“Class-action suits get access to files; State’s high court lets lawyers see customer complaints”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “Lawyers who file class-action lawsuits over defective products are entitled to the names of customers who have complained about those products, unless a customer objects to disclosure, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.”
You can access yesterday’s right-to-privacy ruling of the Supreme Court of California at this link.
“Ex-Cheney Aide Contradicts Libby”: Neil A. Lewis has this article today in The New York Times. The newspaper also reports that “Time Comes to a Standstill in a Courtroom Journey.”
The Washington Post reports today that “Ex-Aide Says Cheney Led Rebuttal Effort.” And Dana Milbank’s “Washington Sketch” column is headlined “In Ex-Aide’s Testimony, A Spin Through VP’s PR.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that “Cheney’s key role in leak case detailed; A former aide testifies in Libby’s trial that the vice president directed the effort to discredit a CIA agent’s husband.”
In The New York Sun, Josh Gerstein reports that “Trial Exposes Scramble Over Botched Bush Speech.”
And USA Today reports that “Cheney scripted Libby response, ex-aide says.”
“N.C. is 11th state to halt lethal injections; A judge blocks two executions until procedures are changed”: Henry Weinstein has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.
And The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina today contains articles headlined “Officials must weigh lethal injection; A 1909 law means Easley and the Council of State must decide how executions can happen without a doctor’s help, judge rules” and “Judge rules by the book; Stephens said to be without agenda.”
“Investigation sought into detainee remark”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “The Bar Association of San Francisco said Thursday that it wants state attorney discipline investigators to decide whether a Bush administration official, who is also a California lawyer, violated ethical standards by calling for a business boycott of law firms representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.”
“Handicapped parking space filled by judge; The problem: The placard on the dashboard of his Mercedes was issued to an 86-year-old woman.” The St. Petersburg Times today contains an article that begins, “Each day, administrative law judge Elving L. Torres decides whether people are disabled enough to receive Social Security benefits. Sometimes he puts himself in the shoes of people who appear before him: He parks his luxury import car in the handicapped spaces outside the building where he works. A handicapped parking placard appears on the dashboard of his silver Mercedes-Benz AMG coupe. But it was issued to an 86-year-old woman from Bradenton, according to state motor vehicle records.”
“Death penalty repeal sought; O’Malley backs bills to replace executions with life without parole”: Today’s edition of The Baltimore Sun contains an article that begins, “Gov. Martin O’Malley said yesterday that he would sign a repeal of the death penalty if a bill reaches his desk, weighing in on the contentious issue hours after a coalition of legislators and activists renewed their push to strike Maryland’s execution law from the books.”
And The Washington Post reports today that “O’Malley Voices Support of Bill to End Death Penalty; Though Hurdles Loom, Sponsor Expresses Hope.”
“Dismissal of Lawsuit Against Warrantless Wiretaps Sought”: The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, “A lawsuit challenging the legality of the National Security Agency’s warrantless surveillance program should be thrown out because the government is now conducting the wiretaps under the authority of a secret intelligence court, according to court papers filed by the Justice Department yesterday.”
“Judge Urges U.S. to Drop Plan to Seek Death Penalty in Case”: The New York Times today contains an article that begins, “A federal judge, at the close of the death penalty trial of a convicted drug trafficker with ties to the rap music industry, called the government’s effort to seek his execution ‘absurd’ and a waste of money and urged prosecutors to ask their Justice Department superiors in Washington to abandon the endeavor.”
Today in The New York Sun, Joseph Goldstein reports that “Judge Asks Prosecutors To End Death Penalty Drive.”
The New York Daily News contains an article headlined “Wacky judge: Who needs jury? Makes bizarre statements discounting need for death-penalty phase in trial of notorious thug.” The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled “Bow out, Judge Blockhead.”
And The New York Post contains an article headlined “Judge: I won’t kill ‘Supreme.’”
“Colleges Regroup After Voters Ban Race Preferences”: This article appears today in The New York Times.
“Meet the Clients: Law schools rarely teach students how to be lawyers.” Cameron Stracher has this op-ed today in The Wall Street Journal.
