On this date in “How Appealing” history: Two years ago today, on April 14, 2003, I had a post titled “Sealed for your protection” reporting on the Fourth Circuit‘s decision that day in the case captioned Under Seal v. Under Seal. I also had a rather amusing post titled “Strange cases call for strange measures” reporting on the Ninth Circuit‘s ruling that day in a case involving Area 51. The decision that I quoted in my post suggests that appellate judges should perhaps not watch History Channel documentaries about subjects closely related to pending cases.
Meanwhile, one year ago today, I had posts reporting that “Sex toys no longer for sale in Mississippi” and that “The Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules of the U.S. Courts approves proposed Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1, which would allow unpublished and non-precedential opinions to be cited to all U.S. Courts of Appeals.”
The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Appeals Court Rules Against Wiccan in Va.“; “Rosa Parks, Rap Duo OutKast Settle Lawsuit“; and “Authorities: Finger Unlikely Nev. Woman’s.”
“Oregon Court Nullifies Gay Marriages”: This segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered.”
This evening’s broadcast of the PBS program “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” had a segment (transcript with link to audio) on today’s ruling from Oregon.
The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Oregon Justices Void Gay Marriage Licenses.”
And The Salem Statesman Journal provides a news update headlined “Oregon Supreme Court denies gay marriage; Basic Rights Oregon to file new lawsuit.”
“Lethal Injections Called Flawed; Inmates May Feel Pain, Study Finds”: This article will appear Friday in The Washington Post.
The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Lethal Injection Executions May Cause Suffering.”
And in related news from Kentucky, The Associated Press reports that “Trial to decide if lethal injection constitutional.”
“Bench Pressed: A pair of high court justices offer advocates advice about the proliferation of amicus briefs.” law.com’s Tony Mauro provides this report.
“Frist Likely to Push for Ban on Filibusters; Failure Risks Conservatives’ Ire; Success May Prompt Legislative Stalemate”: This article will appear Friday in The Washington Post.
And Friday’s edition of The New York Times will report that “Frist Set to Join Religious Effort on Judicial Issue.”
“Harvard Reprimands Law Professor Over Book”: The AP reports here that “Harvard University reproached law professor Laurence H. Tribe for failing to properly credit another author’s work in a book published two decades ago.”
“Appeals court hears Nebraska abortion case”: The Associated Press provides this report.
“What may be behind long nominee battles: In one theory, a stellar resume actually causes delay in Senate confirmation of judicial picks”: Warren Richey will have this article in Friday’s edition of The Christian Science Monitor.
The study in question — “The Judicial Confirmation Process: The Difficulty in Being Smart” — can be accessed at this link.
“Fight over abortion continues; Parental consent: Law passed but mired in court for eight years.” This article appears today in The Anchorage Daily News.
He was suspended from high school for wearing makeup but not for hair style: And now the ACLU is getting involved in what may become a battle over free speech and religious expression. The San Bernardino County Sun yesterday published an article headlined “Boy won’t gloss over suspension” which includes a photo of the student in question.
“Rudolph Admits Bombing ’96 Olympic Park, Clinics; The defiant ex-fugitive cites hatred of abortion, government sanctions; A U.S. plea agreement lets ‘cold, callous’ killer avoid death penalty”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.
The New York Times reports today that “Bomber Offers Guilty Pleas, and Defiance.”
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution today contains articles headlined “Rudolph: ‘I make no apologies’; Bomber defends his war against feds, abortion“; “Olympic attack aimed to shame U.S. government“; and “Victims find closure on own terms.”
And The Birmingham News today contains articles headlined “Abortion drove bomber to kill“; “UAB student, lawyer credited with crucial tip“; and “Rudolph’s demeanor irks victims.”
The statement that Eric Robert Rudolph issued yesterday can be accessed online both here and here.
This headline has potential for humor: The Associated Press is reporting that “France Wants U.S.-Style Class Actions.”
