“California Supreme Court rules in fight over plastic shopping bags”: Denny Walsh of The Sacramento Bee has a news update that begins, “The California Supreme Court this morning ruled that an environmental impact report is not necessary for city and county governments to ban the use of plastic shopping bags.”
Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has a blog post titled “Banning plastic grocery bags just got easier in California.”
And The Associated Press reports that “CA high court OKs Manhattan Beach plastic bag ban.”
You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of California at this link.
“Mistrial declared in Roger Clemens case”: The Washington Post has this news update.
The New York Times has a news update headlined “Clemens Judge Declares Mistrial.”
The Associated Press reports that “Judge declares mistrial in Clemens case.”
Bloomberg News reports that “Clemens Judge Calls Mistrial After U.S. Shows Barred Evidence.”
Reuters reports that “Judge declares mistrial in Clemens perjury case.”
And MLB.com reports that “Clemens’ perjury case declared mistrial; Prosecution shows jury video, text that was ruled inadmissable.”
“Senate Judiciary Committee approves Higginson and Triche-Milazzo judicial nominations”: The Times-Picayune of New Orleans has this news update.
And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” David Ingram has a post titled “Committee Backs Judicial Nominees, Including Two for SDNY.”
“Asbestos case hits a snag; Status of judge stalls proceedings”: Today’s edition of The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Mississippi contains an article that begins, “The Mississippi Supreme Court has stopped all proceedings in an asbestos case that resulted in a record $322 million verdict until a decision is made on whether the trial judge should be removed.”
And Bloomberg News reports that “Union Carbide $322 Million Asbestos Verdict Put on Hold.”
“Supreme Court rules against University in Stanford v. Roche”: The Stanford Daily contains this article today.
“Panel discusses Supreme Court’s liberal leanings; At event at UC Irvine, members predict the court will inevitably uphold gay marriage”: This article appears today in The Daily Pilot of Costa Mesa, California.
“A Gun Activist Takes Aim at U.S. Regulatory Power”: Jess Bravin has this article today in The Wall Street Journal.
“2 state judges face US confirmation hearings; Christen, Gleason would be the first Alaska women to serve on the federal bench”: This article appears today in The Anchorage Daily News.
“A Supreme Court Scorecard”: Linda Greenhouse has this post at the “Opinionator” blog of The New York Times.
“Reduced to its essentials, this is nothing more than a dispute, fueled by a disgruntled cheerleader mom, over whether her daughter should have made the squad.” So states the first paragraph of a 24-page opinion that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued yesterday.
En banc Fourth Circuit judges disagree over “abuse of discretion” standard in suit alleging that military colleagues violated Army National Guard colonel’s Fourth Amendment rights by intercepting, reading, and forwarding his e-mails while he was deployed in Kuwait: You can access yesterday’s en banc ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.
“One Last Alito Footnote”: Adam J. White, author of the cover story about Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. that appears in this week’s issue of The Weekly Standard, has this related post at his new blog.
“Accused sex offender allowed to watch child porn in jail”: KOMOnews.com in Seattle has this report.
“Defense In 2nd Cheshire Trial Wants Petit Sequestered”: The Hartford Courant has this news update.
And The Associated Press reports that “Defense wants home invasion survivor sequestered.”
The New Haven Register has posted the relevant court documents online, and you can access them via this link.
A clear case of cruel and unusual punishment: An unsolicited letter that I received today from an inmate confined at the Pennsylvania state correctional institution known as SCI Frackville concludes, “I know you are a very busy lawyer as I gleaned from your comments on C-Span on June 24, 2011 at the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals conference.”
The correctional institution at which inmates are apparently being subjected to my recent C-SPAN appearance is just a bit north of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where I lived from 1989 through 1991 while clerking for a judge serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit whose chambers were based in Pottsville.
“Appeals court overturns judge in eminent domain sign case”: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a news update that begins, “A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed a lower court and ruled that a St. Louis man had the right to protest eminent domain with a mural on the side of an apartment building near Soulard.”
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.
“Tune in For Live Webcast of Supreme Court Term in Review at UC Irvine Featuring Chemerinsky, Eastman, Levenson, Lithwick and Savage”: Law professor Rick Hasen has this post at his “Election Law Blog.” Rick is serving as moderator of the event, which you can watch live, online via this link starting at 3 p.m. eastern time today.
“State Supreme Court justices rule not to force recusals”: Today’s edition of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contains an article that begins, “State Supreme Court justices can’t kick each other off cases for alleged bias, the court ruled Tuesday in a bitterly divided decision along now-familiar 4-3 lines.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin at this link.
“Language is not the supreme criteria for top-court appointments”: This editorial appears today in The Toronto Globe and Mail.
“Not Ready to Change Baseball History?” In today’s edition of The New York Times, Richard Sandomir has an article that begins, “‘The Curious Case of Curt Flood,’ a new HBO Sports documentary, raises a tantalizing question: what if Flood’s legal challenge to baseball’s reserve clause had had a better advocate before the United States Supreme Court than Arthur J. Goldberg, a former associate justice?”
