a compromise spending bill earlier in the day,” that “One provision of the House bill would split the nine-state 9th Circuit Court of Appeals into two, long a goal of conservatives who have regarded the San Francisco-based bench as too liberal.”
“Lights, camera, arguments?” Yesterday in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, columnist Linda P. Campbell had this op-ed about televising federal court proceedings.
“Overloaded circuit: The 9th has too many cases, too much jurisdiction, too little justice.” Monday’s edition of The Arizona Republic contained an editorial that begins, “Momentarily, we will start toting up a list of reasons the San Francisco-based U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals desperately needs to be split, and why a 12th Circuit, likely based in Phoenix, should be created from that split. They are compelling reasons. Indeed, they are profoundly obvious reasons. On the basis of rational judgment alone, to say nothing of fealty to the American principle of swiftly rendered justice, it must be split.”
Available online from The American Prospect: Harold Meyerson has an essay entitled “Alito’s Smoking Gun: His personal — and constitutional — beliefs are now out in the open; He’ll have a lot to answer for at his confirmation hearing.”
And Simon Lazarus and Lauren Saunders have an essay entitled “Gunning For Congress: Samuel Alito’s federalist bent makes John Roberts look like a moderate.”
“Ruminations on Status Anxiety”: The blog “Grayhame: Law and Law School” contains a post that begins, “The more I read about the outing and true identity of ‘Article III Groupie,’ the more sad I get.”
“Profs Debate Foreign Law”: The Harvard Crimson today contains an article that begins, “Judge Richard A. Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals criticized the use of foreign precedents in American jurisprudence–an issue that has been thrust into the spotlight by a recent court decision on juvenile execution–at the Harvard Law Review’s (HLR) annual Supreme Court Forum yesterday evening.”
“New Sixth Circuit Judge: Judge Susan Bieke Neilson was sworn in as a circuit judge on November 16, 2005.” So reports the home page of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
“Prosecutor of drug case found killed; Assistant U.S. attorney for Md. discovered shot, beaten and stabbed in Pa.; ‘We will find out who did this’; Authorities retrace Luna’s steps, ask for public’s help”: This article appeared in The Baltimore Sun on December 5, 2003. The two-year anniversary of this unsolved event will occur in about two weeks from now. My earliest coverage of this matter can be found at this link, and much additional coverage can be viewed by scrolling up the page from there.
“Disability Law, Moving Backward”: This editorial appears today in The New York Times.
“Kozinski had name of blogger all along”: Today in The Recorder of San Francisco, California, Justin Scheck has a newsbrief (paid subscription required) that reports, “But for one Ninth Circuit judge, there was no mystery. ‘I knew about a year ago,’ said Judge Alex Kozinski, who bestowed the nickname ‘A3G’ on Lat’s online persona. It turns out that during Kozinski’s attempt to get nominated to the list of federal judiciary ‘superhotties’ (he eventually won), one of the judge’s clerks — a Lat law school classmate — had a hunch. And an e-mail trace proved him right. But Kozinski kept quiet, he said, out of fear that outing the blogger would bring her — um, him — professional repercussions.”
Update: I’ll leave it to others to speculate whether this information calls into question the results of A3G’s “male superhotties of the judiciary” contest.
“One Nominee, Two Very Different Portraits in a New Round of Ads”: The New York Times contains this article today.
The Washington Post today reports that “Television Ad War On Alito Begins; Liberals Try to Paint Court Pick as Tool Of the Right Wing.” And Michael Kinsley has an op-ed entitled “What Abortion Debate? Talking About Alito’s Respect for Precedent Avoids the Real Questions.”
The Boston Globe reports that “Ad war targets N.E. senators on Alito nomination; Groups try to sway GOP moderates from Maine, R.I.”
The Houston Chronicle reports that “Alito’s backers, opponents start airing attack ads; The debate over the Supreme Court nominee intensifies with news of 1985 abortion remarks.”
The Washington Times reports that “Democrat in ‘Gang of 14’ raises doubts about Alito.”
The Rocky Mountain News reports that “Salazar has ‘strong concerns’ about Alito.”
The Denver Post reports that “Alito visit leaves Salazar with ‘grave concern.’”
The New York Sun reports that “S.D. Senator Warns Democrats Against Obstruction Tactics.”
And The Daily Princetonian reports that “Alito ’72 joined conservative alumni group; Concerned Alumni of Princeton known to be anti-coeducation.”
In commentary, The St. Petersburg Times contains an editorial entitled “Alito’s way: Documents released this week reveal much more at stake in the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court than just Roe vs. Wade.”
And in The Wilmington News Journal, Law Professor Alan E. Garfield has an op-ed entitled “Judge judges on how they use their power.”
“Supreme Court puts the bite on pit bull ads by Fort Lauderdale lawyers”: This article appears today in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The St. Petersburg Times today contains an article headlined “Court: Lawyers can’t be ‘pit bulls’; Ads by a firm comparing itself to the tenacious canine demean all lawyers, the state’s high court rules.”
And The Miami Herald contains an article headlined “Bull-dogged: Two Broward lawyers advertising themselves as legal ‘pit bulls’ got a sharp rebuke and penalty from Florida’s highest court.”
Available online from law.com: Marcia Coyle reports that “Justices Debate a Key Issue of Attorney Fees; Whether to award fees when a removed case is sent back to state courts.”
And in news from California, “Adjudication in Strip Club Gets Judge Stripped of Position.” My earlier coverage appears in a post titled “Life somewhat imitates The Onion.”
