How Appealing



Thursday, March 28, 2024

“The Next Attack on Medication Abortion Just Has to Be a Little Less Stupid; When conservative activists control the federal bench, bad people who make worse arguments are going to win more often than they might otherwise expect”: Jay Willis has this essay online at Balls and Strikes.

Posted at 9:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“How Justice Thomas’s ‘Nearly Adopted Daughter’ Became His Law Clerk; Justice Clarence Thomas gave Crystal Clanton a home and a job after she left a conservative youth organization in controversy; Then the justice picked her for one of the most coveted positions in the legal world”: Steve Eder and Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times have this report.

Posted at 9:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Eastman disciplinary case probably not going to the California Supreme Court just yet”: David Ettinger has this post at the “At the Lectern” blog.

Posted at 8:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Muslim Lawyers Recoil at GOP Attacks on Historic Appellate Pick; Conservatives say Adeel Mangi is ally of terrorists, cop killers; Muslim lawyers closely watching nominee’s treatment”: Tiana Headley of Bloomberg Law has this report.

Posted at 2:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“FDA Abortion Pill Stance Endangers Patients, Undermines Doctors”: Kristen Waggoner has this essay online at Bloomberg Law.

Posted at 2:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Latest Democratic Opposition Jolts Muslim Judicial Nomination; Sen. Jacky Rosen (D) won’t back Adeel Mangi for Third Circuit; Aggressive conservative campaign aims at historic nominee”: Zach C. Cohen of Bloomberg Law has this report.

Monica Alba and Sahil Kapur of NBC News report that “White House ramps up defense of embattled Muslim American judicial nominee; Biden’s top aides are pushing the Senate to confirm Adeel Mangi to be a U.S. appeals court judge as Sen. Jacky Rosen becomes the third Democrat to oppose him.”

And in commentary, online at The Philadelphia Inquirer, former Third Circuit judge Timothy K. Lewis has an essay titled “Adeel Mangi should be the first Muslim federal appellate judge — if Islamophobia doesn’t interfere; I was nominated for the same federal judgeship as Mangi, and I was treated much better, despite my being only the 16th person of color in that role; This is anti-Muslim bias, plain and simple.”

Posted at 11:50 AM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, March 27, 2024

“Undated Pennsylvania mail-in ballots should not be counted, appeals court rules; The decision sets up a potential Supreme Court showdown over the swing state’s ballots ahead of the November presidential election”: Kim Lyons of Pennsylvania Capital-Star has this report.

Hansi Lo Wang of NPR reports that “An appeals court says ‘undated’ Pennsylvania ballots don’t count.”

And at his “Election Law Blog,” Rick Hasen has a post titled “Third Circuit, on 2-1 Vote, Rejects Argument that It Violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act to Not Count Timely But Undated Absentee Ballots in Pennsylvania.”

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

Posted at 9:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Potential Role of the Conscience Objection in a SCOTUS Decision Rejecting Plaintiffs’ Standing in the Mifepristone Case”: Michael C. Dorf has this post at his blog, “Dorf on Law.”

Posted at 8:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“AHM v. FDA reaches the Supreme Court; The plaintiffs’ arguments are not so great”: Adam Unikowsky has this post at his Substack site, “Adam’s Legal Newsletter.”

Posted at 8:34 PM by Howard Bashman



“Will Islamophobia Sink This Judicial Nomination? How Adeel Mangi’s appearance before the Senate went off the rails.” You can access today’s episode of Slate’s “What Next” podcast, featuring Nate Raymond of Reuters as the guest, via this link.

Online at The Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist Jonathan Zimmerman has an essay titled “Who will stand up to the ‘crazies’ now? Republicans are suggesting that Adeel Mangi, a Muslim judicial candidate, is soft on terrorism; Bias is at the heart of the claims; But no one in the GOP is brave enough to call his critics out.”

And online at The Newark(N.J.) Star-Ledger, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin has an essay titled “Senate attacks on Muslim appellate court nominee Adeel Mangi are vile.”

Posted at 8:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“When they ratified the Second Amendment, our Founders did not intend to bind the nation in a straitjacket of 18th-century legislation, nor did they mean to prevent future generations from protecting themselves against gun violence more rampant and destructive than the Founders could have possibly imagined.” So begins the opinion of Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause dissenting from an order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued today denying rehearing en banc in the case captioned Lara v. Comm’r Pa. State Police (access the three-judge panel’s opinion here).

Six of the Third Circuit’s 13 active judges (consisting of all of the Democratic appointees in regular active service on that court) noted in today’s order that they voted in favor of rehearing en banc, falling one vote shy of the majority needed to grant full-court review.

Posted at 8:06 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Scoffs at Flimsy Abortion Pill Argument; With the exception of Samuel Alito, the justices indicated that challengers to the FDA’s mifepristone approval lack standing”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

Posted at 2:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals Court Keeps Block on Texas Migrant Arrest Law; The decision in favor of the federal government left in place a trial court injunction while courts determine whether the measure is legal”: J. David Goodman of The New York Times has this report.

Maria Sacchetti of The Washington Post reports that “U.S. appeals court keeps block on Texas immigration law.”

Elizabeth Findell of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Appeals Court Keeps Texas Immigration Law on Pause; State plan to arrest, deport migrants faces constitutional challenge.”

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Appeals court rejects border ‘invasion’ claims, issues new block on Texas’ strict immigration law.”

