How Appealing



Thursday, November 14, 2013
Wednesday, November 13, 2013

“NJ town settles high-profile housing bias lawsuit”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Officials in a southern New Jersey town approved a legal settlement Wednesday to end a high-profile housing discrimination case, just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court was to hear arguments on it.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court showdown on housing bias blocked; A settlement of the housing discrimination lawsuit pleases civil rights groups and leaves the financial services industry scouting for another case.”

And Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “N.J. Housing-Bias Accord Scuttles U.S. Supreme Court Case.”

Posted at 8:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals court rehears Texas race-admissions case”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A federal appeals court has asked lawyers for the University of Texas to explain how they would decide that affirmative action is no longer necessary for minority students as part of lawsuit trying to ban the practice.”

The Texas Tribune reports that “Federal Judges Hear Arguments in Fisher Case — Again.”

And The Daily Texan has a news update headlined “Fifth Circuit hears oral arguments for Fisher v. UT case.”

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Tarek Mehanna terror convictions upheld by federal appeals court”: The Boston Globe has this news update.

The Boston Herald has a news update headlined “Court upholds 17-year sentence for Sudbury extremist.

Bloomberg News reports that “Al-Qaeda Translator Mehanna’s Conviction Upheld on Appeal.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court upholds Mass. man’s terror conviction.”

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

Posted at 6:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“GOP filibuster of judges is a war, but it’s not a war on women”: Michael McGough has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 4:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court weighs employer-union organizing deals”: Amanda Becker and Lawrence Hurley of Reuters have this report.

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Company Accords With Unions Questioned at U.S. High Court.”

And Jesse J. Holland of The Associated Press reports that “Court unlikely to say union-casino pact illegal.”

You can access at this link the transcript of today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in Unite Here Local 355 v. Mulhall, No. 12-99.

Posted at 3:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Greg Abbott to Justice Scalia: Let Texas enforce abortion law.” Chuck Lindell has this article today in The Austin American-Statesman.

Posted at 3:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“In Lavabit Appeal, U.S. Doubles Down on Access to Web Crypto Keys”: Kevin Poulsen has this post at Wired.com’s “Threat Level” blog.

Posted at 11:30 AM by Howard Bashman



Speaking of “more Scalias,” one was at the D.C. Circuit yesterday arguing a whale of an appeal: Yesterday, on the same day that U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was confronting Democrats with the specter of “more Scalias,” a second Scalia actually was at the D.C. Circuit to argue the case of Sea World of Florida, LLC v. Perez.

On Monday, The Orlando Sentinel previewed the oral argument in an article headlined “SeaWorld returns to court in killer-whale safety case.”

And USA Today recently reported on the case in an article headlined “SeaWorld challenges ban on whale-trainer contact; Sea World is challenging a ban on contact with killer whales.”

You can download the audio of yesterday’s D.C. Circuit oral argument via this link (40.4MB mp3 audio file).

Posted at 8:54 AM by Howard Bashman



“Republicans Again Reject Obama Pick for Judiciary”: This article appears today in The New York Times.

The Los Angeles Times reports that “Republican filibuster blocks Obama appeals court nominee.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that “Senate Republicans Block Appeals-Court Nominee; Cornelia ‘Nina’ Pillard Fails to Clear Hurdle for Spot on D.C. Court of Appeals.” You can freely access the full text of the article via Google.

Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “GOP filibusters another Obama nominee for federal court; Vote could bring ‘nuclear option’ to change the rules back into play.”

The Associated Press reports that “GOP blocks key Obama court nominee in Senate vote.”

Thomas Ferraro of Reuters reports that “Senate Republicans block another Obama judicial nominee.”

Bloomberg News reports that “Senate Republicans Block Another Appellate-Court Nominee.”

CNN.com reports that “Republicans block another nominee to the D.C. Circuit.”

“The Note” blog of ABC News has a post titled “Senate Republicans Block Another Obama Nominee to D.C. Circuit Court.”

The Hill reports that “Reid lacks the votes to go nuclear.”

Politico.com has reports headlined “Senate blocks another Obama court pick” and “Chuck Grassley: More Scalias if Senate goes nuclear.”

And at “The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times,” Todd Ruger has a post titled “Senate Blocks Cornelia Pillard’s Nomination to D.C. Circuit.”

