“Seale arguments set for May; Panel says conviction fell under five-year statute of limitations for kidnapping”: The Associated Press provides this report.

The article mentions Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith‘s dissent from the order granting rehearing en banc, which I discussed last night in a post you can access here.

“Democratic Agenda vs. Conservative Courts”: Harper Jean Tobin has this recent entry at “The Huffington Post.”

“Clarity, simplicity, and brevity are underrated qualities in legal advocacy.” Heading into the Thanksgiving holiday, Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner today issued an opinion containing some advice for lawyers, observing that “Although the dual federal-state regulatory scheme for the telecommunications industry is complex and even arcane, the parties did not have to assault us with 206 pages of briefs, brimming with jargon and technical detail, in order to be able to present the issues on appeal adequately.”

“Jury delivers mixed verdict in MySpace bullying trial; Lori Drew of Missouri is convicted of misdemeanor charges, but the L.A. jury deadlocks on felony conspiracy count; Drew had a fake relationship online with Megan Meier, 13, who committed suicide”: Scott Glover of The Los Angeles Times has this news update.

How has the Great Depression of 2008 affected the market for U.S. Supreme Court Justice bobblehead dolls from The Green Bag? Now up for auction at eBay are a Justice Anthony M. Kennedy bobblehead doll (net proceeds from the sale of the AMK bobblehead, I’m told, to be donated to the Combined Federal Campaign) and a Justice Louis D. Brandeis bobblehead doll (more Brandeis bobblehead auction details at this link). As of this moment, neither bobblehead has attracted any bids.

Access online the judicial misconduct complaint that L. Ralph Mecham, former head of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, has filed against Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski: As I first noted in this post last night, Cynthia Cotts of Bloomberg News yesterday had an article headlined “Retired U.S. Court Executive Files Kozinski Complaint.”

The Bloomberg article reports that Mecham supplied a copy of his misconduct complaint to Bloomberg. Mecham filed his complaint with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which has been assigned to handle certain judicial misconduct complaints against Chief Judge Kozinski.

The cover page of Mecham’s complaint identifies the judges against whom his Complaint of Judicial Misconduct applies as “Chief Judge Alex Kozinski principally but also Judge Mary M. Schroeder and Judge Sidney R. Thomas.” Mecham has signed the misconduct complaint under a declaration stating, “I declare under penalty of perjury that the statements made in this complaint are true and correct to the best of my knowledge.” The complaint is dated November 21, 2008.

I have posted online Mecham’s judicial misconduct complaint, minus exhibits and cover pages, at this link. Rulings on judicial misconduct complaints must be made available to the public, but proceedings on judicial misconduct complaints are usually conducted in a private and confidential manner, although the subject of a judicial misconduct proceeding has the ability to waive confidentiality. And, as is now obvious, the person filing a judicial misconduct complaint has the ability to publicize the initiation of the proceeding and the allegations at issue. You can access the “Rules for Judicial-Conduct and Judicial-Disability Proceedings” at this link.

“Jury convicts mom of lesser charges in online hoax”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “A jury on Wednesday was unable to reach a verdict on the main conspiracy charge and instead convicted a Missouri woman of three minor offenses for her role in an Internet hoax that apparently drove a 13-year-old girl to suicide.”

At “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Orin Kerr has posts titled “What Does the Lori Drew Verdict Mean?” and “Lori Drew Jury Reaches a Verdict.”

“Searching Steven Hatfill”: Michael Doyle of McClatchy’s Washington Bureau has this post today at his new “Suits & Sentences” blog.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has made available via this link the unsealed search warrant-related documents.

On an interlocutory appeal by permission, the Sixth Circuit affirms a federal district court’s refusal to dismiss claims alleging that Ohio’s voting system violates voters’ rights to equal protection of the law and substantive due process: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

“Court says lukewarm food hot enough for prison”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “State prison rules say inmates are entitled to two hot meals a day – but it’s up to prison officials to decide how hot is hot enough, a state appeals court ruled Tuesday.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the California Court of Appeal for the First Appellate District, Division One, at this link.

“U.S. Muslims Taken Aback by a Charity’s Conviction”: The New York Times contains this article today.

“Florida ban on gay adoptions ruled unconstitutional; A gay North Miami man is allowed to adopt the two foster children he has raised since 2004 after a juvenile court judge declared a state ban unconstitutional”: This article appears today in The Miami Herald.