“Ginsburg ‘lonely’ without O’Connor; The remaining female justice fears message sent by court composition”: Joan Biskupic has this front page article today in USA Today, along with an article headlined “High court just a 1-woman show; In contrast with gains elsewhere.”
“McDermott violated House rules with leak, court told”: This article appears today in The Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
“The Controversy over Curtailing Habeas Corpus Rights: Why It Is a Bad Day For The Constitution Whenever Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Testifies.” John W. Dean has this essay online today at FindLaw.
“Secrecy at Issue in Suits Opposing Domestic Spying”: Adam Liptak will have this article Friday in The New York Times.
“Composition and Control of the Supreme Court”: ABC News correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg was interviewed about her new book Tuesday on the public radio program “Fresh Air with Terry Gross.” You can listen to the 25-minute segment by clicking here (RealPlayer required).
And at the blog “First Movers,” Nico Jacobellis writes of the book that “it’s really really, I mean just fascinatingly, good.”
Crook’s conviction on one count of theft of funds by an agent of an organization receiving federal program funds is affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit: You can access today’s non-precedential ruling in United States v. Vicky L. Crook by clicking here.
The opinion explains that the current conviction was obtained after a hung jury at an earlier trial had failed to convict Crook on fifteen counts of theft of public money in violation of a different federal criminal statute, demonstrating that Crook’s guilt was not fait accompli despite her surname.
“Cheney Official Testifies at CIA Leak Trial”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR‘s “All Things Considered.”
“No Exit”: In the February 15, 2007 issue of The New York Review of Books, Joseph Lelyveld will have an essay that begins, “The Bush administration seems never to have put it quite so baldly but in its rush to consolidate its authority after the terrorist attacks of September 11, it came close to asserting the power of the commander in chief to declare anyone in the world, of whatever citizenship or location, ‘an unlawful enemy combatant’ and–solely on the basis of that designation–to detain the person indefinitely without charge, beyond reach of any court.”
“The hair-splitter in chief”: Today in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, columnist Linda P. Campbell has an op-ed that begins, “Justice Robert Jackson famously wrote in 1949 that the Bill of Rights isn’t ‘a suicide pact.’ But loyalty to George W. Bush increasingly seems to be one — at least in the way that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales reads the Constitution.”
“Specter v. Gonzales: Senator Specter still misunderstands habeas corpus.” Adam J. White has this essay online at The Weekly Standard.
And at the blog “Balkinization,” Law Professor Jack M. Balkin has a post titled “Habeas Corpus and the Tyranny Gap.”
“Abortion Doctor’s Killer Convicted Again”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A man already serving time in a state prison for the sniper-shooting death of a doctor was convicted Thursday on a federal charge of targeting and killing the man because he provided abortions.”
“Former Dictator Noriega to Be Released”: This audio segment (RealPlayer required) appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR‘s “Day to Day.”
“Government secrecy, threat to press examined”: The First Amendment Center has today issued a news release that begins, “A new First Amendment Center report examines the rising conflicts between the federal government and the press over matters of secrecy, leaks and threats to prosecute journalists for espionage or treason for reporting classified information.”
You can access the report — “Government Secrecy vs. Freedom of the Press,” by Law Professors Geoffrey R. Stone and Stephen I. Vladeck — by clicking here.
“Court Hears Arguments in McDermott Case”: The Associated Press provides this report on today’s en banc oral argument before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.
“This is a case about fish and other aquatic organisms.” A lengthy opinion that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today begins:
This is a case about fish and other aquatic organisms. Power plants and other industrial operations withdraw billions of gallons of water from the nation’s waterways each day to cool their facilities. The flow of water into these plants traps (or ‘impinges’) large aquatic organisms against grills or screens, which cover the intake structures, and draws (or ‘entrains’) small aquatic organisms into the cooling mechanism; the resulting impingement and entrainment from these operations kill or injure billions of aquatic organisms every year. Petitioners here challenge a rule promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to section 316(b) of the Clean Water Act that is intended to protect fish, shellfish, and other aquatic organisms from being harmed or killed by regulating ‘cooling water intake structures’ at large, existing power-producing facilities.
