How Appealing



Wednesday, June 17, 2009

“Voting rights verdict: Whatever the Supreme Court decides about the Voting Rights Act, Section 5 of the law is outdated.” Abigail Thernstrom has this op-ed today in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 11:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Report on Bush Policy May Come In ‘Weeks’; Probe Is Focused On Interrogation Program’s Approval”: Thursday’s edition of The Washington Post will contain an article that begins, “A Justice Department report focusing on possible ethics violations by Bush administration lawyers who approved waterboarding of terrorism suspects is still ‘a matter of weeks’ from release, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told lawmakers yesterday.”

Posted at 9:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Vets can’t get damages for computer breach”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Two Vietnam veterans are not entitled to damages from a 2007 Department of Veterans Affairs computer security breach in Birmingham, Ala., an appeals court panel ruled Wednesday.”

Circuit Judge Ed Carnes wrote today’s opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The opinion begins, “Someone pulled off the trick of making an object disappear from a safe in a darkened office building over a cold and rainy weekend. Unfortunately, the magician never completed the trick by making it reappear. The missing object is hardly a stage prop. It is an external computer hard drive belonging to the Department of Veterans Affairs, which contained the unencrypted names, social security numbers, birth dates, and healthcare files of more than 198,000 living veterans.”

Posted at 8:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Merrill Lynch execs in Enron case can be retried”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court says the retrial of three former Merrill Lynch & Co. executives connected to an Enron Corp. deal would not violate their constitutional protections against double jeopardy.” According to the article, the case involves “Enron’s sham sale of three power barges moored off the coast of Nigeria.”

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

Posted at 8:27 PM by Howard Bashman



Second Circuit denies rehearing en banc of ruling that affirmed a federal death sentence imposed by a jury in Vermont, a State that lacks a death penalty: Today’s order denying rehearing en banc was accompanied by a concurring opinion and three separate dissenting opinions.

Circuit Judge and U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor — who seems to have suspended her activities as a Second Circuit judge pending the U.S. Senate‘s consideration of her nomination — has not placed on the public record in connection with today’s order how she voted.

Lastly, the dissenting opinion of Circuit Judge Rosemary S. Pooler reveals that she seems not to have received the memo announcing that the Second Circuit has finally abandoned “in banc” in favor of “en banc.”

Posted at 8:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justices Drop Case on Third Restatement”: The Legal Intelligencer has a news update (subscription required) that begins, “The state Supreme Court has declined to decide a case that seemed poised to be a vehicle for the justices to examine — and possibly reshape — Pennsylvania’s products liability law. The move, which came in a one-line order today, puts an end to the speculation that the court would use Bugosh v. I.U. North America to introduce concepts of negligence into the strict liability doctrine currently employed by Pennsylvania’s court system.”

You can access yesterday’s order of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania dismissing the appeal as improvidently granted at this link. Two judges dissented from the dismissal, and you can access their quite lengthy dissent from the dismissal at this link.

Posted at 5:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“State Supreme Court issues rule for veils in courtroom”: The Detroit News has this update.

The Detroit Free Press has a news update headlined “State court: Judges can dictate witnesses’ attire.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Mich. court gives judges say in witnesses’ dress.”

Because I find the web site of the Supreme Court of Michigan especially difficult to navigate when it comes to locating newly issued decisions and opinions, I am not yet able to link to the new rule or the dissents from its promulgation. If a reader has located the correct links and can email them along, I’d be grateful.

Update: The proposed rule amendment adopted today can be viewed by clicking here.

Posted at 1:32 PM by Howard Bashman



Giving credit where credit is due: Credit for today’s late start at blogging belongs in part to my son, whose middle school graduation ceremony occurred this morning. At the ceremony, he was recognized as one of only twelve students in his 8th grade class of over 350 students who received an “A” grade in every course for every quarter of all three years of middle school.

Posted at 1:25 PM by Howard Bashman