“High court could hear al-Marri case; U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled on similar ‘enemy combatant’ cases”: The Journal Star of Peoria, Illinois has posted online this evening an article that begins, “One of the most controversial legal matters in the ongoing war on terror got its start in Peoria, some seven years after a simple traffic stop. That traffic stop garnered the attention of federal authorities and three months, later, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri was arrested at his West Peoria apartment in December 2001, and held as a material witness in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.”
“Latest Development in Jones Day Trademark Abuse Case”: This post appeared Wednesday at Public Citizen’s “Consumer Law & Policy Blog.”
In my post about this development from last Friday, I wrote that “the ruling is not yet available online.” It’s available online now, however, at this link.
“An Empirical Invesigation into Appellate Structure and the Perceived Quality of Appellate Review”: Law Professors Jonathan Remy Nash and Rafael I. Pardo have this article in the November 2008 issue of the Vanderbilt Law Review (via “Sentencing Law and Policy“).
Only in the Ninth Circuit? The Metropolitan News-Enterprise today contains an article headlined “Ninth Circuit Reverses Sleeping Felon’s Firearm Possession Conviction” that begins, “A divided panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday reversed a man’s felon-in-possession-of-firearms conviction because he was asleep when police officers found him on a couch in an abandoned apartment with one gun on his lap and another leaning against his leg.”
News from earlier this month reminded us that passed-out people are at risk of being turned into a surface for often crude graffiti. And now we learn, courtesy of yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, that sleeping felons may be used as a storage site for firearms.
Fortunately, at least two Ninth Circuit judges on the three-judge panel that produced yesterday’s ruling were unwilling to see sleeping felons be found guilty of additional federal criminal charges for having been exploited in that manner.
“A backside brouhaha”: Today at The Boston Globe’s “Brainiac” blog, Christopher Shea has a post that begins, “What, exactly, are the buttocks? The FCC and ABC, Inc., are duking it out over that profound question, which has now reached the federal appeals court for the Second Circuit. The debate has drawn in some of the country’s top legal advocates. Seth Waxman, for example, who leads the appellate practice at the elite firm WilmerHale, has been mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee during Barack Obama’s presidential term. But first he will make the bold argument, on behalf of ABC, that the buttocks are not a ‘sexual or excretory organ.’ Never have been, never will be — whatever the anatomically illiterate FCC says.”
Hmm, that sounds like an appellate brief that I should be posting online here at “How Appealing.”
Update: You can access ABC’s opening brief on appeal at this link. You can access the FCC’s appellate brief in response at this link.
“Mukasey feeling better, checks out of hospital”: The Associated Press provides this updated report.
The Washington Post has a news update headlined “Mukasey Released From Hospital.”
And The New York Times has a news update headlined “Mukasey Leaves the Hospital.”
Given this good news, a possible alternate title for the post immediately below could be “But did she stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night?” (access related video at this link).
More information concerning last night’s Federalist Society dinner: A longtime reader of this blog emails:
The doctor who happened to be in the audience, and rushed to the podium to treat Mukasey, and went with him in the ambulance to the hospital, is Dr. Lisa Cooper, M.D., an emergency room specialist who is the wife of Matt Cooper. Dr. Cooper practices emergency medicine for a hospital in Houston. Matt Cooper is an associate with Gibbs & Bruns in Houston.
According to Matt’s law firm bio, he not only is a Harvard Law graduate, but he also served as a captain in the Air Force before law school and clerked for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit after law school. Thanks much to the source of this information for sending it along!
“Gov’t: AG doing better after collapse.” The Associated Press provides this updated report.
“Lawyers who win public-interest lawsuits are entitled to payment, California Supreme Court rules; Suits that result in important rights being enforced typically target government agencies”: Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of California at this link.
“Court: Sex-offender law unfairly restrictive.” Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “A voter-approved law prohibiting sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or a park amounts to additional punishment for the offenders’ original crimes, a state appeals court has ruled in a case that could affect thousands of parolees.”
You can access at this link Wednesday’s ruling of California’s Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District, Division Three.
“Court overturns 1991 murder conviction of Arizona teen who confessed; 8-year-old’s interrogation is similar; Johnathan Doody — said to have slain nine at a Buddhist temple — was questioned at length with no adult support; This month, so was a third-grader accused of killing his father and a boarder”: Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.
And The Arizona Republic reports today that “New trial ordered in 1991 Buddhist temple killings; Court: Admission to 9 murders forced.”
My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link.
“Lori Drew didn’t create MySpace page used to harass Megan Miers, witness says”: This article appears today in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Today in The Los Angeles Times, Scott Glover reports that “Mother saw MySpace plan as clever, witness says; A family friend says she helped Lori Drew create a bogus MySpace profile to ‘expose’ a teenager who later committed suicide.”
And The New York Times reports that “Woman Who Posed as Boy Testifies in Case That Ended in Suicide of 13-Year-Old.”
“3 Indicted In Alleged Coverup of D.C. Killing”: The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, “Three men at the center of an enduring murder mystery in an elegant Dupont Circle townhouse have been indicted on obstruction of justice charges as police continue to investigate the slaying of Robert Wone, a rising star in Washington’s legal community who was fatally stabbed two years ago while staying overnight at the home.”
And yesterday evening, “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times” had a post titled “Bail For Arent Fox Partner Set at $100,000.”
“Conservative Federalist Society Can Expect Its Status to Shrink”: Robert Barnes has this article today in The Washington Post.
“Mukasey Collapses During Address in Washington; Hospitalized Overnight”: The Washington Post provides this news update.
The Associated Press reports that “Mukasey takes get-well call from Bush.”
