How Appealing



Wednesday, January 13, 2016

“Supreme Court Strikes Down Part of Florida Death Penalty”: Adam Liptak has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court finds Florida’s capital punishment process unconstitutional.”

David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times reports that “Supreme Court strikes down Florida’s death penalty system.”

Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court deals blow to Florida’s death sentencing system.”

Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida Death-Sentencing Procedure; Ruling says jury verdict, not judge’s discretion, necessary for imposition of death sentence.”

Michael Doyle of McClatchyDC reports that “Supreme Court strikes down Florida’s way of imposing death sentences.”

Warren Richey of The Christian Science Monitor reports that “US Supreme Court deals blow to death penalty in Florida case; The US Supreme Court ruled 8 to 1 Tuesday against a controversial legal procedure used in Florida death penalty cases.”

David Ovalle of The Miami Herald reports that “High court orders Florida to overhaul death penalty decisions.”

Steve Bousquet of The Tampa Bay Times reports that “Chaos and uncertainty cloud Florida’s death penalty after Supreme Court ruling.” And Anna M. Phillips of The Tampa Bay Times reports that “Supreme Court decision likely to lead to fewer death penalty verdicts, experts say.”

Sam Hananel of The Associated Press has a report headlined “High court: Florida death penalty system is unconstitutional.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “Supreme Court strikes down Florida death sentence process.”

Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Florida Death-Sentence System Voided by U.S. Supreme Court.”

Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post reports that “Florida’s Death Sentencing Scheme Is Unconstitutional, Supreme Court Rules; Allowing judges instead of juries to impose the death penalty violates the Sixth Amendment.”

On yesterday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” Nina Totenberg had an audio segment titled “Supreme Court Strikes Down Florida’s Death Penalty System.”

Yesterday at “SCOTUSblog,” Lyle Denniston had a post titled “Opinion analysis: Juries control the death penalty.”

And online at Bloomberg News, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay titled “The End of the Death Penalty Isn’t Near.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Hurst v. Florida, No. 14-7505, at this link.

Posted at 10:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court passes on another dormant Commerce Clause test”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight had this report yesterday.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Michael Eakin’s email ethics case witness list unveiled”: The Associated Press has this report.

Yesterday’s edition of The Philadelphia Daily News contained an editorial titled “Eakin’s lawyer seems to forget that some judges are women.”

Yesterday’s edition of The Citizens’ Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania contained an editorial titled “Judging the courts.”

And recently in The Pocono Record, Anne Marie Zenie had a letter to the editor titled “Eakin must go permanently from court.”

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



Dear Third Circuit — A decision in the expedited Trump Taj Mahal appeal argued over 10 months ago will be greatly appreciated: How does one tell a federal appellate court that it should hurry-up and decide a case? The common answer is you don’t. But sometimes, someone finds a way to communicate the message For example, in the appeal captioned In re Trump Entertainment Resorts, Inc., No. 14-4807 (3d. Cir.) (argued March 4, 2015), counsel for debtors Roy T. Englert, Jr. sent this letter to the court last week.

And in related commentary, today’s edition of The Atlantic City Press contains an editorial titled “Taj Mahal, workers and industry need bankruptcy decision soon.”

Posted at 5:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Duke Law selected to co-host annual education program for judges”: Duke Law School recently issued this news release about the Appellate Judges Education Institute. Duke’s affiliation with AJEI will begin in 2017.

The 2016 AJEI Summit will be taking place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in November 2016. I am on the planning committee for the 2016 Philadelphia Summit, and I will be in Dallas on January 25 and 26 for a planning committee meeting.

Posted at 4:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Next up at the Supreme Court: Obama’s Immigration Policy; The court’s past rulings on Obamacare could prove decisive in a case that is up for consideration this week.” Simon Lazarus has this essay online at The New Republic.

Posted at 3:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Obama nominates Madison lawyer for 7th Circuit vacancy”: Craig Gilbert of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has this report.

Ed Treleven of The Wisconsin State Journal reports that “Madison lawyer nominated for federal appeals court post.”

And Maureen Groppe of The Indianapolis Star reports that “Obama nominates Indiana lawyers to federal bench.”

The White House yesterday issued a news release titled “President Obama Nominates Two to Serve on the United States Court of Appeals.”

Posted at 2:27 PM by Howard Bashman



In re: my recent visit to Atlanta. Yesterday, Atlanta did warm-up to the mid-50s, allowing me to enjoy a touch of warmer weather before heading back to the frigid northeast, where my drive home from Philadelphia’s airport was through snow showers.

For those demanding photographic proof of my recent visit to Atlanta, the Federalist Society-Emory Law Chapter has posted to its Facebook page this image of me and law professor Sasha Volokh, who kindly coordinated my visit. Also, my remarks were videotaped by C-SPAN (!!!) for broadcast at a later date on a particularly slow news day.

And here’s an image of me posing in front of the scales of justice from Emory Law‘s Twitter feed. In 2016, the law school is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its founding, and I was pleased to be one of the first invited guests to speak at the school this year.

Posted at 12:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Menendez asks appeals court to throw out charges”: Jonathan Tamari of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

NJ.com reports that “Menendez had right to question federal officials, brief says.”

And The Record of Hackensack, New Jersey reports that “Menendez lawyers challenge prosecutors’ right to question his motives.”

You can view the brief for appellant — containing 13,969 words, thus inexplicably leaving 31 words unused — filed Monday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at this link.

Posted at 8:57 AM by Howard Bashman



“Could One of These Cases Spell the End of the Death Penalty? Abolitionists seek the perfect case for a Supreme Court challenge.” Maurice Chammah has this news analysis online at The Marshall Project.

Posted at 8:46 AM by Howard Bashman



“Argument preview: The Indians vs. the settlers, a modern sequel.” Lyle Denniston has this post online today at “SCOTUSblog.”

Posted at 8:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Will the U.S. Supreme Court Gut Public-Employee Unions? The justices consider a challenge to labor organizations without weighing the practical implications of their decision.” Law professor Garrett Epps has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Posted at 8:39 AM by Howard Bashman