On this date in “How Appealing” history: March 31, 2003 was not just the eve of April Fool’s Day, but it was also the eve of oral arguments in the University of Michigan racial preferences in university admissions cases. I linked to local newspaper coverage previewing the cases in this post published two years ago today.
One year ago today, the time difference between Australia and the east coast of the United States allowed me to link to an article published in The Courier-Mail of Brisbane, Queensland on April 1, 2004. As I explained here, that newspaper contained “an article headlined ‘A judicial reprimand for himself.’ The article begins, ‘A judge who demanded to know the name of “the idiot” who granted bail to a serial burglar discovered yesterday he was talking about himself.'” Although the link I provided to the article is no longer functioning, other coverage of the story is available here and here.
In Friday’s edition of The New York Times: Tomorrow’s newspaper will contain articles headlined “Schiavo Dies, Ending Bitter Case Over Feeding Tube” and “A Collision of Disparate Forces May Be Reshaping U.S. Law.”
What day is tomorrow? An article headlined “Green Bag Begins GMUSL Bobblehead Line; Parker, Krauss First Professors To Be Immortalized” begins, “George Mason Law School professor Ross Davies, Editor of the Green Bag Law Journal, announced today that, due to his frustration with the lack of humor in recent Supreme Court opinions, he is discontinuing the line of Supreme Court Justice bobblehead dolls, and replacing them with dolls based on the professors of Mason Law.”
“Desperate times for Barnes Foundation?” This article, in which I am quoted, appears today in Main Line Life.
“GOP Goes on Judicial Offensive”: FOXNews.com provides this report.
Voice of America News reports that “Lawmakers Criticize Federal Judges on Schiavo Case.”
And The St. Petersburg Times offers an editorial entitled “Terri’s legacy: Terri Schiavo died Thursday the victim of an ugly family dispute that robbed her of her right to privacy and to die with dignity.”
“DeLay Targets Legal System in Schiavo Case”: The Associated Press reports here that “House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Thursday blamed Terri Schiavo’s death on what he contended was a failed legal system and he raised the possibility of trying to impeach some of the federal judges in the case.” You can access today’s “DeLay Statement on Terri Schiavo” at this link.
“The Terri Schiavo legacy: Her death Thursday ends a contentious battle, but ripple effects could persist in courts, Congress, and personal lives.” Linda Feldmann and Warren Richey will have this article Friday in The Christian Science Monitor.
“Fred Korematsu Dies at Age 86”: The Associated Press provides this report.
“Living will is the best revenge”: Robert Friedman had this essay last Sunday in The St. Petersburg Times.
In news from Canada: The Toronto Globe and Mail provides a news update headlined “Top court curbs limits on English schooling.” The article begins, “The Supreme Court of Canada has found Quebec’s minority-language education laws constitutional, but ordered the province to be less stringent in barring access to English-language schools.”
The Supreme Court of Canada‘s two relevant rulings issued today can be accessed here and here.
In North Carolina, living in sin equates to living in illegality: The News & Observer of Raleigh today contains an article headlined “Unwed partners surprised by law; 1805 statute is rarely enforced.”
In news from New York State, “Court refuses to hear gay marriage case”: The Associated Press reports here that “The state’s highest court Thursday declined to hear two cases contesting the state law that bars same-sex couples from getting married.”
Palestine Liberation Organization loses big in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit: A unanimous three-judge panel of that court today issued an opinion that begins:
This appeal raises exceptionally important questions of justiciability and sovereignty, emblematic of unsettled political conditions that have plagued the Middle East for many years. In it, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) ask us to countermand the district court’s refusal to dismiss the action against them. They contend that the case hinges on a nonjusticiable political question and that, at any rate, the defendants enjoy sovereign immunity. In the event that these arguments do not carry the day, the defendants seek vacation of two $116,000,000-plus default judgments, one entered against each of them, on the ground that they were entitled to a binding determination of sovereign immunity (including appellate review of any unfavorable decision) before being forced to bear the burdens of litigation.
After careful consideration of the relevant legal authorities and perscrutation of an amplitudinous record, we conclude that this case is justiciable; that the defendants have not established an entitlement to sovereign immunity; and that the defendants’ strategic litigation choices undercut their arguments as to the sequencing of the litigation. Consequently, we affirm the judgment below.
As the obscure words in the quoted passage suggest, the author of the opinion is Circuit Judge Bruce M. Selya.
“Court Expands Age Bias Claims For Work Force”: Jess Bravin, who has begun covering the U.S. Supreme Court for The Wall Street Journal, has this article today in that newspaper.
“Fred Korematsu, 1919-2005; Oakland man’s stand against camps led to U.S. apology to Japanese-Americans”: This obituary appears today in The San Jose Mercury News.
