How Appealing



Wednesday, April 4, 2007

In Thursday’s edition of The Christian Science Monitor: Tomorrow’s newspaper will contain articles headlined “White House expected to feel the heat from Supreme Court’s ruling on global warming; The high court rules that the EPA does has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions” and “Firing of US attorneys puts new focus on voter fraud; From 2002 to 2006, the Justice Department has prosecuted some 120 cases and won at least 86 convictions for vote-buying and other election-related crimes.”

Posted at 9:10 PM by Howard Bashman



Second Circuit rejects contention that the federal Justice For All Act of 2004, requiring DNA collection from federal offenders convicted of any felony, violates the Fourth Amendment when applied to individuals convicted of nonviolent crimes who were sentenced only to probation: Circuit Judge Guido Calabresi issued this decision today on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel.

Posted at 2:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Hot Times in the High Court: Ruling could drive climate-change policy for years to come.” Jonathan H. Adler has this essay at National Review Online.

Posted at 2:30 PM by Howard Bashman



Unanimous three-judge Seventh Circuit panel holds that plaintiff taxpayers lack standing to challenge the Boy Scout Jamboree statute, 10 U.S.C. sec. 2554: As the majority opinion explains, the statute at issue “requires the United States military to assist the Boy Scouts of America organization with its Jamboree, a national event held every four years.” The majority opinion further explains that the plaintiffs “sued the Secretary of Defense claiming that the Jamboree statute violates the Establishment Clause because it requires the government to support an organization–BSA–that conditions membership upon a belief in God and thus that excludes believers in religions that are not based on one or more Deities, agnostics, and atheists.”

Today’s ruling reverses, for lack of plaintiffs’ standing to sue, a federal district court decision holding that the Boy Scouts of America is a religious organization and that the direct public subsidy of the Jamborees violated the Establishment Clause. Circuit Judge Diane P. Wood wrote the majority opinion, in which Senior Circuit Judge William J. Bauer joined. Circuit Judge Diane S. Sykes issued a separate concurring opinion.

Posted at 12:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Builder’s PAC aided judge; Justice says help needed for his legal bills even as firm’s appeal neared”: The Dallas Morning News today contains an article that begins, “A political committee funded by homebuilder Bob Perry contributed $16,000 to help Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht pay his legal bills as the court was preparing to hear arguments in a case against the company.”

Posted at 12:00 PM by Howard Bashman



U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit heard oral argument in a death penalty appeal yesterday at the Moritz College of Law of The Ohio State University: A press release that the law school issued, linking to online copies of the appellate briefs, can be accessed here.

You can view an archived webcast of the oral argument by clicking here (RealPlayer required). The three-judge Sixth Circuit panel consisted of Circuit Judges Boyce F. Martin, Jr., R. Guy Cole, and Jeffrey S. Sutton.

Posted at 11:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Women and the Law: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks about women and the law at the Bar Association of New York City, New York; Following her comments, she introduces a panel of women who are chief justices on state Supreme Courts; Panelists include Chief Justices from Wisconsin, Utah, New York State, and Massachusetts.” You can access this past Saturday’s broadcast of C-SPAN’s “America & the Courts” program by clicking here (RealPlayer required).

Posted at 11:35 AM by Howard Bashman



“Ziegler wins court seat; Expensive race ends with decisive victory”: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today contains an article that begins, “Washington County Circuit Judge Annette Ziegler won a seat Tuesday on the state Supreme Court by a wide margin, besting Madison attorney Linda Clifford in the most expensive high-court race in state history.”

The Wisconsin State Journal reports today that “Ziegler wins bitter race; Clifford dominates Dane County.”

And The Capital Times of Madison contains an article headlined “Ziegler: ‘Voters made clear that they reject negative campaigns.’

Posted at 8:27 AM by Howard Bashman



Correction — “Vicious dog” case being argued today in the Supreme Court of Ohio: My earlier post erroneously stated that the oral argument would occur on Monday of this week. In fact, it occurs today and is scheduled to get underway around 10 a.m. eastern time. That earlier post provides a link to a live video feed of the oral argument and also to the court’s online archive of oral argument videos.

Yesterday, The Toledo Blade previewed the oral argument in an article headlined “Pit bull owner takes fight over city dog law to court; Ohio justices to hear challenge of Toledo rule.”

Posted at 8:12 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court: prisons liable for lewd inmates; The high court let stand Monday a ruling that California officials didn’t address sexual harassment.” Warren Richey has this article today in The Christian Science Monitor.

Posted at 8:05 AM by Howard Bashman



“State’s top court to hear Raiders suit against NFL; Team says league sabotaged bid to build L.A. stadium”: Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.

Posted at 8:04 AM by Howard Bashman



“Parents sue to get student reinstated; The senior was suspended for six days and transferred after he mooned a teacher”: This article appears today in The St. Petersburg Times.

Posted at 7:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Fitzgerald’s Cover-Up: It’s time to hold the special prosecutor accountable.” The Wall Street Journal today contains an editorial (free access) that begins, “For a prosecutor who claims to be a truth-seeker, Patrick Fitzgerald sure can be secretive. Even now that the Scooter Libby trial is over and his ‘leak’ investigation is all but closed, the unaccountable special counsel wants to keep his arguments for creating a Constitutional showdown over reporters and their sources under lock and key. Mr. Fitzgerald is fighting release of the affidavits he filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to justify compelling two reporters to testify about their conversations with Mr. Libby, and to throw one of them in jail for 85 days until she did so. Also under court seal are eight pages of a redacted 2005 D.C. Circuit opinion by Judge David Tatel that explained the court’s decision to support Mr. Fitzgerald’s pursuit of the reporters.”

Posted at 7:10 AM by Howard Bashman



Local government employee in Oklahoma who brought his personal computer into work and joined the machine with the office computer network loses Fourth Amendment challenge to conviction for possession for child pornography found on that personal computer: Circuit Judge Michael W. McConnell yesterday issued this decision on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The court’s opinion concludes, “Mr. Barrows voluntarily moved his personal computer into a public space and took no measures to protect its contents from public inspection. Consequently, he did not enjoy a reasonable expectation of privacy and Officer McQuown’s search worked no Fourth Amendment violation.”

Posted at 6:50 AM by Howard Bashman