How Appealing



Tuesday, November 14, 2006

“The Big Lie of Diversity: Elite audacity and the MCRI.” Peter Kirsanow has this essay today at National Review Online.

Posted at 8:44 PM by Howard Bashman



Tenth Circuit affirms rejection of police officer’s qualified immunity defense in case arising from unauthorized release to the news media of a video depicting the plaintiff allegedly being raped: According to the opinion issued today, the plaintiff alleged that the police officer received from the plaintiff a videotape showing the plaintiff being raped while unconscious, assured the plaintiff that the videotape would remain private, but then allowed a television station to copy portions of the tape that were later broadcast on a news segment.

In earlier coverage of the case, you can access online a report headlined “Video clips of alleged rape are not invasion of privacy; A television station that aired portions of a videotape of an alleged rape did not invade the victim’s privacy, a federal district court ruled.”

Posted at 8:20 PM by Howard Bashman



Second Circuit holds that federal Immigration Reform and Control Act does not preempt New York’s “scaffold law,” which entitles an illegal alien employee to recover for losses suffered on account of an employer’s failure adequately to maintain safe working conditions: You can access today’s lengthy ruling, in a case argued eighteen months ago, at this link.

Posted at 4:55 PM by Howard Bashman



“Jury awards $7 million to justice in libel suit”: The Chicago Tribune provides a news update that begins, “A jury today awarded a sitting Illinois Supreme Court justice $7 million in his defamation case against a small Kane County newspaper. After listening to two weeks of testimony, the jury took less than a day to return a verdict in the libel trial involving Chief Justice Robert Thomas and the Kane County Chronicle.”

The Chicago Sun-Times provides a news update headlined “Ill. High Court chief justice awarded $7 mil. in libel suit.”

The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights, Illinois provides a news update headlined “Jury awards Thomas $7 million in libel suit against Chronicle.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Jury Awards $7M in Illinois Libel Case.”

On Sunday, I collected at this link additional recent coverage of the trial.

You can access the official bio of the prevailing plaintiff at this link, while a video featuring the Chief Justice of Illinois can be launched by clicking here (Windows Media format). The newspaper defendant is The Kane County Chronicle, whose web site you can access here.

Posted at 4:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Says Crack Sentencing Goes Too Far”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A federal judge who served as a top drug policy adviser to the first President Bush and advocated harsher penalties for crack cocaine crimes said Tuesday the policy had gone too far and was undermining faith in the judicial system.”

Posted at 3:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Gay Vets Appeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell'”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “Twelve gay and lesbian veterans appealed a federal judge’s decision to throw out a lawsuit challenging the military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy.”

And the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network yesterday issued a press release titled “Lesbian & Gay Military Veterans Appeal District Court Ruling on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” You can access at this link the Brief for Appellants filed yesterday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Posted at 2:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Cops’ actions bring jury award; Tacoma hit with $138,000 in damages after police violated woman’s rights”: The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington in March 2005 published an article that begins, “Five years ago, three Tacoma police officers broke into Susan Frunz’s home, pointed a gun in her face, ordered her to the floor, asked her who she was, told her to shut up, handcuffed her and searched the house. They didn’t have a warrant. They didn’t arrest her. After more than an hour, they left and didn’t file an incident report. Thursday, a jury in federal court awarded Frunz $138,000 in damages, agreeing that the officers had violated her rights and used excessive force against her Nov. 18, 2000.”

Late yesterday, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision affirming the judgment. Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski wrote the opinion. The final footnote of the opinion orders the appellants and their counsel — several Tacoma, Washington police officers and the Tacoma City Attorney’s Office — to show cause why they should not be sanctioned for having filed a frivolous appeal.

Update: I have amended the final sentence of the original post, above, to reflect that the City of Tacoma and its Police Department were not named as defendants in plaintiff’s amended complaint.

Posted at 1:15 PM by Howard Bashman



Seventh Circuit reinstates prisoner’s Eighth Amendment constituted cruel and unusual punishment claim challenging the conditions in Wisconsin’s Supermax prison’s “behavioral modification program”: Today’s opinion, written by Circuit Judge Terence T. Evans on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel, begins:

Stripped naked in a small prison cell with nothing except a toilet; forced to sleep on a concrete floor or slab; denied any human contact; fed nothing but “nutri-loaf”; and given just a modicum of toilet paper–four squares–only a few times. Although this might sound like a stay at a Soviet gulag in the 1930s, it is, according to the claims in this case, Wisconsin in 2002. Whether these conditions are, as a matter of law, only “uncomfortable, but not unconstitutional” as the State contends, is the issue we consider in this case.

You can access the complete decision at this link.

Posted at 1:10 PM by Howard Bashman



D.C. Circuit rejects challenge to Weldon Amendment — a federal law prohibiting recipients of federal grant funds from discriminating against individuals or entities that refuse to provide or refer for abortions — due to the plaintiff’s lack of standing: You can access today’s ruling at this link.

Posted at 12:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chief Justice Roberts inspires UM students; The chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court shared some behind-the-scenes details with about 3,000 students and guests at the University of Miami”: This article appears today in The Miami Herald.

You can access video from last night’s broadcast of the ABC News program “Nightline” by clicking here.

Posted at 7:45 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Uphold a Death Sentence Twice Overturned”: Linda Greenhouse has this article today in The New York Times.

Today in The Los Angeles Times, David G. Savage reports that “Justices reinstate California killer’s death sentence; The reversal marks the latest clash between the Supreme Court and the more liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.”

And Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that “Justices reinstate man’s death sentence; Judge didn’t stop jury from weighing good behavior, ruling says.”

Posted at 7:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices to weigh school diversity; Cases test whether enrollment policies violate Constitution”: Joan Biskupic has this article today in USA Today.

Posted at 6:48 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Considers Procedural Technicalities That Perpetuate the Gender Wage Gap: Part One in A Series on Ledbetter v. Goodyear.” Joanna Grossman and Deborah Brake have this essay online today at FindLaw.

Posted at 6:45 AM by Howard Bashman