Available online from The Associated Press: An article reports that “Schiavo Attorney Focuses on Right-To-Die.”
And a news analysis is headlined “GOP Agenda Vs. States’ Rights.”
“Schiavo Case a Precursor to Battles Ahead”: The Washington Post has recently posted online this news analysis by Dana Milbank.
Milbank writes, “But on one thing, the two sides agree. The Schiavo dispute will have echoes, first in the effort to end Senate Democratic filibusters of Bush’s appellate court nominees, and then the likely battle over a successor for ailing Chief Justice William Rehnquist.”
“It Is Ended: How the justice system failed Terri Schiavo, and us.” William Anderson has this essay online today at The Weekly Standard.
“Dead Man, No Talking? Can the Supreme Court still rule on Johnnie Cochran’s freedom-of-speech case?” Slate’s explainer offers this response.
“Will the GOP need life support?” Glenn Harlan Reynolds has this interesting essay online at Salon.com.
“U.S. courts impact others”: Parag Khanna and Fuad Rana have this op-ed today in The Miami Herald. The authors’ bio states that Rana is currently clerking for a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“Stay on same-sex ruling to hold a year; Judge’s action will prevent marriages during the appeals”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “The judge who declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional held his final hearing Wednesday and announced a stay that would prevent gay or lesbian couples from marrying during appeals expected to last at least a year.”
And in The Oakland Tribune, Josh Richman reports that “Gay-vows ruling approaches higher court; Judge will stay March 14 decision pending appeal.”
The Associated Press is reporting that Terri Schiavo has died: You can access The AP’s report at this link. And CNN.com reports that “Terri Schiavo has died.”
“Ads urge Hoosiers to lobby for filibusters”: The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana today contains an article that begins, “Commercials on Fort Wayne’s three TV stations began airing Wednesday to urge Hoosiers to lobby Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., to oppose a Republican plan to ban Senate filibusters of judicial nominees.”
“Justices expand age-bias rights; Jackson Police officers’ suit against city rejected, but requirements for older workers to allege discrimination eased”: This article appears today in The Clarion-Ledger.
In The New York Times, Linda Greenhouse reports that “Supreme Court Removes Hurdle to Suits Alleging Age Bias.”
In The Washington Post, Charles Lane reports that “Threshold Eased for Age-Bias Lawsuits; Claims Not Dependent On Employer Intent, Supreme Court Rules.”
In The Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage reports that “Justices Give Older Workers More Leeway in Alleging Bias.”
In USA Today, Joan Biskupic reports that “Justices rule for over-40 workers; Deliberate bias not a condition.”
The Washington Times reports that “High court affirms protections for older workers.”
And The Chicago Tribune reports that “Age-bias landscape shifts; Illinois among states affected by decision.” Also, The Chicago Tribune’s Jan Crawford Greenburg had this audio report (RealPlayer required) about the ruling on yesterday evening’s broadcast of PBS‘s “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”
“Federal Judge Condemns Intervention in Schiavo Case”: The New York Times contains this article today.
The Washington Post reports that “High Court Rejects Request by Schiavo’s Parents; Justices Decline to Hear Case on Reinserting Feeding Tube Hours After Dismissal by Appeals Judge.”
USA Today reports that “Court rejects parents’ potential ‘last resort.’”
The St. Petersburg Times today contains articles headlined “Schiavo judge, church part ways” and “For Schiavo, ‘it’s getting real late’; Jesse Jackson counsels the Schindlers to prepare for their daughter’s death.”
The Tampa Tribune reports that “Judge Assails Schiavo Law.”
The Orlando Sentinel reports that “Schindlers’ last appeal fails in U.S. high court; Schiavo’s parents are turned down again.”
The Miami Herald reports that “Judge rebukes federal Schiavo efforts; A judge scolded President Bush and Congress as an appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected pleas from the parents of a weakening Terri Schiavo.”
The Los Angeles Times today contains an editorial entitled “Et Tu, Florida?”
CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen has an essay entitled “Terri Schiavo & The Constitution.”
And FindLaw columnist Edward Lazarus has an essay entitled “Why Congress’s Intervention Predictably Didn’t Help the Schindlers: Putting Federal Judges In an Unfair Pressure Cooker In the Terri Schiavo Case.”
“Captives tell their side; From a Saudi with 24 siblings to a Libyan who admires Gandhi, the stories of once nameless Guantanamo detainees come alive in lawsuits in U.S. District Court”: This article appears today in The Miami Herald.
“Inmate-transfer rules defended”: Michael McGough of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today has an article that begins, “Ohio’s Attorney General Jim Petro yesterday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse two lower federal courts and uphold his state’s procedures for transferring prisoners to a ‘super-maximum-security’ prison, where they endure long periods of solitary confinement and little opportunity for exercise.”