“Law Trumps Life: How the Right went wrong in the Schiavo case.” Reason has today posted online Jonathan Rauch’s essay, originally published in National Journal.
“Study: Inmates suffer during lethal injections; Inadequate anesthesia may cause 4 in 10 to stay conscious.” The Houston Chronicle provides this news update.
Links to the oral argument audiotapes in the three abortion cases argued today before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit: To access the oral argument audio in the federal partial birth abortion case, click here.
To access the oral argument audio in the Missouri partial birth abortion case, click here.
Finally, to access the oral argument audio in the Missouri twenty-four-hour abortion waiting period case, click here.
RealPlayer is required to access the audiotapes online. My earlier preview of these oral arguments can be accessed here.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit rejects establishment clause challenge to a Virginia county’s policy pursuant to which public meetings of the county’s Board of Supervisors include a non-sectarian religious invocation: You can access today’s ruling at this link.
“Bush Nominee Gets Bipartisan Support”: Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Senate’s former top lawyer got bipartisan support Thursday for a seat on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, putting him in line to become the first of President Bush’s second-term appellate nominees to be confirmed.”
If the denial of meals and showers to this prisoner violated the Eighth Amendment, he has no one to blame other than himself: So a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled today. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner‘s opinion observes:
Suppose [the prisoner] announced that he would skip dinner every day unless he were served champagne and caviar at least once a month. He, not the prison, would be the author of his being denied dinner. A prisoner cannot force the prison to change its rules by going on a hunger strike and blaming the prison for his resulting loss of weight. He cannot, in short, be permitted to engineer an Eighth Amendment violation.
You can access the complete three-page ruling at this link.
“Senate Insider Griffith Gets Judiciary Committee OK; Committee advances nominee who practices law without a license”: People For the American Way has issued this news release, which states that D.C. Circuit nominee Thomas B. Griffith today had his nomination favorably recommended by the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 14-4. Because four Democrats on the committee appear to support the nomination, it is quite doubtful that Democrats have the ability to filibuster this nomination. As noted here by The Deseret Morning News, Griffith would fill the D.C. Circuit vacancy that Miguel A. Estrada had previously been nominated to fill.
She’d recognize that finger anywhere: The Associated Press reports that “Woman Thinks Fingertip in Chili Is Hers.”
Photographs of the fingertip or fingertips in question accompany an article headlined “Finger saga shifts to Pahrump; Police check woman who lost digit to leopard’s bite” in today’s edition of The Las Vegas Review-Journal. No word yet concerning whether the leopard thought that the finger tasted like chicken.
In other coverage, The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that “Chili-finger woman drops legal claims, fires lawyer; Police investigating if digit’s DNA same as leopard victim’s.”
The San Jose Mercury News contains an article headlined “New twist in finger fiasco; Woman thinks digit found at Wendy’s is one lost to leopard.”
And The Los Angeles Times reports that “Finger Finder Decides Not to File Suit; The woman said she found a severed digit in fast-food chili in San Jose; A Nevada leopard-attack victim thinks it may be hers.”
BREAKING NEWS — “Oregon Court Tosses Gay Marriage Licenses”: The Associated Press provides this report.
Today’s unanimous ruling by the Supreme Court of Oregon concludes:
In summary, we conclude as follows. First, since the effective date of Measure 36, marriage in Oregon has been limited under the Oregon Constitution to opposite-sex couples. Second, Oregon statutory law in existence before the effective date of Measure 36 also limited, and continues to limit, the right to obtain marriage licenses to opposite-sex couples. Third, marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples in Multnomah County before that date were issued without authority and were void at the time that they were issued, and we therefore need not consider the independent effect, if any, of Measure 36 on those marriage licenses. In short, none of plaintiffs’ claims properly before the court is well taken. Finally, the abstract question whether ORS chapter 106 confers marriage benefits in violation of Article I, section 20, of the Oregon Constitution is not properly before the court.