You can access the official roll call vote tally from yesterday’s failed U.S. Senate cloture vote at this link.

Posted at 8:45 AM by Howard Bashman



“Franks, 39 Colleagues File Court Brief to Overturn Obamacare for Violating Origination Clause of Constitution”: U.S. Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ) issued this news release yesterday. You can view at this link the brief filed last Friday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

In news coverage, The Hill yesterday had a blog post titled “House Republicans back new constitutional challenge to ObamaCare.”

And Roll Call yesterday had a blog post titled “40 House Republicans: Obamacare Has an Origination Problem.”

Posted at 8:23 AM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

“Testing limits of press privacy; A reporter refuses to disclose her sources for out-of-state story”: The Times Union of Albany, New York has this news update.

Posted at 10:46 PM by Howard Bashman



“GOP Escalates Nuclear Showdown By Filibustering Another Top Obama Judge”: Sahil Kapur of TPM DC has a report that begins, “Senate Republicans escalated the showdown over the nuclear option in dramatic fashion Tuesday with a second consecutive filibuster of a top judicial nominee, daring Democrats to put up or shut up when it comes to changing the rules.”

Posted at 6:23 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chief Judge Kozinski On The Immigrant Experience And Judging”: David Lat has this post today at “Above the Law.”

Posted at 6:05 PM by Howard Bashman



“Why Aren’t There More Black Federal Judges in Alabama, Florida, and Georgia? Why isn’t the White House doing more to nominate judges of color to sit in states like Georgia, Alabama and Florida, where minorities are severely underrepresented?” Andrew Cohen has this essay online today at The Atlantic.

Posted at 5:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Down With Lifetime Appointments: Humans are living longer; That means judges are serving longer, too.” Adrienne LaFrance has this essay online today at Slate.

Posted at 3:28 PM by Howard Bashman



In news coverage of today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: Adam Liptak of The New York Times reports that “Justices Leave in Place Ruling Against Abortion Ultrasound Requirement.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court rejects Oklahoma abortion regulation a second time.”

The Washington Post has a blog entry titled “Supreme Court lets stand Oklahoma court ruling blocking ultrasound requirement.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Justices won’t hear Okla. appeal on medical abortions; Decision comes after state Supreme Court ruled that the law, passed in 2011 but later struck down in court, would have banned all medical abortions.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Rejects Oklahoma Abortion-Ultrasound Law; Decision Marks Second Setback for State This Month.”

Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “Oklahoma abortion law that required ultrasound: Supreme Court turns away case; The US Supreme Court action lets stand a ruling by the Oklahoma Supreme Court striking down the statute; It comes a week after the US justices dismissed an appeal involving a different Oklahoma law involving chemically induced abortions.”

Chris Casteel of The Oklahoman reports that “U.S. Supreme Court rejects Oklahoma appeal of abortion case; Without comment, the nation’s high court lets stand a decision that requiring a woman to have an ultrasound is unconstitutional.”

The Herald-Sun of Durham, North Carolina reports that “Supreme Court declines second Duke lacrosse appeal.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Oklahoma Rejected by Top Court on Ultrasound Abortion Law” and “Hyundai Rejected by Court on $11.5 Million Patent Award.”

The Associated Press reports that “High court won’t hear Okla. ultrasound case“; “Court won’t hear lacrosse players rights’ claim“; and “Court won’t overturn Rasta pictures decision.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. justices decline to hear second Oklahoma abortion case.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “Court bypasses ultrasound case.”

Posted at 3:06 PM by Howard Bashman



Monday, November 11, 2013

Programming note: On Tuesday morning, I will be arguing an appeal on behalf of the plaintiffs/appellees in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. ABC News covered the jury’s verdict in the case in an article headlined “Motrin Lawsuit: Jury Awards Girl $10 Million for Burns and Blindness.” You can access the appellate brief that I filed on my clients’ behalf at this link.

At 9:30 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to issue an Order List. Once the Court posts that Order List online, you can access it via this link.

Additional posts will appear here Tuesday afternoon.

Update: The oral argument seemed to go very well.

Posted at 10:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“In John Roberts’s World, Only the Court Can Be Trusted; With the exception of himself and a few friends in black robes, the chief justice seems to view the federal government as a bunch of power-hungry hacks”: Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Posted at 9:06 PM by Howard Bashman