Available online from law.com: Tony Mauro reports that “Supreme Court Ruling for eBay a Major Victory for Big Patent Holders; In concurring opinion, four justices take note of growth of ‘industry’ of small patent holders known as patent trolls.”
Shannon P. Duffy reports that “Wyeth Wins Fen-Phen Appeal as Settlement Talks Continue.”
In other news, “1st Circuit Rejects a Class Action Ban; Court joins 9th Circuit in rejecting class action waivers, but for different reasons.”
And Justin Scheck reports that “Milberg Weiss Weighs Nonprosecution Deal.”
“Gay rights group to appeal court decision”: United Press International provides a report that begins, “A gay rights advocacy group will appeal a U.S. district court ruling that dismissed a lawsuit brought by 14 gay former service members. The U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed on April 14 the lawsuit, Cook v. Rumsfeld, which challenged the military’s ban on homosexuals.”
And the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network today issued a press release entitled “Gay Veterans Announce Appeal of District Court Ruling on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Challenge.”
“State’s highest court in no rush on gay marriage; Some worry politics is holding up a ruling on hot-button issue”: The Associated Press provides this report from Washington State.
“Court: False accusations against police are protected speech.” David Kravets of The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to consider reinstating a California law adopted after the Rodney King beating that made it a crime to knowingly lodge false accusations against police officers.”
“Burden of Proof: Jim McCloskey desperately wanted to save Roger Coleman from the electric chair; Maybe a little too desperately.” This article appeared yesterday in The Washington Post Magazine.
News from Georgetown University Law Center: “Chief Justice Roberts is Georgetown Law Commencement Speaker” and Sasha Volokh will be spending the next two academic years there as a Visiting Assistant Professor.
“eBay earns minor victory at Supreme Court”: Stephen Henderson of Knight Ridder Newspapers provides this report.
The San Jose Mercury News provides an update headlined “Supreme Court sides with eBay; Ruling gives courts more flexibility in handling patent disputes.”
The San Francisco Chronicle provides a news update headlined “High court sides with eBay over patent-case injunctions.”
And The Los Angeles Times provides a news update headlined “Supreme Court Sides With Ebay on Patent Issue.”
The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Court Won’t Rush Appeal on Same-Sex Ad“; “Group Cheers Top Court Ruling in eBay Case“; “High Court Weighs Forced Pollution Control“; and “Ex-Solicitor General to Help Skakel Appeal.”
Don’t look now: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit today issued a decision in which the majority opinion explains that the habeas petitioner is arguing that “the state trial court’s exclusion of his brother and sister during the testimony of two undercover officers, unless they consented to sitting behind a screen, violated his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial.” The Second Circuit today “vacate[s] the district court’s decision because we find that the state court failed to make the requisite particularized findings necessary to justify the exclusion” and remands for a supplemental evidentiary hearing on the issue.
“Prosecutors: Enron defense ‘ridiculous’; In its closing arguments, the government tells jurors that Skilling and Lay stole, cheated and lied to prop up Enron’s stock price.” CNNMoney.com provides this report.
“Boeing Reaches Tentative Settlement”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Boeing Co. has reached a tentative settlement with the government that calls for it to pay $615 million to end a three-year Justice Department investigation into reported defense contracting scandals, a federal official familiar with the details of the agreement said Monday.”
Somewhat relatedly, at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog,” Ashby Jones has a post today titled “Luttig — from Bench to Boss.”
“The Marketplace Report: Enron Trial Set for Jury.” This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Day to Day.”
“Crawford Greenburg to Join ABC News Team; Veteran Print Journalist to Cover Political, Legal and Cultural Issues”: TV Week provides a report that begins, “ABC News has hired print veteran Jan Crawford Greenburg to cover political, legal and cultural issues as a Washington-based correspondent.”
The Sacramento Bee is reporting: Today’s newspaper contains articles headlined “Sides dig in for a battle over privacy” and “Death penalty dilemma: For some legislators, medicine and politics create a quandary.”
“Listen to Nino: Let’s amend the Constitution to include a reasonable right to privacy.” Peter C.D. Mulcahy has this op-ed today in The Harvard Crimson.
The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “High Court Stays Out of Neb. School Case” and “Closing Arguments Under Way in Enron Trial.”
“Right wing goes after 9th Circuit Court”: Columnist Joel Connelly has this op-ed today in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Time to begin part two of the contest to award an advance reading copy of “Anonymous Lawyer: A Novel.” By the way, my wife tremendously enjoyed the book and especially loved its sarcastic humor. She borrowed my copy on Friday night and had finished it by yesterday afternoon. Plus, she usually doesn’t like to read stuff about lawyers, nor had she ever read the “Anonymous Lawyer” blog.