The judgment of the circuit court is reversed, and the case is remanded to the circuit court with instructions to dismiss the action.
You can access the complete ruling here. And other documents filed in the case can be accessed via this link.
“Parliamentarian would oppose ‘nuclear option'”: The Hill today provides an article that begins, “If Republicans seek to break the Democratic filibuster of judicial nominees, they would have to do so over the objections of the Senate parliamentarian, according to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).”
“President Bush Braces for a Judicial Fight”: Law Professor Jonathan Turley, appearing Tuesday on Fox News, spoke quite favorably about several of President Bush’s more controversial federal appellate court nominees. You can access the transcript at this link.
“Judicial Confirmation Network Launches National Ad Campaign; JCN TV Ad Decries Activist Judges, Calls on Senators to Vote on Qualified Judicial Nominees”: You can access that organization’s press release at this link. The ad itself can be viewed by clicking here.
“The Supreme Court and Foreign Sources of Law: Two Hundred Years of Practice and the Juvenile Death Penalty Decision.” Just posted at SSRN is this article by Law Professor Steven G. Calabresi and law student Stephanie Dotson Zimdahl.
Relatedly, Orin Kerr over at “The Volokh Conspiracy” had a post yesterday titled “Foreign Law and the Culture Wars.”
Forthcoming blog-related speaking appearances: On the evening of Friday, April 29, 2005, I’ll be one of two speakers addressing the Annual Banquet of the Harvard Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies and the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy. The other speaker will either be this guy or this guy. In case of the latter, attendees are advised against bringing pies.
On Saturday, October 29, 2005, I’ll be participating in a panel discussion about legal blogs at the 2005 Conference for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California. But I won’t actually be setting foot within the Eastern District of California; the conference is taking place in Monterey, California.
Sometime in May or June, I’ll be heading down to Washington, DC to participate in the D.C. Circuit clerkship speaker’s series.
And I’m in the midst of determining whether my schedule can accommodate a trip to Houston, Texas in late June or late July to speak to the Houston Bar Association’s Appellate Practice Section. Coincidentally, the Philadelphia Phillies will be visiting Houston during the date in July that’s under consideration.
“DeLay Seeks Congressional Review of Schiavo Case”: Reuters provides this report.
“Rancher’s attorney challenges report”: The Casper Star-Tribune today contains this article, in which Ninth Circuit nominee William Gerry Myers III is mentioned multiple times.
“Tax for strip clubs draws challenge; ACLU says plan unconstitutional”: This article appeared yesterday in The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
As best as I can tell, the strip club tax is separate from the brothel tax also under consideration in Nevada, as reported here and here.
“Oregon Court to Rule on Same-Sex Marriage”: The Associated Press provides this report.
The Salem Statesman Journal reports today that “Oregon Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage.”
And The Oregonian reports today that “Leaders push for civil unions; A bill backed by the governor and senators on both sides comes as Oregon justices prepare to rule on same-sex marriage.”
The Supreme Court of Oregon‘s ruling is expected to be released online today at noon eastern daylight time.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit upholds constitutionality of Tennessee statute that prohibits optical companies from leasing space to optometrists to perform eye exams in retail eyewear stores: Today’s ruling, which rejects challenges asserted under the commerce, equal protection, and due process clauses of the U.S. Constitution, can be accessed at this link.
“House votes to name courthouse for Matsui”: The Sacramento Bee today contains an article that begins, “The House voted without dissent Wednesday to name the federal courthouse in downtown Sacramento in memory of former Rep. Robert Matsui, who died on New Year’s Day.”
“Supreme-Court Transcript Shows Legal Reasoning In Grokster Case”: Internet Week provides this report. You can access the official transcript online at this link.
“‘Choose Life’ tag challenge halted; Federal judges say case is for state courts”: This article appears today in The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.
And The Advocate of Baton Rouge reports today that “La. license plate lawsuit rejected; Court: State can offer ‘Choose life’ tags.”
