How Appealing



Friday, February 22, 2013

“Feds Focused on Aaron Swartz’s Manifesto to Unshackle ‘Privatization of Knowledge'”: David Kravets has this post today at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

Posted at 2:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trade-Worker Funds Can’t Recover Madoff Losses Says Court”: Bloomberg News has a report that begins, “Building-trade worker benefit funds that invested in feeder funds to Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC won’t be able to recover money from the Ponzi schemer’s estate, a federal appeals court ruled.”

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

Update: In other coverage, Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports that “Madoff indirect investors lose U.S. court appeal.”

Posted at 1:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Andre Thomas: Services Scarce for Troubled Youths.” Part three of Brandi Grissom’s six-part series “Trouble in Mind” appears online at this link at The Texas Tribune. My earlier coverage of the series can be accessed here and here.

Posted at 12:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“VAWA Renewal Could Spell Change”: Today’s edition of The Harvard Crimson contains an article that begins, “To some, the ‘preponderance of the evidence’ standard is ‘crucial to the fair and equal treatment of women.’ To others, it is a ‘fatally flawed’ path to ‘injustice’ that erodes the rights of students. In recent months, an expired piece of legislation has placed a few words of legal jargon, tucked away in the disciplinary codes of colleges and universities all over the country, at the forefront of a polarizing national debate.”

Posted at 12:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Other Crisis Facing the Federal Judiciary”: At Bloomberg View, law professor Stephen L. Carter has an essay that begins, “Pope Benedict XVI’s announcement that he will step down at the end of this month has prompted some commentators to wonder why we don’t encourage U.S. federal judges to retire early, too. Actually, we do — and too many are.”

Posted at 11:40 AM by Howard Bashman



By a vote of 5-to-4, Seventh Circuit denies rehearing en banc of divided three-judge panel ruling that invalidated under the Second Amendment an Illinois law forbidding most people from carrying a loaded gun in public: You can access today’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denying rehearing en banc, and the dissent therefrom, at this link.

My earlier coverage of the original three-judge panel’s ruling in the case, which survives undisturbed, can be accessed here.

Posted at 10:48 AM by Howard Bashman



“Aaron Swartz Prosecutors Weighed ‘Guerilla’ Manifesto, Justice Official Tells Congressional Committee”: Ryan J. Reilly of The Huffington Post has this report.

Posted at 9:45 AM by Howard Bashman



“Gwen’s Take: Inside the Supreme Court with Sonia Sotomayor.” Gwen Ifill of PBS NewsHour has this essay at that program’s web site.

Posted at 7:53 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court could gut key protection for minority voters”: Zachary Roth of msnbc has this report.

At TPM DC, Sahil Kapur has an article headlined “How The Voting Rights Act, Now In Danger, Came To Pass And Shaped History.”

And online at The Atlantic, Andrew Cohen has an essay titled “The Supreme Court’s Threat to the Voting Rights Act: A History; One of the most popular and successful federal laws in America survived decades of partisan congresses and administrations; Next week, the justices may finally dismantle it.”

Posted at 7:50 AM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Orie Melvin, sister found guilty; Jury finds that pair used state workers to run campaigns”: Paula Reed Ward has this article today in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The newspaper also reports that “Orie Melvin faces removal from state Supreme Court.”

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports today that “State Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, sister Janine Orie found guilty on almost all counts.” In addition, columnist Eric Heyl has an essay titled “Orie story has reality TV written all over it.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “Convicted Justice Joan Orie Melvin could be ordered from office or impeached.”

The Associated Press reports that “Pa. judge, her 2 sisters convicted of corruption.”

And The Philadelphia Daily News contains an editorial titled “Time to put merit selection of judges on the fast track.”

Posted at 7:42 AM by Howard Bashman