And The New York Times reports today that “Florida Gay Adoption Ban Is Ruled Unconstitutional.”

You can access yesterday’s trial court ruling at this link.

“Freed Guantanamo prisoner arrives home in Yemen; Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver and bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, will serve the remaining month of his sentence in his homeland”: Carol J. Williams has this article today in The Los Angeles Times.

And today in The Miami Herald, Carol Rosenberg reports that “Bin Laden’s driver will finish jail time in Yemen; The Pentagon has sent Osama bin Laden’s driver from Guantanamo to his native Yemen to serve out his prison sentence, three months after a military jury convicted him of war crimes.”

“State Supreme Court: Sentence for sex offenders overruled; Life in prison breaks Eighth Amendment.” Bill Rankin has this article today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Georgia at this link.

“Nichols’ delusion danger debated; Prosecutor prods psychiatrist about whether killer still a threat”: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contains this article today.

“Gay rights leaders plan $1-million war chest to defend judges who back same-sex marriage; At a ‘virtual’ town hall meeting, they also discuss putting a new gay-marriage question before voters, perhaps as soon as 2010”: This article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.

“Journal asks high court to make Station jury questionnaires public”: The Providence (R.I.) Journal today contains an article that begins, “Two years after 421 prospective jurors filled out questionnaires eliciting their opinions about the tragic Station nightclub fire that claimed 100 lives, The Providence Journal’s fight to open those records is bound for the Rhode Island Supreme Court.”

“New Details on F.B.I.’s False Start in Anthrax Case”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Washington Post reports today that “In Anthrax Probe, Focus on Hatfill Relied on Informants.”

And The Los Angeles Times reports that “FBI’s early anthrax hunches revealed in documents; The unsealed papers show how the FBI came to think Steven J. Hatfill was responsible for the deadly 2001 anthrax mailings.”

“US judge rejects call for recusal”: Today in The Boston Globe, Jonathan Saltzman has an article that begins, “A federal district court judge yesterday refused to disqualify herself from the case of a man suing the Boston Police Department for a wrongful conviction in three rapes though the city said remarks she made from the bench betrayed a ‘deep-seated favoritism and antagonism.'”

“ER doc/wife of Gibbs & Bruns associate tends to fallen U.S. attorney general”: Yesterday at Texas Lawyer’s “Tex Parte Blog,” Brenda Sapino Jeffreys had a post that begins, “Dr. Lisa Cooper, an emergency room doctor in Houston who is married to Gibbs & Bruns associate Matthew Cooper, got a chance to use her skills on U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey when he collapsed on Nov. 20 while giving a speech in Washington, D.C.”

Readers of “How Appealing” learned of Dr. Cooper’s treatment of Attorney General Mukasey via this post on the morning of November 21, 2008.

“State justice confirms he yelled ‘Tyrant!’ at Mukasey before AG collapsed; Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders says that he yelled ‘Tyrant!’ at U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey during a Federalist Society speech in which Mukasey later collapsed at the podium”: This article appears today in The Seattle Times. The newspaper has posted online at this link a PDF copy of Justice Sanders’ statement.

The Olympian of Olympia, Washington has a news update headlined “Justice acknowledges yelling ‘tyrant’ at U.S. attorney general.”

And The Associated Press has a report headlined “Who yelled ‘tyrant’ at AG Mukasey? A judge.”

Access online a rare dissent from a federal appellate court’s decision to grant rehearing en banc: Dissents from the denial of rehearing en banc issue from time to time, but Fifth Circuit Judge Jerry E. Smith‘s dissent from the grant of rehearing en banc in United States v. Seale is the first such dissent of that type I can ever recall having seen.

In addition to dissenting from the grant of rehearing en banc, Judge Smith also disagrees with the Fifth Circuit’s decision not to hear en banc argument until May 2009.

My earlier coverage of the Fifth Circuit’s decision to grant rehearing en banc in this case can be accessed here and here. Judge Smith’s dissent apparently did not issue simultaneously with the order granting rehearing en banc.

“Sanders lays out his version of events”: Adam Wilson, a reporter with The Olympian newspaper of Olympia, Washington, has a blog post this evening reprinting a statement issued late today by Justice Richard B. Sanders of the Washington State Supreme Court.

Justice Sanders says in his written statement that during Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey’s address to the Federalist Society last Thursday night, “I felt compelled to speak out. I stood up, and said, ‘tyrant,’ and then left the meeting.”