And now on to part two of the contest. The winner of part one was Rory Miller, who submitted the following contest idea:
Keeping with the theme of the blog (and, I’m assuming, the novel), you should hold a contest where readers sumbit their own stories, true or false, of the most egregious and misanthropic behavior of a lawyer they’ve had to work under.
The contest will be judged on the sheer display of soulless hatred for the attorney’s fellow man.
For submitting this winning entry, an advance reading copy of the book is now on its way to Rory. And the final advance reading copy of the book available for me to bestow will be awarded to the “How Appealing” reader who, in my judgment, submits the best entry in response to Rory’s contest idea. Entries will be accepted via email to appellateblog@hotmail.com through 5 p.m. eastern time on Thursday, May 18, 2006, and the winner will be announced sometime soon after the time for submission of entries has expired.
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejects First Amendment challenge to policies governing placement of newspaper vending machines at Iowa highway rest areas: You can access today’s unanimous per curiam ruling at this link.
Today’s U.S. Supreme Court Order List and opinions in argued cases: You can access today’s Order List at this link. In addition to granting review in four cases, the Court also called for the views of the Solicitor General in two cases.
The Court today issued opinions in the following four cases (click on the case name to access the opinion):
1. eBay Inc. v. MercExchange, L.L.C., No. 05-130 (oral argument transcript here);
2. DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno, No. 04-1704 (oral argument transcript here);
3. S.D. Warren Co. v. Maine Bd. of Environmental Protection, No. 04-1527 (oral argument transcript here); and
4. Sereboff v. Mid Atlantic Medical Services, Inc., No. 05-260 (oral argument transcript here).
At “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Court limits patent injunctions, grants 4 cases.”
In early press coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Justices Block Ohio Taxpayers’ Lawsuit“; “Supreme Court Orders New Hearing for EBay“; “Supreme Court to Revisit Old Cases“; “States’ Power to Regulate Rivers Upheld“; and “Supreme Court Rejects Indian Tribe’s Case.” In addition, The AP’s Gina Holland reports that “Supreme Court Will Hear Pollution Case” and “Justices Shy Away From Gay Parent’s Case.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg News reports that “EBay Wins at U.S. Supreme Court on Patent Orders” and “U.S. Supreme Court in DaimlerChrysler Case Revives Tax Credit.”
“Federal judge Roth to give up full-time work; Opening on bench has legal watchers guessing who’ll be tapped”: This article appeared Saturday in The News Journal of Wilmington, Delaware.
“Frothing up the GOP base with some judicial zanies”: Columnist Cragg Hines had this op-ed Saturday in The Houston Chronicle.
“Enron Fraud Trial Moves to Closing Arguments”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Morning Edition.”
“Bosma appeals prayer ruling; He wants ban on religious content to be overturned”: This article appeared Saturday in The Indianapolis Star.
“Cross case brings mountain of hate mail; Mount Soledad attorney no stranger to controversy”: Yesterday’s edition of The San Diego Union-Tribune contained this article.
“Teens’ online postings are new tool for police”: This article appears today in The Boston Globe.
“Exaggerations Plague Debate Over Need for Judicial Inspector General”: The brand new installment of my “On Appeal” column for law.com can be accessed here.
“Privacy? What privacy? Cameras, cards and all sorts of data-gathering techniques can follow almost your every move.” This article appeared yesterday in The Chicago Tribune.
“Should we close Guantanamo?” Yesterday’s edition of The Chicago Tribune contained this editorial.
“A Last Chance to Make a Case; Closing arguments in the Enron trial may use outside issues to undermine credibility”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.
“Republicans Seek to Revive Their Activists; Amid Bush’s Low Ratings, Party’s Midterm Plan Focuses On Court Nominees, Social Issues”: Jeanne Cummings has this article (free access) today in The Wall Street Journal.
“Former Clerks’ Signing Bonuses Rival Salaries on the High Court”: Charles Lane has this article today in The Washington Post.
“Blair Weighs Move to Limit Courts’ Power in Rights Laws”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “Prime Minister Tony Blair says he is contemplating changes in Britain’s human rights laws, limiting the power of courts to challenge the government, after a paroled rapist killed a woman and a judge refused to send several hijackers back to their country.”
“Uighurs in Albania”: Joanne Mariner has this essay online at FindLaw.
“Blawg Review #57”: Available here, at “Lawyerlike.”
