How Appealing



Wednesday, February 10, 2010

“Lawyers petition court to hold Yoo accountable”: Today in The San Francisco Chronicle, Bob Egelko has an article that begins, “As reports circulate that the Justice Department has softened its criticism of attorney John Yoo for memos approving the Bush administration’s treatment of terrorism suspects, several prominent lawyers are urging a federal appeals court in San Francisco to hold Yoo accountable.”

Posted at 9:20 AM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, February 9, 2010

“Former boy soldier, youngest Guantanamo detainee, heads toward military tribunal”: Wednesday’s edition of The Washington Post will contain an article that begins, “Omar Khadr, the youngest detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was 15 when he allegedly threw a grenade that killed a U.S. Special Forces medic in Afghanistan. Now, more than seven years later, Khadr is drawing the Obama administration into a fierce debate over the propriety of putting a child soldier on trial.”

Posted at 11:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice O’Connor speaks at Wayne State event”: The Detroit Free Press has a news update that begins, “Former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor this afternoon reiterated her call for choosing judges on a merit-based system.”

Posted at 10:47 PM by Howard Bashman



“Corporate free-speech ruling speaks of shift in Supreme Court; All five justices who made up the majority in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision were appointed by President Reagan or worked as lawyers in his administration”: David G. Savage will have this article Wednesday in The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 8:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“S.F.’s broad jail strip-search policy ruled OK”: Bob Egelko of The San Francisco Chronicle has this news update.

And Carol J. Williams of The Los Angeles Times has a news update headlined “Court rules strip searches of inmates constitutional; The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says searches are needed to prevent the smuggling of contraband into detention centers; The decision replaces a smaller panel’s more critical ruling in 2008.”

My earlier coverage of today’s en banc Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

The original three-judge panel’s ruling in the case, from August 2008, can be accessed here.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Senate finally approves judge”: The Record of Bergen County, New Jersey has a news update that begins, “The U.S. Senate unanimously approved a Newark federal judge’s promotion to the nation’s second-highest court Tuesday, five months after the Judiciary Committee decided unanimously to support his nomination. With the 84-0 vote, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph A. Greenaway will fill the seat on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that was vacated when Samuel Alito was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006.”

You can access the U.S. Senate‘s official roll call vote tally by clicking here.

Posted at 5:17 PM by Howard Bashman



“[W]e conclude that San Francisco’s policy requiring strip searches of all arrestees classified for custodial housing in the general population was facially reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, notwithstanding the lack of individualized reasonable suspicion as to the individuals searched.” So holds an eleven-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, by a vote of 6-5.* You can access today’s ruling at this link. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski‘s concurring opinion and the dissenting opinion are also both worth a read.

Update: Bay City News reports that “Fed Court Approves SF Jail Strip Searches.”

*As law professor Eugene Volokh notes in this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” the en banc panel’s vote on the constitutionality of the policy was 6-5. Believing that the defendants were entitled to qualified immunity, one of the five dissenters on the constitutionality of the policy ended up voting with the majority in support of the en banc court’s judgment, making the final vote in support of the judgment 7-4.

Posted at 2:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge gets sarcastic over records rule criticism”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “The chief justice of the Wyoming Supreme Court on Monday dished out a sarcastic response to criticism in newspaper editorials of a proposal to redact information from public court records.”

Posted at 8:00 AM by Howard Bashman



“Case of missing innards unprecedented in state court”: Today’s edition of The Las Vegas Sun contains an article that begins, “The curious case of a young Englishman’s missing organs is forcing the Nevada Supreme Court to take its first stand on the mishandling of human remains.”

According to the article, the case is before Nevada’s highest state court on certified question from the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.

Posted at 7:58 AM by Howard Bashman



“UK Jews weigh fight after court ruling on ‘Who is a Jew'”: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has this report, via The Jerusalem Post.

Posted at 7:54 AM by Howard Bashman



“UCD gender suit sent back for jury trial”: In today’s edition of The Sacramento Bee, Denny Walsh has an article that begins, “The elimination of women’s wrestling in 2000 at UC Davis is symptomatic of the university’s overall poor performance in providing equal opportunities for women in varsity sports, a federal appellate court ruled Monday.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link.

Posted at 7:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“In interview, Scott Roeder speaks of lacking sympathy”: Today’s edition of The Kansas City Star contains an article that begins, “As he awaits sentencing for first-degree murder, Scott Roeder said in an interview released Monday that he has little sympathy for Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller’s family.”

Posted at 7:46 AM by Howard Bashman



Monday, February 8, 2010

“Appeals court: Women wrestlers can sue UC Davis.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “An appeals court said Monday it appears that the University of California, Davis violated federal law meant to promote gender equity in college athletics when it eliminated its women’s wrestling program.”

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

Posted at 8:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Georgetown Law’s Lazarus Named to New Professorship”: Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”

Posted at 5:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Mediocre Criminal, but an Unmatched Jailhouse Lawyer”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 2:17 PM by Howard Bashman



“No Talking, No Texting, No Tweeting”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Marcia Coyle has a post that begins, “A committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States has endorsed a set of model jury instructions for district judges to help deter jurors from using cell phones, computers or other electronic technologies during their jury service.”

Posted at 12:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“We cannot envision, after Raich, a circumstance under which an as-applied Commerce Clause challenge to a charge of child-pornography possession or production would be successful.” So holds a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in a ruling issued today. The ruling rejects a criminal defendant’s argument that “his wholly intrastate, homemade child pornography falls outside the purview of congressional legislative power.”

Posted at 10:57 AM by Howard Bashman



“Hear Clarence Thomas Speech and Q&A at Stetson Law School”: I previously linked here to the archived video of Justice Clarence Thomas’s remarks last Thursday at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Now, via Jess Bravin’s Twitter feed, I see that you can access the audio of Justice Thomas’s remarks last Tuesday at the Stetson University College of Law via this link (88.7MB mp3 audio file).

Posted at 8:02 AM by Howard Bashman