How Appealing



Saturday, November 26, 2016

“Billionaires vs. the Press in the Era of Trump: A small group of superrich Americans — the president-elect among them — has laid the groundwork for an unprecedented legal assault on the media; Can they succeed?” Emily Bazelon will have this article in tomorrow’s edition of The New York Times Magazine.

Posted at 3:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Lee v. Tam: Offensive Trademarks at the Supreme Court — Speech Rights and Government Prerogative (A Series); Part Two: Offensive Speech Connected with Government Approval.” Erica Goldberg recently had this post at her “In a Crowded Theater” blog.

Posted at 3:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“D.C. Circuit Review — Reviewed: ‘The Most Important Separation-of-Powers Case in a Generation.'” Aaron Nielson has this post at the “Notice & Comment” blog of the Yale Journal on Regulation.

Posted at 2:57 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump’s Next Battle: Keeping These Republican Senators Happy.” The new installment of Carl Hulse’s “On Washington” column begins, “While much of the attention in Washington is on who will fill the Trump cabinet, it is already clear who some of the most important people will be when it comes to fulfilling the Trump agenda. One group will be particularly well positioned to either accommodate or infuriate Donald J. Trump: a handful of independent-minded Republican senators who have shown a willingness to break with the president-elect and have readily split with their own party on issues in the past.”

Posted at 2:53 PM by Howard Bashman



Friday, November 25, 2016

Strange way to begin a majority opinion has been vacated by granting of rehearing en banc: On September 28, 2016, Circuit Judge Robin S. Rosenbaum of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit issued a majority opinion on behalf of a divided three-judge panel that began, “When I was growing up, my parents told me not to judge a book by its cover.”

Sadly for those who admire non-traditional majority opinion opening lines, on Monday of this week the Eleventh Circuit issued an order granting rehearing en banc in the case, which had the effect of vacating the three-judge panel’s majority opinion and judgment.

Posted at 5:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Consumer Protection Bureau Chief Braces for a Reckoning”: Stacy Cowley has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 5:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘Madden NFL’ Creator Loses Appeal Over Video Game Royalties; Electronic Arts gets the win because Robin Antonick failed to introduce source code at trial to show how later versions of game were similar to his original”: Eriq Gardner has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued on Tuesday.

Posted at 4:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“How Trump DOJ could upend one of the biggest business cases facing SCOTUS”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post.

Posted at 3:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Puerto Rico takes step toward having reps; Boston appeals panel moves suit forward”: Bob McGovern of The Boston Herald has an article that begins, “A dogged attorney from Puerto Rico who has been fighting for years to get his homeland five seats in the U.S. House of Representatives says he is as close as ever to victory after a decision by a federal appeals court that could allow his arguments to move forward.”

You can access Wednesday’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link.

Posted at 3:38 PM by Howard Bashman



Thursday, November 24, 2016

“Overtime Rule Is but the Latest Obama Initiative to End in Texas Court”: Noam Scheiber and Barry Meier have this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 1:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“A judge, not a justice, Garland expected to return to cases”: Jessica Gresko of The Associated Press has a report that begins, “Judge Merrick Garland will soon put on his black judicial robe for the first time in months. The bad news for President Barack Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court is that Garland’s going back to hearing cases at his old job, not the high court.”

Posted at 12:15 PM by Howard Bashman



Wednesday, November 23, 2016

“California’s top court will review major public pension ruling”: Maura Dolan of The Los Angeles Times has an article that begins, “The California Supreme Court decided Tuesday to review a ruling that would give state and local governments new authority to cut public employee pensions.”

Posted at 11:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘Snookered’ Supreme Court Pushes Back in Billion Dollar Antitrust Case”: Kimberly Robinson of Bloomberg BNA has this report.

Posted at 10:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Voting Rights in the Age of Trump”: In yesterday’s edition of The New York Times, Ari Berman had an op-ed that begins, “In June 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in Shelby County v. Holder that states with a long history of racial discrimination no longer needed to approve any proposed changes to their voting procedures with the federal government, as had long been required under the Voting Rights Act. That meant this year’s presidential election was the first in 50 years without the full protections of the act.”

Posted at 10:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Tuesday, November 22, 2016

“Senate trade-off: More Obama judges, Trump gets nominees.” Mary Clare Jalonick of The Associated Press has an article that begins, “Republicans are gleeful over Democratic-engineered rule changes that will make it easier for President-elect Donald Trump to get his Cabinet nominees through the Senate. Yet Democrats see a lasting upside from what they did: allowing President Barack Obama to shape the federal judiciary for years to come.”

Posted at 8:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Does the Constitution put limits on a president’s private business ties?” Lyle Denniston has this post today at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

Posted at 8:27 PM by Howard Bashman



Monday, November 21, 2016

Programming note: On Tuesday, I will be attending an out-of-the-office meeting that could last all day in connection with an appeal on which I am working. As a result, new posts may not appear here until Tuesday evening.

As always while I am away from my office, in the interim appellate-related retweets may appear on this blog’s Twitter feed.

Posted at 11:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“Goodyear asks SCOTUS to restrict federal judges’ inherent sanctions power”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight has this post today.

Posted at 11:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“Former Roberts Court Clerks’ Success Litigating Before the Supreme Court”: Adam Feldman has posted this paper online at SSRN.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court won’t investigate leaks”: Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an article that begins, “The Wisconsin Supreme Court declined Monday to appoint a special master to investigate leaks from a long-running John Doe probe to a newspaper, leaving it to Attorney General Brad Schimel to look into it on his own.”

Posted at 8:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Reasons to Suspect Trump Will Nominate a Federal Court of Appeals Judge to SCOTUS”: Adam Feldman has this post today at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.

Posted at 11:02 AM by Howard Bashman



“The Total Trumpism of Jeff Sessions, Attorney General Nominee”: Amy Davidson has this post online at The New Yorker.

Posted at 10:15 AM by Howard Bashman