How Appealing



Monday, June 16, 2014

“Argentina: Won’t submit to ‘extortion’ on debt.” The Associated Press has a report that begins, “President Cristina Fernandez says Argentina won’t submit to what she calls extortion or allow its economy to be ruined after losing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on defaulted debt.”

Posted at 9:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federal prosecutor to 9/11 lawyers in Guantanamo court: Trust me, there’s no mole on your teams; An assistant U.S. attorney said there’s no cause for concern over conflict of interest or compromised legal work because of the FBI’s questioning, which has concluded.” Carol Rosenberg of The Miami Herald has this report.

Posted at 8:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals court reverses decision in local terrorism prosecution”: The Chicago Tribune has this news update.

And The Chicago Sun-Times has a news update headlined “Appeals court reverses decision in Chicago terrorism case.”

My earlier coverage of today’s Seventh Circuit ruling appears at this link.

Update: In other coverage, Bloomberg News reports that “Terror Suspect’s Lawyer Barred From Secret U.S. Filing.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Court reverses key ruling on secret-court records.”

Posted at 7:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appeals court overturns surveillance disclosure order”: Josh Gerstein of Politico.com has a blog post that begins, “A federal appeals court has overturned a district court judge’s landmark order requiring the government to show defense lawyers foreign-intelligence-related surveillance on how a terrorism investigation developed.”

Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner issued today’s opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. And Circuit Judge Ilana Diamond Rovner issued a lengthy concurring opinion.

Posted at 4:42 PM by Howard Bashman



Judge Posner delivers a loss for the Conan Doyle Estate in a copyright-related appeal: You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit at this link. Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner wrote the opinion on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel.

Update: In early coverage, at the “Hollywood, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Conan Doyle Estate Loses Appeal Over ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Rights; 7th Circuit judge Richard Posner rejects the distinction between ‘complex’ and ‘flat’ characters if it means ‘nearly perpetual copyright.’

Posted at 1:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judges With Daughters More Often Rule in Favor of Women’s Rights”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

The paper that is the subject of Liptak’s article is titled “Identifying Judicial Empathy: Does Having Daughters Cause Judges to Rule for Women’s Issues?

Earlier coverage of the paper appeared on the May 28. 2014 broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition” in a segment titled “Research: Children Of Judges May Influence Court Decisions.”

Posted at 12:49 PM by Howard Bashman



“North Carolina Judge Rules that Alienation of Affections Law is Unconstitutional”: “Michael Smith’s Law Blog” has this post today.

Posted at 12:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Second Chance for the Obama Administration on ‘Battlefield’ Contractor Liability”: Steve Vladeck has this post today at the “Just Security” blog.

Posted at 12:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Over a Dissent, Justices Decline Appeal on Public School Graduation at Church”: Mark Walsh has this post at the “School Law” blog of Education Week.

Posted at 11:45 AM by Howard Bashman



“Sarah Jones * * * was the unwelcome subject of several posts anonymously uploaded to www.TheDirty.com, a popular website”: So states a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued today in Sarah Jones v. Dirty World Entertainment.

According to the unanimous ruling:

Under the [Communications Decency Act], Richie and Dirty World were neither the creators nor the developers of the challenged defamatory content that was published on the website. Jones’s tort claims are grounded on the statements of another content provider yet seek to impose liability on Dirty World and Richie as if they were the publishers or speakers of those statements. Section 230(c)(1) therefore bars Jones’s claims. Accordingly, we vacate the judgment in favor of Jones and reverse the district court’s denial of Dirty World’s and Richie’s motion for judgment as a matter of law with instructions to enter judgment as a matter of law in their favor.

My earlier coverage of the oral argument of this appeal can be accessed via this link.

Update: In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Gossip site wins appeal of cheerleader’s lawsuit.”

And at “Techdirt,” Mike Masnick has a post titled “Phew: Appeals Court Says Having ‘Dirt’ In Your Domain Name Doesn’t Remove Safe Harbor Protections.”

Posted at 10:22 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court today issued three rulings in argued cases.

1. Justice Elena Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Abramski v. United States, No. 12-1493. Justice Antonin Scalia issued a dissenting opinion, in which Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in Susan B. Anthony List v. Driehaus, No. 13-193. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. And Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court in Republic of Argentina v. NML Capital Ltd., No. 12-842. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a dissenting opinion. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor did not participate in the decision. You can access the oral argument via this link.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “Court OKs challenge to Ohio ban on campaign lies“; “Argentina dealt double blow by justices over debt“; and “Supreme Court rules on ‘straw purchaser’ law.”

Posted at 10:05 AM by Howard Bashman



Access online today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: The Court has posted its Order List at this link. The Court today granted review in two new cases. The Court also called for the views of the Solicitor General in what appear to be two related cases.

In addition, Justice Antonin Scalia issued a dissent, in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined, from the denial of certiorari in Elmbrook Sch. Dist. v. Doe, No. 12-755.

In early news coverage, The Associated Press reports that “High court will hear appeal over illegal threats“; “Court will consider extra pay for mortgage brokers“; “High court rejects Argentina’s appeal over debt“; “Justices reject appeal over graduations in church“; “High court rejects insider trader’s appeal“; and “High court rejects Scottie Pippen defamation case.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Banks Get New Review on Credit Union Agency’s Lawsuit“; “High Court Won’t Back Public School’s Church Graduations“; “Argentina Rejected by U.S. High Court on Defaulted Bonds“; and “Rajaratnam Rejected by High Court on Trading Conviction.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. top court to hear appeal of conviction for online threats“; “U.S. Supreme Court to hear mortgage loan officers’ pay case“; “U.S. top court rejects Argentina appeal in bond fight“; and “U.S. top court declines to hear Rajaratnam appeal.”

And at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston has a post titled “On religion issues, children are still different.”

Posted at 9:34 AM by Howard Bashman



“GPS tracking case has left unsettled questions”: The Associated Press has a report that begins, “A 2-year-old Supreme Court decision has caused more confusion than clarity on how police may track the whereabouts of criminal suspects, illustrating how hard it is for the slow-moving judicial system to keep up with the light speed of technology.”

Posted at 8:09 AM by Howard Bashman