Lawrence Hurley of NBC News reports that “Divided appeals court extends block on Texas immigration law; The appeals court for a second time said the state law cannot go into effect as Texas appeals a ruling that blocked it.”

Devan Cole of CNN reports that “Appeals court keeps controversial Texas immigration law on hold.”

Daniel Wiessner and Ted Hesson of Reuters report that “US court keeps Texas border security law on hold in win for Biden.”

Kevin McGill of The Associated Press reports that “Texas’ migrant arrest law will remain on hold under new court ruling.”

Madlin Mekelburg of Bloomberg News reports that “Texas Deportation Law Stays Blocked Until Appeal Is Resolved; Law calling for state to arrest migrants stays blocked for now; US says law undermines decades of precedent on immigration.”

And Kirk McDaniel of Courthouse News Service reports that “Fifth Circuit rejects Texas’s attempt to enforce state immigration law; Texas again failed to convince the courts to allow its controversial immigration law to take effect while the challenges against it proceed.”

You can access last night’s 121-page decision of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 2:17 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appellate Judge To Receive Jefferson Medal in Law; Roger L. Gregory Became First Black Jurist on Fourth Circuit”: Mike Fox of the University of Virginia School of Law has this report.

Posted at 1:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Reconsidering Motions-Panel Decisions on Appeal Dismissals; A divided Eighth Circuit held that a merits panel could review a motions panel’s denial of a motion to dismiss an appeal; The court went on to hold that a purported Rule 59(e) motion did not reset the appeal clock”: Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog about a decision that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued last Thursday.

Posted at 1:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court’s Texas Order Highlights Abuse of Dubious Shortcut”: Will Havemann has this essay online at Bloomberg Law.

Posted at 1:08 PM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, March 26, 2024

“Transcript: Stephen Breyer, Former Supreme Court Justice & Author, ‘Reading the Constitution.’” You can access the transcript of this afternoon’s Washington Post Live interview at this link.

Posted at 11:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Abortion Pill Fight Isn’t Over. Foes Look to 1873 Obscenity Law; The Comstock Act prohibits the mailing of ‘lewd materials’; International groups have pledged to keep mailing mifepristone”: Madlin Mekelburg of Bloomberg News has this report.

Posted at 8:56 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Seems Skeptical of Doctors Seeking to Curtail Abortion Pill Access; A majority of the justices raised questions about whether a group of anti-abortion doctors and organizations trying to sharply limit access to the widely used drug could show they suffered harm”: Abbie VanSickle of The New York Times has this report.

Ann E. Marimow and Caroline Kitchener of The Washington Post report that “Supreme Court skeptical of efforts to restrict access to abortion pill; A majority of justices seemed to doubt the antiabortion doctors had legal standing to challenge rules on mifepristone.”

Maureen Groppe and Dan Morrison of USA Today report that “Supreme Court arguments on abortion pill could unify judges; Conservative and liberal justices took turns dismantling arguments by a group of anti-abortion doctors seeking to roll back access to mifepristone.”

And on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Nina Totenberg had an audio segment titled “Justices seem skeptical of challenge to restrict access to abortion pill.”

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Five Hard Truths About an Appellate Practice, with Raffi Melkonian”: You can access today’s new episode of “The California Appellate Law Podcast” via this link.

Posted at 5:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Supreme Court Justice Sounds a Warning: Former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer says in a new book and interview that conservative justices’ approach can’t serve the country and is doomed to fail.” Ankush Khardori has this interview online at Politico Magazine.

Posted at 1:27 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court justices skeptical of challenge to abortion pills”: David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Jess Bravin and Jan Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Appears Unlikely to Upend Abortion-Pill Access; The case is the first major abortion issue to reach the Supreme Court after it overruled Roe v. Wade two years ago.”

Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court justices weigh rolling back use of the abortion pill; Appear skeptical of pro-life doctors’ request to roll back use of mifepristone.”

Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court seems likely to preserve access to the abortion medication mifepristone.”

Andrew Chung and John Kruzel of Reuters report that “US Supreme Court appears skeptical of challenge to abortion pill access.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Supreme Court Suggests It Will Back Access to Abortion Pill; Justices question whether abortion foes have standing to sue; Court hears its first abortion clash since overturning Roe.”

Lawrence Hurley of NBC News reports that “Supreme Court signals it is likely to reject a challenge to abortion pill access; The Biden administration is defending FDA decisions that lifted restrictions on mifepristone, including one that made it available by mail.”

And Alice Miranda Ollstein and Josh Gerstein of Politico report that “Justices appear skeptical of call to restrict abortion pill; A decision, likely to come in June, would be a major victory for the FDA’s authority to regulate prescription drugs and for abortion-rights advocates who have sought to protect access to mifepristone.”

Posted at 1:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“The ‘Continue Withholding’ Directive in Trump v. United States: The Supreme Court’s order to stop lower court proceedings in Trump v. U.S. raises many questions about the arcane workings of the Court’s emergency docket.” Jack Goldsmith and Tom Koenig have this post at the “Lawfare” blog.

Posted at 11:40 AM by Howard Bashman



Monday, March 25, 2024

“The Group Behind Dobbs Does Not Want to Talk About What Comes Next; We sat down with Kristen Waggoner to talk about the anti-abortion legal group’s next targets”: Ian Ward has this Q&A online at Politico Magazine.

Posted at 9:56 PM by Howard Bashman