The Los Angeles Times reports today that “Mukasey collapses during speech; The attorney general is hospitalized, his condition unclear.”
The Washington Times reports today that “Mukasey collapses during D.C. speech; ‘Alert’ and talking at hospital.”
USA Today reports that “Mukasey falls unconscious during speech.”
In The Wall Street Journal, Evan Perez reports that “Attorney General Mukasey Collapses During Speech.”
Also today in The Wall Street Journal, Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey has an op-ed entitled “Al Qaeda Detainees and Congress’s Duty: Habeas corpus hearings could set terrorists free inside the U.S.”
“Court Says Shell Can’t Drill Near Alaska”: Today’s edition of The New York Times contains an article that begins, “A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked Royal Dutch Shell from drilling oil wells off Alaska’s North Slope after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.”
The Los Angeles Times reports today that “Appeals court rules against Arctic drilling plan; In a 2-1 decision, the court orders a more thorough environmental review of the proposed offshore oil drilling project’s effect on fish and endangered bowhead whales.”
The Associated Press reports that “Court orders review of Beaufort drilling plan; Federal appeals court orders more agency review of Shell drilling plans in Beaufort Sea.”
And Reuters reports that “Court voids Shell’s Beaufort Sea drilling plan.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling by a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.
“Judge Declares Five Detainees Held Illegally”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “A federal judge issued the Bush administration a sharp setback on Thursday, ruling that five Algerian men have been held unlawfully at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for nearly seven years and ordering their release.”
In The Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage reports today that “Judge orders release of 5 Guantanamo prisoners; The government’s case against five Algerian natives, accused of plotting with Al Qaeda, is weak, a federal judge in Washington says.”
The Washington Post reports that “5 at Guantanamo Ordered Released; Men Not Considered Enemy Combatants.” In addition, the newspaper contains an editorial entitled “‘Enough’: A court’s ruling exposes the travesty of holding ‘enemy combatants’ on flimsy — or nonexistent — evidence.” And Benjamin Wittes has an op-ed entitled “Wrenching Choices on Guantanamo.”
Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Judge Orders 5 Gitmo Inmates Released.”
Marisa Taylor of McClatchy Newspapers reports that “Judge orders release of 5 Guantanamo detainees.”
And The Washington Times reports that “Federal judge orders five Gitmo detainees freed.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia at this link.
“Obama to delay repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’; Advisers see consensus building before lifting ban on gays”: This article appears today in The Washington Times.
“Insurer to seek Joyce payment; Erie Insurance wants restitution; State Farm’s plans remain unclear”: Today’s edition of The Erie (Pa.) Times-News contains an article that begins, “Michael T. Joyce, once one of the top legal authorities in the state, called his $390,000 settlement with Erie Insurance Group a contract. A jury of 12 ordinary citizens who examined Joyce’s claim in a federal courtroom called it a crime. Now Joyce faces the possibility of having to return the $390,000 to Erie Insurance, which said Thursday it will seek restitution.”
“Gay rights advocates forced to adjust agenda; Shift focus away from marriage to key civil rights”: This article appears today in USA Today.
The Miami Herald reports today that “Florida gay rights activists ready to fight threat to benefits; Gay rights activists are ready to go to court to defend domestic partnerships they say will be threatened by the new constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.”
The Hartford Courant reports that “Same-Sex Couples First Must Find A Willing And Able Cleric.”
The Christian Science Monitor contains an article headlined “California Supreme Court to hear challenges to gay-marriage ban; Opponents argue that the ballot initiative amounts to a revision of the state constitution.”
The Orange County Register reports that “Lawsuit to overturn Prop. 8 may face uphill battle; Although the state Supreme Court previously ruled in favor of gay marriage, the latest challenges face a tougher fight.”
And The New York Times contains a news analysis headlined “With Same-Sex Marriage, a Court Takes on the People’s Voice.”
“Transition team makes advisers on Constitution a priority”: Today in USA Today, Joan Biskupic has an article that begins, “Among the priorities of President-elect Barack Obama’s legal team is an obscure Justice Department division that tends to emerge into public view only when things go wrong. During the Bush years, it gained notoriety for memos giving interrogators wide latitude on using coercive techniques with foreign detainees.”
“A Federal District Judge’s Clash with a Repeat Litigant: An Unusual Case with Larger Ramifications For How We Define Justice and Fairness.” Edward Lazarus has this essay online at FindLaw.
Available online from law.com: An article reports that “11th Circuit Raises Big Questions by Delving Into Death Row Case.”
And Shannon P. Duffy has an article headlined “3rd Circuit: Parents Can’t Sue Under No Child Left Behind Act.” My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Third Circuit ruling appears at this link.
“Justice O’Connor Sits on 3rd Circuit Panel Hearing UPS Challenge to ADA Class Action”: Shannon P. Duffy has this article today in The Legal Intelligencer.
And today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer contains articles headlined “A big day in Third Circuit court” and “Justice O’Connor goes back to school.”
“Federalist Society Panel Debates Discipline for Federal Judges”: A post yesterday evening at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times” begins, “When a federal judge messes up and has to be disciplined, how much does the public deserve to know? That was the question put to a panel of experts this afternoon at the Federalist Society’s 2008 National Lawyers Convention.”
“Mukasey Collapses During Address in Washington; Condition Unknown”: This article appears today in The Washington Post.
The New York Times reports today that “Attorney General Collapses During Speech.”
Via YouTube, you can access this video from ABC 7 News in Washington, DC. And video from Fox News can be viewed here and here.
The latest coverage from The Associated Press can be accessed here.
