“Appeals court upholds conviction in Miss. killings”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court has upheld the 2007 conviction of a reputed Ku Klux Klan member in the kidnapping of two black men who were abducted and killed in rural Mississippi in 1964. In a 2-1 ruling, the panel of judges said the evidence in the case against James Ford Seale was sufficient for the jury conviction in the trial that took place 43 years after the crimes. Friday’s decision came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit in New Orleans. The judge who dissented said that too much time had elapsed to try Seale and that incriminating statements Seale made should have been barred from his trial.”
The Fifth Circuit issued the ruling on Friday and posted it online today.
“Virginia Thomas’ Ethics Check”: Tony Mauro has this post at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.”
“Judiciary Approves PACER Innovations To Enhance Public Access”: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued this news release today.
“Obama nominee Goodwin Liu an unassuming man”: Bob Egelko has this front page article today in The San Francisco Chronicle.
“Christian Group Joins Campaign on Pleading Standard”: At “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” David Ingram has a post that begins, “The conservative Alliance Defense Fund is lining up in opposition to a pair of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that changed the standard for filing most civil lawsuits — a move that aligns the Christian litigation group with some unlikely allies.”
“Democratic Freshmen Take Up Fight Over Obama’s Stalled Nominees”: Roll Call has this news update.
“Citizens Unite: The Constitutional amendment America needs.” Law professor Lawrence Lessig has this essay online at The New Republic.
“House plan to pass health care raises constitutional questions”: David Lightman of McClatchy Newspapers has this report.
And yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, law professor Michael W. McConnell had an op-ed entitled “The House Health-Care Vote and the Constitution: No bill can become law unless the exact same text is approved by a majority of both houses of Congress.” You can freely access the full text of the op-ed via Google News.
“Full 1st Circuit Rules Prospectus Statements Are Not Attributable to Executives for 10(b)(5) Purposes”: Sheri Qualters of The National Law Journal has this report on an en banc ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued last week.
“Ga. Supreme Court rebuffs sex offender registry challenge”: Today in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bill Rankin has an article that begins, “The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld a provision of the state’s sex offender registry law that requires some people who have not committed sex crimes to register as sex offenders. The law, said to be one of the toughest in the nation, allows the state to keep a tight leash on child molesters, rapists and other sexual predators after they have served their prison time.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Georgia at this link.
“Appeals court upholds $20,000 in sanctions against birther movement attorney Orly Taitz; Birther movement attorney has insisted she won’t pay sanctions levied by Judge Land”: The Ledger-Enquirer of Columbus, Georgia contains this article today.
“Supreme Court Justice’s Wife Embraces Tea Party”: This audio segment featuring Nina Totenberg appeared on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”
“Georgia Supreme Court rejects local tort reform challenge in 4-3 ruling; Case arose from Columbus woman’s 2007 trip to St. Francis emergency room”: The Columbus Ledger-Enquirer contains this article today.
And today in the Fulton County Daily Report, Alyson M. Palmer has an article headlined “In Win for Tort Reform Advocates, Ga. Supreme Court Upholds ER Med-Mal Standard; Justices also upheld a fee-shifting rule; the court is expected to rule later this month on a challenge to caps on noneconomic damages in med-mal cases.”
My earlier coverage of the emergency room ruling appears at this link.
“How High Court Could Change If Stevens Retires”: This audio segment featuring Jeffrey Toobin appeared on yesterday’s broadcast of the public radio program “Fresh Air.”