It’s good to see that Wilson was able to correct in fairly short order the serious misimpression left by his article in today’s print edition of The Olympian headlined “State justice says he wasn’t at Mukasey’s speech.”

In other coverage, The Seattle Times provides a news update headlined “State justice confirms he yelled ‘Tyrant!’ at Mukasey before AG collapsed.”

“Retired U.S. Court Executive Files Kozinski Complaint”: Cynthia Cotts of Bloomberg News has an article that begins, “A retired federal court executive alleged Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco, broke into a judicial computer security system to restore access to pornographic Web sites, according to a filed complaint.”

The article continues, “Ralph Mecham, who headed the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts in Washington for 21 years until retiring in 2006, made the allegations in a complaint yesterday to the U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.” Cotts reports that “Mecham supplied a copy of his complaint to Bloomberg.”

Additional details on the apparently longstanding feud between Mecham and Kozinski can be accessed via a “How Appealing” post from June 16, 2008.

Even more Bashman news from Australia: Northern Territory News reports that “Gang of 12 youths bash man.” The most recent previous installment of this occasional feature can be accessed here.

“Documents released in Hatfill anthrax case”: Lara Jakes Jordan of The Associated Press has this report.

“The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times” covers developments relating to the murder of lawyer Robert Wone: Today the blog features posts titled “Wone Family Files $20 Million Wrongful Death Suit“; “Defense Lawyer Chides Prosecution Tactics in Wone Investigation“: and “Ward Ordered Released.”

“Court grants two cases”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”

You can access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court at this link.

“Who Was the Fed Soc Heckler?” Orin Kerr has this post this afternoon at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

“Ohio high court to decide congressional votes”: The Associated Press provides a report that begins, “The Ohio Supreme Court will have the final say on how thousands of outstanding provisional votes are counted for a tight congressional race. The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that the state high court rather than federal court is the proper forum to decide the question.”

And The Columbus Dispatch has a news update headlined “Provisional ballot case sent back to Ohio Supreme Court.”

You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit at this link.

“Who heckled Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Pt. II”: Michelle Malkin has this post today at her blog.

“Florida ban on gay adoptions ruled unconstitutional”: The Miami Herald provides a news update that begins, “A Miami-Dade circuit judge Tuesday declared Florida’s 30-year-old ban on gay adoption unconstitutional, allowing a North Miami man to adopt two foster kids he has raised since 2004.” The newspaper has posted online a copy of today’s ruling at this link.

And The Associated Press reports that “Miami judge rules against Florida gay adoption ban.”

“Osama bin Laden’s driver headed home to Yemen; The Pentagon has sent Osama bin Laden’s driver from Guantanamo to his native Yemen to finish his prison sentence, three months after a military jury convicted him of war crimes”: Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald has this news update.

“‘Heckler’ Judge at Mukasey Dinner Speaks to the Law Blog”: Amir Efrati has this post today at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog.”

Since I linked earlier this morning to an article headlined “State justice says he wasn’t at Mukasey’s speech” published today in The Olympian, several “How Appealing” readers have emailed me to reiterate their belief, based on having attended the speech, that the heckler was indeed Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Sanders.

The Olympian article contains, in quotations attributed to Justice Sanders, no direct refutation of the charge that he was the heckler. And contrary to the text and headline of The Olympian article, Justice Sanders in his interview with WSJ.com’s “Law Blog” admits to having attended Mukasey’s Federalist Society speech and to having departed in the midst of that speech. Witnesses to the event have described that the heckler left the speech after having made the “tyrant” remark to Mukasey.

“Holy Land Foundation defendants guilty on all counts”: This article appears today in The Dallas Morning News, along with articles headlined “Holy Land investigation dates back to 1993” and “Holy Land supporters accuse government of preying on fear.”

The New York Times reports today that “Five Convicted in Terrorism Financing Trial.”

The Washington Post reports that “Muslim Charity’s Ex-Leaders Convicted; Justice Nets 2 Wins As Embassy Blast Verdicts Endure.”

The Los Angeles Times reports that “Holy Land charity and leaders found guilty on all 108 counts; After a mistrial last year, Texas jurors agree with government accusations that the foundation was funneling money to Hamas, designated a terrorist group.”

And USA Today reports that “Charity leaders convicted of aiding Hamas; Five guilty of tax fraud, money laundering, supporting terrorist group with $12 million.”