“Prison doctor gets paid for doing little or nothing; A California surgeon has mostly been locked out of his job: on paid leave, fired or fighting his termination; When he does work, it’s reviewing records; He made $777,000 last year, including back pay.” This front page article appears today in The Los Angeles Times.
“Supreme court bans use of secret evidence to hide torture claims; Intelligence services tried to exploit ‘closed material procedures’ to conceal evidence relating to Guantanamo detainees”: The Guardian (UK) has this news update.
You can access today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom at this link. The court also issued this press summary of the ruling.
“Campus diversity challenges may send affirmative action back to high court”: This article appears today in The Washington Times.
“Same-sex couple asks high court to intervene in adoption dispute”: Bill Mears of CNN.com has this report.
“Court rules against lesbian ‘co-parent’ in custody fight”: This article appears today in The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Columbus Dispatch reports today that “‘Co-parents’ need formal agreement, justices rule; Former partner of woman loses battle for shared custody of child.”
And The Associated Press reports that “Lesbian ‘co-parent’ loses bid for shared custody.”
You can access yesterday’s 4-3 ruling of the Supreme Court of Ohio at this link. In addition, the court’s public information office issued a news release headlined “Supreme Court Upholds Ruling That Child’s Mother Did Not Surrender Partial Custody to Same-Sex ‘Co-Parent.’”
“Court: No forced medication for Loughner.” The Arizona Republic has this news update.
In Wednesday’s edition of The Los Angeles Times, Carol J. Williams will have an article headlined “Jared Lee Loughner can refuse anti-psychotic drugs, court rules; The injunction against forcing the Tucson shooting suspect to take the medication is to last until his appeal of the prison medical team’s treatment plan is done.”
The Wall Street Journal has a news update headlined “Federal Court Sides With Loughner in Drug Debate.”
Ariane de Vogue of ABC News reports that “Court Rules Jared Lee Loughner Can Refuse Anti-Psychotic Medication.”
And at his “Under the Radar” blog at Politico.com, Josh Gerstein has a post titled “Appeals court extends ban on forced drugging of Jared Loughner.”
You can access today’s per curiam ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.
“Ninth Circuit essentially demands Congress amend restitution law to allow victims to recover from child porn possessor”: Doug Berman has this post today at his “Sentencing Law and Policy” blog discussing a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued yesterday.
“Ralph’s, Albertson’s Profit Sharing Amid Strike Needs Scrutiny, Court Says”: Bloomberg News has this report on a ruling that an eleven-judge en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued today.
And Reuters reports that “9th Circuit upholds grocers labor ruling.”
In commentary available online via SSRN: Law professor Herbert M. Kritzer has a paper titled “Change in State Supreme Court Elections: Is Voting Becoming More Partisan?” (via “Legal Theory Blog“).
And law professor N. William Hines has an article titled “Marching to a Different Drummer? Are Lower Courts Faithfully Implementing the Evolving Due Process Guideposts to Catch and Correct Excessive Punitive Damages Awards?” (via “Legal Theory Blog“).
“Third Circuit Reaffirms Berrier – Third Restatement Applies in Pennsylvania Federal Court”: The “Drug and Device Law” blog has this post reporting on a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued today.
“Gay adoption case reaches Court; A new gay rights case reaches the Court, testing parents’ rights under the Constitution’s Full Faith and Credit Clause”: Lyle Denniston has this post at “SCOTUSblog.”
Articles of interest recently published in The Legal Intelligencer, Philadelphia’s daily newspaper for lawyers: In today’s newspaper, Ben Present has an article headlined “Superior Court to Identify Authors of Memorandums” in which I am quoted.
Today’s newspaper also contains this month’s installment of my “Upon Further Review” column, headlined “The 3rd Circuit’s Report Card From the U.S. Supreme Court.” This month’s column is part one of a two-part series.
And in yesterday’s newspaper, Amaris Elliott-Engel had an article headlined “Allocatur Denial May Mean Hundreds of HRT Cases Remain in Phila.” My earlier coverage of that news appears at this link.
In the Spring 2011 issue of The Green Bag: Two interesting items about West Publishing Co. — see here and here.
If, for some inexplicable reason, you refuse to purchase a subscription to The Green Bag and thus forfeit any chance at obtaining collectibles such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice bobblehead dolls, you can nevertheless now freely access online all of the publication’s contents back to the Autumn 2006 issue and certain of the contents from earlier issues via this link.
Word on the street is that this is one of the few law review-like publications that Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. routinely enjoys reading.
“The Burkean Justice: Samuel Alito’s understanding of community and tradition distinguishes him from his Supreme Court colleagues.” Adam J. White has this lengthy article in the July 18, 2011 issue of The Weekly Standard.
“Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer shows progressive streak”: Law professor David E. Bernstein and Josh Blackman have this op-ed today in The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.
