How Appealing



Wednesday, March 25, 2009

“Judges for sale”: Today’s edition of The Boston Globe contains an editorial that begins, “How would you like to go into an appeals court if your opponent in the case spent $3 million to help elect one of the judges?”

Posted at 8:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“What Constitutional Rights Should Schoolchildren Have? Two Recent Cases Underscore the Ways in Which Children Are Not Simply Miniature Adults.” Michael C. Dorf has this essay online at FindLaw.

Posted at 8:34 AM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

“Appeals court rehears Wal-Mart sex-bias case”: Josh Richman of The Oakland Tribune has this news update.

law.com reports that “Wal-Mart En Banc Session Packs House.”

And Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial entitled “How Not to Fight Discrimination: The EEOC joins a class-action effort against Wal-Mart.”

You can access the audio of today’s rehearing en banc oral argument before an eleven-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores via this link (9.16MB Windows Media audio file)

Posted at 10:47 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Consider Interplay Between First Amendment and Campaign Finance Laws”: Adam Liptak will have this article Wednesday in The New York Times.

Wednesday in The Washington Post, Robert Barnes will have an article headlined “Justices May Soften Campaign Ad Law; Arguments Over Anti-Clinton Movie Peppered With Free-Speech Issues.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “‘Hillary: The Movie’: Supreme Court hears film’s challenge to campaign finance laws.”

law.com’s Tony Mauro reports that “Supreme Court Appears Divided Over Hillary Clinton Movie in Campaign Finance Case.”

And this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered” contained an audio segment entitled “Court Weighs Anti-Clinton Movie” (RealPlayer required) featuring Nina Totenberg.

Posted at 10:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Keller files response to charges”: At the “Austin Legal” blog of The Austin American-Statesman, Chuck Lindell has a post that begins, “Sharon Keller, presiding judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, this afternoon filed her response to charges that she violated her judicial duty when she refused to accept an after-hours appeal in 2007.”

You can access the response by clicking here.

Posted at 9:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Riverboat Robbery: When does a tax become an illegal ‘taking’?” Today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal contains an editorial that begins, “Illinois politics seems to be everywhere this year — and now it may be headed to the Supreme Court in the form of a lawsuit brought against the state. The case, which has ties to impeached Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, could have an important impact on the definition of a ‘taking’ under the Fifth Amendment — as well as implications for the state’s power of taxation.”

You can access the petition for writ of certiorari at this link.

Posted at 5:50 PM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s U.S. Supreme Court opinion in an argued case: The Court today issued its ruling in Knowles v. Mirzayance, No. 07-1315.

Justice Clarence Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. The Chief Justice and Justices John Paul Stevens, Anthony M. Kennedy, Stephen G. Breyer, and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined in all of Justice Thomas’s opinion. And Justices Antonin Scalia, David H. Souter, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined in all of Justice Thomas’s opinion except for Part II.

You can access the ruling at this link, and you can access the oral argument transcript at this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press has a report headlined “Court: No new trial for Calif. convicted killer.”

Posted at 10:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justices hear case on sex offenders; Housing restriction brings challenges”: The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contains this article today.

Posted at 8:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“Exxon Valdez oil-spill recovery still is work in progress, 20 years later”: This article appears today in The Seattle Times, along with articles headlined “One pod of whales recovers after the Exxon Valdez oil spill, other near extinction” and “Some oil that remains from the Exxon Valdez still as fresh as in ’89.”

MSNBC.com reports that “Oil plagues Sound 20 years after Exxon Valdez; Future risk assessments must look at longer impacts, recovery council says.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Exxon Valdez Ghost Lives On With Spill-Prone Ships.”

And today in The Boston Globe, Christopher Reddy has an op-ed entitled “Let’s not forget Exxon Valdez.”

Posted at 8:27 AM by Howard Bashman



“Same-sex marriage bills gain in N.E.; Vt. Senate passes plan; votes set in N.H., Maine”: This article appears today in The Boston Globe.

Posted at 8:15 AM by Howard Bashman



“Ex-border agents’ bid for appeal fails”: The Houston Chronicle today contains an article that begins, “The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to hear an appeal from two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler and trying to cover it up.”

And last Saturday, The El Paso Times reported that “Ex-agent Ignacio Ramos celebrates freedom, plans future.”

Posted at 8:14 AM by Howard Bashman



“Al-Marri pleads not guilty to terror charges”: This article appears today in The Peoria Journal Star.

The Chicago Tribune reports today that “Peoria man pleads not guilty in terror case.”

In The New York Times, John Schwartz reports that “Accused Qaeda Sleeper Agent in Court.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Former ‘enemy combatant’ pleads not guilty in Ill.

The web site of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois provides access to the docket entries in the case at this link.

Posted at 8:02 AM by Howard Bashman



Monday, March 23, 2009

“Was ‘Hillary: The Movie’ wrongly censored?; The Supreme Court hears a case Tuesday about rules governing campaign advocacy and finance.” Warren Richey will have this article Tuesday in The Christian Science Monitor.

Posted at 11:30 PM by Howard Bashman



In the March 2009 issue of The Georgetown Law Journal: Jamal Greene has an article titled “Selling Originalism.”

Pierre Schlag has a provocative essay titled “Spam Jurisprudence, Air Law, and the Rank Anxiety of Nothing Happening (A Report on the State of the Art).” In the essay’s very first footnote — long before the essay’s footnotes become entirely schizophrenic — Schlag cites to Adam Liptak’s pre-law school, 1985 “About Men” essay published in The New York Times under the headline “Playing Air Guitar.”

And among the several responses to Schlag’s essay is one by Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner titled “The State of Legal Scholarship Today: A Comment on Schlag.”

Posted at 11:15 PM by Howard Bashman



Rulings of note that the Supreme Court of Georgia issued today: Bill Rankin of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a news update headlined “Court revives Atlanta tax suit against online travel firms.” And The Associated Press reports that “Ga. court revives Web hotel price scheme challenge.” You can access the ruling at this link.

Rankin also has a news update headlined “Court tosses out $5M verdict against DeKalb in student death; Family of Emory student had sued after he was killed doing community service.” You can access the ruling at this link.

Posted at 3:44 PM by Howard Bashman



Law professor blogger to marry commenter at aforementioned law professor blog: Congratulations to Ann Althouse! Only time will tell whether this will allow her husband-to-be to be jealous if she’s spending too much time blogging once they are married.

Posted at 3:33 PM by Howard Bashman