You can access the complete ruling at this link.
Harper v. Poway to go away? Federal district court dismisses anti-gay T-shirt case: The San Diego Union-Tribune reports today that “Poway schools win T-shirt case; Federal judge turns down student claims.”
And The North County Times reports today that “Poway teens lose T-shirt lawsuit against school district.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California at this link.
Eighth Circuit, in non-precedential ruling, reinstates intervenor status for two pregnancy crisis centers in challenge to a South Dakota’s abortion informed consent law: You can access today’s ruling at this link. The ruling will allow the crisis centers to continue to participate in appellate proceedings in the Eighth Circuit, which earlier this month granted rehearing en banc to reconsider a federal district court’s entry of a preliminary injunction suspending enforcement of the law.
“It is well settled that a panel of the court of appeals may depart from circuit precedent based on an intervening opinion of the Supreme Court that undermines the prior precedent. But what of the situation where an intervening decision of the Supreme Court is filed while a similar case is under submission in the court of appeals, and the Supreme Court’s new pronouncement is unnoticed by the panel?” Eighth Circuit Judge Steven M. Colloton — whose lovely wife was at last night’s book launch party in Washington, DC, bringing back fond memories of last summer’s visit to Brainerd, Minnesota — has today issued an interesting dissenting opinion addressing that question.
Judge Colloton’s dissent notes that “[t]his ‘unusual and delicate situation’ has been addressed in only three reported opinions, and all three circuits have held that a panel of the court of appeals may follow the overlooked decision of the Supreme Court, rather than the prior panel decision that was filed without consideration of the Supreme Court’s intervening opinion.”
“Deciding whether Kopp will ever be free; Jury must determine whether doctor’s killer should spend rest of his life in prison”: This article appears today in The Buffalo News.
“Outrageous Injustice: Genarlow Wilson, honor student and football star, had consensual sex with a fellow teenager; What happened to him next was a crime.” Thanks to the “Sentencing Law and Policy” for the pointer to this lengthy article published in ESPN The Magazine.
My recent earlier coverage appeared here and here.
“AG: No death penalty in abortion cases; He says law doesn’t make doctor violations subject to penal code.” The Dallas Morning News today contains an article that begins, “Doctors who illegally perform abortions either in the third trimester or on a minor without her parent’s permission aren’t subject to the death penalty, Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a legal opinion issued Wednesday.”
Yesterday’s opinion letter from the Attorney General of Texas can be accessed at this link (via “StandDown Texas Project“).
“Judge in confirmation battle intrigues crowd; Retired federal jurist has family ties in Shreveport”: The Shreveport Times today contains this article about a talk that retired Fifth Circuit Judge Charles W. Pickering, Sr. delivered yesterday to the Shreveport Bar Association. The newspaper yesterday also posted online an even more detailed news update reporting on the talk.
“Justice asks Granholm to step in; Weaver seeks investigation of colleagues”: This article appears today in The Detroit Free Press.
And The Detroit News reports today that “Justice asks the state to probe high court conduct.”
Yesterday, in this post, I provided online access to the letter to Michigan’s Governor and legislative leaders.
“Ex-Officials Testify They Informed Libby of the Identity of a C.I.A. Operative”: Neil A. Lewis has this article today in The New York Times. The newspaper also contains an article headlined “At the Libby Trial, Hints of Intrigue and Betrayal.”
The Washington Post reports today that “Ex-CIA Official Testifies About Libby’s Calls; Queries’ Timing Key To CIA Leak Case.”
In The New York Sun, Josh Gerstein reports that “CIA Staffer Says He Warned Cheney, Libby of Leak’s Danger.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that “Libby defense says witnesses also suffered memory lapses.”
And USA Today contains an article headlined “Witness: Libby part of leak plan; Ex-CIA official says administration aimed to blame agency for faulty Iraq info.”
“U.S. law may hinder governor’s health plan; An appeals panel cites federal preemption to void a Maryland statute on employee benefits”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.
