How Appealing



Thursday, July 9, 2009

“To Get to Sotomayor’s Core, Start in New York”: This article will appear Friday in The New York Times, along with articles headlined “Court Nominee Manages Diabetes With Discipline” and “Witness List for Sotomayor Has a Couple of Surprises.”

Friday’s edition of USA Today will contain an article headlined “Hispanics have eye on GOP senators’ Sotomayor vote.”

The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “Some Clinton-Era Sotomayor Materials Withheld From Public.”

Politico.com has a report headlined “New Republican Sonia Sotomayor attack: campaign cash.”

And at “The Caucus” blog of The New York Times, Charlie Savage has posts titled “Hundreds of Pages Withheld on Sotomayor” and “Sotomayor Meted Out Stiff Prison Terms, Report Indicates.”

Posted at 10:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supermax prison: Obama’s books objectionable.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The federal government’s most secure prison has determined that two books written by President Barack Obama contain material ‘potentially detrimental to national security’ and rejected an inmate’s request to read them.”

Posted at 9:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Wiretap foes turn Obama’s words against feds”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update that begins, “An Islamic charity challenging former President George W. Bush’s wiretapping program in a San Francisco federal court cited candidate Barack Obama’s words Thursday in arguing that a president has no power to unilaterally order eavesdropping on Americans.”

And at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog, David Kravets has a post titled “Judge Urged to Declare Bush Spy Program Illegal.”

Posted at 9:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chief Judge of 4th Circuit, Williams, Resigns; Traxler Takes Her Place”: Jennifer Forsyth has this post at WSJ.com’s “Law Blog.” The post begins, “Karen J. Williams, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, has announced her resignation after being diagnosed to be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, according to a letter she sent to colleagues yesterday.”

Posted at 3:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“State can’t cut Medi-Cal fees, court rules”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has a news update that begins, “California acted illegally by trying to cut Medi-Cal fees by 10 percent last year for doctors, pharmacists and others who treat 6.6 million poor people, a federal appeals court ruled today.”

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

Posted at 3:33 PM by Howard Bashman



Seventh Circuit reinstates lawsuit asserting Commerce Clause challenge against Wisconsin’s “diploma privilege,” which allows graduates of Wisconsin law schools to be admitted to practice law in Wisconsin without taking the Wisconsin bar exam: Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner wrote today’s opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel.

The Wisconsin Law Journal has a news update headlined “Diploma privilege back to trial court.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Lawsuit challenging Wis. law schools reinstated.”

Back in April 2009, I had this post about the oral argument of this appeal.

Posted at 2:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ruling requires providing Plan B contraceptive”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “A federal appeals court ordered reinstatement Wednesday of rules requiring pharmacists in Washington state to provide the Plan B ‘morning-after pill’ contraceptive despite individual pharmacists’ religious objections.”

This blog’s earlier coverage of yesterday’s Ninth Circuit ruling appears here and here.

Posted at 9:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Orangeburg judge retires from bench due to illness”: The Times and Democrat of Orangeburg, South Carolina has a news update that begins, “U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge Karen J. Williams of Orangeburg retired from her post Wednesday, citing illness in her decision to step down.”

You can access the Federal Judicial Center’s biography of Chief Judge Karen J. Williams of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.

The Fourth Circuit is authorized to have fifteen active judges. When Chief Judge Williams’s retirement takes effect, the Fourth Circuit will have only ten active judges.

It appears that Judge William B. Traxler, Jr. would be the Fourth Circuit’s next chief judge in accordance with the statutory criteria set forth in 28 U.S.C. sec. 45.

Posted at 6:44 AM by Howard Bashman