“Ruling Could Help Washington Redskins in Trademark Case”: Richard Sandomir will have this article in Wednesday’s edition of The New York Times.
And today at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “Federal appeals court decides ‘The Slants’ case: excluding ‘disparaging marks’ from trademark registration violates the First Amendment.”
My earlier coverage of today’s en banc Federal Circuit ruling can be accessed here and here.
“Limit State Access to Federal Court”: In today’s edition of The New York Times, law professors Amanda Frost and Stephen I. Vladeck have an op-ed that begins, “Next month, the Supreme Court will decide whether to hear a case challenging an Obama administration policy that would give permission to millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States.”
“Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin suspended amid ‘Porngate’ allegations”: Wallace McKelvey of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.
You can view online at this link today’s per curiam suspension order of the Court of Judicial Discipline of Pennsylvania. According to paragraphs 9 and 10 of the order:
9. Of particular concern to the Court are two email exchanges between the Respondent and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Baxter in which they comment upon the physical attributes of female employees in the Respondent’s office as well as sexually-suggestive observations. Clearly, these emails, which address judicial employees, are extremely inappropriate and offensive.
10. Because the Respondent utilized his government issued equipment to engage in these email exchanges, and participated in the email exchanges with other government employees who were using their government email addresses, he should have had a lower expectation of privacy.
You can access the complete suspension order at this link.
“Supreme Court Justice Eakin suspended with pay over ‘Porngate’ emails”: The Associated Press has this early report.
Angela Couloumbis of The Philadelphia Inquirer has a news update headlined “Pa. Supreme Court Justice Eakin suspended over ‘Porngate.’”
And Jim Deegan of The Express-Times of Easton, Pennsylvania has a news update headlined “Supreme Court Justice Michael Eakin suspended for ‘Porngate’ emails.”
“Government Can’t Reject Trademarks for Being Disparaging or Offensive, Court Says; Ruling cites constitutional free-speech protections”: Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal has this report.
The Oregonian has a news update headlined “The Slants, Asian-American band from Portland, can trademark controversial name, U.S. court rules.”
At the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Rock Band Wins First Amendment Appeal Over ‘Disparaging’ Trademarks.”
And Mike Masnick of Techdirt has a post titled “Appeals Court Says US Government Cannot Deny Trademarks For Being ‘Disparaging.’”
My earlier coverage of today’s en banc Federal Circuit ruling appears at this link.
“Arlin M. Adams, highly respected former federal judge in Philadelphia, dies at 94”: Chris Mondics of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.
Jeff Blumenthal of Philadelphia Business Journal reports that “Longtime federal judge, Schnader Harrison partner Arlin Adams dies.”
And The Forward reports that “Arlin Adams, Federal Judge and Community Champion, Dies at 94.”
“Hold your nose: Supreme Court sides with farm over spreading of smelly sewage sludge.” Matt Miller of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.
Yesterday’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania consisted of a unanimous opinion of the court and a concurring opinion.
“Eakin argues against interim suspension as court considers allegations of improper emails”: The Associated Press has this report.
Dave Davies of NewsWorks has a blog post titled “Eakin: Just male banter, keep me on the bench.”
And in today’s edition of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, columnist Tony Norman has an op-ed titled “First rule of email: It all goes public.”
“Wine collector loses U.S. appeal of counterfeiting conviction”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report on a non-precedential summary order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued today.
“The government cannot refuse to register disparaging marks because it disapproves of the expressive messages conveyed by the marks.” So holds the en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in a ruling issued today in the case captioned In re Simon Shiao Tam.
The introduction to the majority opinion explains:
Mr. Simon Shiao Tam named his band THE SLANTS to make a statement about racial and cultural issues in this country. With his band name, Mr. Tam conveys more about our society than many volumes of undisputedly protected speech.
Earlier, NBC News had a report headlined “Could The Slants’ Trademark Suit Affect NFL’s Redskins’ Flap?”
And earlier at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh had a post titled “The Redskins and The Slants: How an Asian American band name case may affect the Redskins trademark.”
Update: In early news coverage, Reuters reports that “U.S. appeals court says government cannot censor offensive trademarks.”
“Don’t let Eakin judge”: Today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer contains an editorial that begins, “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice J. Michael Eakin apparently still doesn’t get it.”
Further in, the editorial states, “In addition to receiving numerous emails laden with pornographic, misogynist, racist, and homophobic content, Eakin relayed a joke about a battered woman, vowed to close his ‘titty deficit’ by patronizing strip clubs with fellow officers of the court, and nauseatingly imagined getting his female aides to share rooms with them during a planned golf outing in Myrtle Beach, S.C.”
And in today’s edition of The Philadelphia Daily News, columnist Helen Ubinas has an op-ed titled “No tactic is too low for Porngate.”