“Clemens, Others Implicated in Banned Drug Case”: The Los Angeles Times on Sunday will contain an article that begins, “Roger Clemens, 44, one of professional baseball’s most durable and successful pitchers, is among six players accused by a former teammate of using performance-enhancing drugs, The Times has learned. The names had been blacked out in an affidavit filed in federal court. Others whose identities had been concealed include Clemens’ fellow Houston Astros pitcher, Andy Pettitte, and former American League Most Valuable Player Miguel Tejada of the Baltimore Orioles.”
And in other baseball news, the quest of the Philadelphia Phillies for a wild card playoff spot has ended unsuccessfully for this season.
“Fair and Balanced? A former New York Times ombudsman says Linda Greenhouse’s political comments aren’t necessarily a bad thing.” Newsweek provides this web exclusive report.
“Justices to Hear Abortion, Integration Cases; ‘Partial-Birth’ Procedure and Schools’ Race Policies to Dominate Court’s Agenda”: Charles Lane will have this article Sunday in The Washington Post.
“Campaign Cash Mirrors a High Court’s Rulings”: In Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, Adam Liptak and Janet Roberts will have a lengthy article that begins:
In the fall of 2004, Terrence O’Donnell, an affable judge with the placid good looks of a small-market news anchor, was running hard to keep his seat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He was also considering two important class-action lawsuits that had been argued many months before.
In the weeks before the election, Justice O’Donnell’s campaign accepted thousands of dollars from the political action committees of three companies that were defendants in the suits. Two of the cases dealt with defective cars, and one involved a toxic substance. Weeks after winning his race, Justice O’Donnell joined majorities that handed the three companies significant victories.
Justice O’Donnell’s conduct was unexceptional. In one of the cases, every justice in the 4-to-3 majority had taken money from affiliates of the companies. None of the dissenters had done so, but they had accepted contributions from lawyers for the plaintiffs.
You can also access online two related graphics (here and here);a sidebar written by Liptak headlined “Case Studies: West Virginia and Illinois“; an article explaining “How Information Was Collected“; and a “Response From Ohio Justice Terrence O’Donnell” [PDF document].
Finally, by clicking here, you can watch a short video in which Liptak explains the study and its findings.
“4th Circuit nominees wait again; The fates of Boyle and Haynes remain unclear in Senate”: The Richmond Times-Dispatch today contains an article that begins, “Two of President Bush’s controversial nominations for the Richmond-based appeals court appeared all-but-dead after a Senate panel took no action on them yesterday.”
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reports that “Bush nominates 3 to federal bench in North Carolina.” Interestingly, William L. Osteen, Jr. yesterday was nominated to replace U.S. District Judge William L. Osteen, Sr., who took senior status earlier this year. No word yet on whether William L. Osteen, III exists and, if so, whether we can count on him to someday hold this same federal district court judgeship. (Thanks to “Confirm Them” for the pointer.)
“Officials Plan to Move Quickly for Terrorism Trials in Spring”: Neil A. Lewis has this article today in The New York Times.
And The Los Angeles Times today contains articles headlined “Tribunal Bill Sets Up an Ironic Legal Limbo; Detainees deemed less of a threat might go untried yet be unable to challenge detention” and “Detainee Bill Boosts the GOP; Its passage on President Bush’s terms renews public focus on an issue that has been a political winner for Republicans since 9/11.”
“Legislating Violations of the Constitution”: Online today at washingtonpost.com, Law Professor Erwin Chemerinsky has an essay that begins, “With little public attention or even notice, the House of Representatives has passed a bill that undermines enforcement of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.”
“Expert: Man executed may have been awake.” Claire Cooper, legal affairs writer for The Sacramento Bee, today has this article in that newspaper.
Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko reports that “Prisoner possibly conscious at death; Testimony done; ruling possible in November.”
In The Los Angeles Times, Henry Weinstein and Maura Dolan report that “Judge Concludes Hearings on Lethal Injection.” Also, Colin Dayan has an op-ed entitled “‘Cruel and Unusual’ Execution Debate; How the 8th Amendment became germane to death penalty law.”
And in The San Jose Mercury News, Howard Mintz has an article headlined “One court’s ruling; many lives at stake.”
“A federal appeals court has ordered a new hearing to be held in the contempt case against Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds’ weight trainer, who was jailed for a second time last month for refusing to answer questions about the baseball slugger.” So begins an article published today in The San Francisco Chronicle My earlier coverage appears here.
“Pagans Sue on Emblem for Graves”: This article appears today in The New York Times.
“Gay couple from R.I. wins Mass. ruling; Superior Court judge says longtime partners can marry”: The Boston Globe contains this article today.
The Providence Journal reports today that “Mass. judge says R.I. law doesn’t ban gay marriage; While the ruling paves the way for same-sex couples in Rhode Island to marry in Massachusetts, Attorney General Lynch says it doesn’t allow for gay marriage in the Ocean State.”
The New York Times reports that “Rhode Island Couple Wins Same-Sex Marriage Case.”
And The Washington Times reports that “Judge rules R.I. gays can ‘marry.’”
You can access yesterday’s ruling at this link.
“Memo Fueled Deep Rift in Administration on Detainees”: This article will appear Sunday in The New York Times.
The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Supreme Court Faces Same Divisive Issues” and “Ohio Documents Hours Before Execution.”
“U.S. terrorism trials face court challenges”: James Vicini of Reuters provides this report.
“What Supreme Court? Many Americans lack basic Supreme Court knowledge.” USNews.com provides this report.
The Virginia Law Weekly is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “SCOTUS Blogger Discusses Supreme Court Practice” and “Leo, Klarman Debate Supreme Court Nominations of Roberts and Alito.”
In addition, the blog “TJ’s Double Play” offers this post comparing and contrasting the two events.
“Professor discusses abortion; He explains upcoming cases on procedure to UR law students”: The Richmond Times-Dispatch contains this article today. The professor in question is Erwin Chemerinsky.
“Roberts Addresses Judicial Freedom; Political, Judicial Figures Headline Law Center Conference on Courts”: This article appeared yesterday in The Georgetown Hoya. My earlier post linking to video from the conference can be accessed here.
Bill Mears of CNN’s Washington Bureau is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Justice Kennedy works on his swing” and “Supreme Court journal: Getting up close and personal.”
“The U.S. Supreme Court so far has filled half of its 2006-2007 docket with business cases, cutting a wide swath across important legal issues for the corporate world.” So begins this report from MarketWatch.
Available online from law.com: Tony Mauro reports that “Roberts, Gonzales Speak on Judicial Independence.”
And the brand new installment of my “On Appeal” column is headlined “How Many Issues Should You Raise on Appeal? Beware the trap of raising too many issues.”
“Detainee Bill Shifts Power to President”: Scott Shane and Adam Liptak will have this news analysis Saturday in The New York Times.
McClatchy Newspapers are reporting: Stephen Henderson has an article headlined “Abortion, race, environment on Supreme Court’s agenda.”
And an article reports that “Detainee law may not provide total immunity for CIA interrogators.”
Available online from Georgetown University Law Center: A news release headlined “Fair and Independent Courts: A Conference on the State of the Judiciary” begins, “On September 28, Georgetown University Law Center welcomed retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, six sitting Supreme Court justices, and hundreds of other nationally recognized leaders in law, government, business, journalism, academia and the nonprofit sector when it hosted and co-sponsored a unique two-day conference that addressed the independence of the nation’s courts.”
You can access the conference program, with links to video of various presentations, at this link.
And on Monday of this week, Georgetown Law hosted a program entitled “Georgetown Law Supreme Court Institute Annual Press Briefing” (providing links to video and audio of the briefing).
“Military Trials to Affect Few Detainees”: The Associated Press provides this report.
On this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered“: The broadcast contained audio segments entitled “Congress Gives Final OK to Detainee Bill“; “Bill Lets U.S. Citizens Be Held as Enemy Combatants“; and “Mass. Judge: Out-of-State Gay Couple Can Marry” (RealPlayer required).
“The Supreme Court in Bondage: Constitutional Stare Decisis, Legal Formalism, and the Future of Unenumerated Rights.” Law Professor Lawrence B. Solum has this essay (abstract with link for download) online at SSRN.
In contempt of court appeal brought by personal trainer for Barry Bonds, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit concludes that the factual findings and record are in one respect not adequate for appellate review: You can access yesterday’s non-precedential ruling at this link. The Ninth Circuit has remanded the case to the federal district court for additional proceedings to be conducted within one week of yesterday. Yesterday’s ruling also rejected five other claims that the personal trainer was making on appeal.
In related coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court Grants Feds’ Request in Bonds Case.”
The opening brief for appellant can be accessed at this link. Yesterday’s ruling allowed the federal government to file its Brief for Appellee under seal.
The PFAW report’s “evaluation of judges in light of their supposedly least hospitable decisions strikes me (even as an employee advocate) as reaching for a predestined conclusion. In the interest of balance, let us give some of the same judges credit for their more progressive employment decisions during the same time period studied.” At his “Daily Developments in EEO Law” blog, Paul Mollica today has a post responding to the People For the American Way report that I linked to here earlier today.
“Scalia Begins Third Decade on Court”: The Associated Press provides this report.
“Accessories to Torture”: This editorial will appear in the October 16, 2006 issue of The Nation.
“Michigan judicial nominees clear U.S. Senate committee”: The AP provides this report.
The Associated Press is reporting: Now available online are articles headlined “Gonzales Cautions Judges on Interfering” and “Mass. Judge OKs Marriage for R.I. Gays.”
“Keep 9th Circuit intact”: This editorial appeared yesterday in The Register-Guard of Eugene, Oregon.
An appellate ruling that Tom Sawyer would surely admire: Today, the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has ruled, in an opinion you can access here, that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires the City of Aberdeen, South Dakota to pay overtime wages to firefighters who are scheduled to work more hours than the FLSA permits an employee to work without receiving overtime pay and who succeed in persuading other employees to work those overtime shifts on their behalf.
In other words, if Firefighter A is scheduled to work overtime, but persuades Firefighter B to work those extra hours instead, Firefighter A under today’s ruling is nevertheless entitled to recover overtime pay from the City of Aberdeen. Today’s opinion explains that “When a substitution occurs, the employer pays the scheduled employee and not the substitute; the amount that the substitute receives is fixed by private agreement between the two employees.”
Senior Circuit Judge C. Arlen Beam dissents from what he views as an improper whitewashing of the FLSA’s plain language.
