Access Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.’s 2016 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary: At this link.
In news coverage, Adam Liptak of The New York Times reports that “Chief Justice Salutes Trial Judges for Tackling ‘Daunting Workload.’”
Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Roberts steers clear of controversy, praises district judges in year-end report.”
Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Chief Justice John Roberts Praises Federal District Judges in Annual Report; Comments from nation’s highest jurist cap year featuring Donald Trump’s baseless attacks on judge, death of Justice Antonin Scalia.”
And Ariane de Vogue of CNN.com reports that “Roberts praises lower court judges in annual SCOTUS report.”
“The Growing Gap Between the U.S. and the International Anti-Death-Penalty Consensus”: Lincoln Caplan has this post online today at The New Yorker.
“Will SCOTUS Finally Pick Up the PACER?” Richard M. Re has this post at “PrawfsBlawg.”
“Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Could Become Donald Trump’s Top Supreme Court Lawyer; The solicitor general is the country’s top appellate attorney”: Cristian Farias of The Huffington Post has this report.
And Josh Blackman has a blog post titled “George Conway for Solicitor General?”
“Will ‘Funny Brief’ Backfire at Supreme Court?” Tony Mauro of The National Law Journal has this report.
“Job No. 1 for a New Congress? Undoing Obama’s Health Law.” Robert Pear will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.
“Kennedy Cousin Michael Skakel’s Murder Conviction Reinstated”: Matthew Kauffman and Dave Altimari of The Hartford Courant have this report.
And Alan Feuer and Kristin Hussey of The New York Times report that “Michael Skakel’s Murder Conviction Has Been Reinstated.”
Today’s ruling of the Supreme Court of Connecticut consists of a majority opinion, an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, and a dissenting opinion.
“Trump Said to Consider Aide Conway’s Husband for Top Legal Job”: Benjamin Bain and Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg News have an article that begins, “President-elect Donald Trump is considering George Conway, a long-time corporate lawyer and the husband of senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, to be U.S. solicitor general, the government top appellate lawyer, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
“Fourth Circuit Proves Infertile Ground for Heller Expansion”: Stuart Berman has this guest post at the “Maryland Appellate Blog.”
“OT2016 #9: ‘What’s Not on That February Calendar.'” You can access the newly posted holiday bonus episode of the “First Mondays” podcast, featuring Ian Samuel and Dan Epps, via this link.
“Retiring justice grew up under Jim Crow. Now he sees ‘criminalizing of black faces.'” Mary Ellen Klas of The Miami Herald has this report.
“Arizona justices turn down bid to delay minimum-wage increase approved by voters”: Howard Fischer of The Arizona Daily Star has this report.
And Mary Jo Pitzl of The Arizona Republic has an article headlined “Court: Arizona’s new minimum wage takes effect Sunday.”
“Reflections Of Conservative Icon Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia”: This audio segment appeared on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
“Proposal Seeks to Reverse Ban on Citing Nonprecedential Opinions”: Max Mitchell of The Legal Intelligencer has an article that begins, “The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s appellate rules committee has proposed a rule that would allow practitioners to cite nonprecedential decisions from the Superior Court.”
You can view the proposed rule and its explanatory comment at this link.
“Could Rafael Robb stay in prison? Judge suggests ex-Penn prof lied about assets.” In last Wednesday’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Laura McCrystal had an article that begins, “For years, Ellen Gregory Robb’s relatives have battled to keep her ex-husband behind bars, convinced that the 10-year term Rafael Robb got for fatally beating her in the couple’s Upper Merion home was too lenient.”
As the article proceeded to explain, “[A] lawsuit brought by his wife’s estate led to an order that Robb pay $128 million, with payments going to the couple’s daughter, who was 12 when her mother died. Robb claimed wealth of about $3 million but the funds remain tied up as he asks Superior Court to overturn a judge’s decision that his $2.8 million in pension funds could not be shielded from the judgment.”
In my role as appellate counsel representing the wife’s estate as plaintiff-appellee, I briefed and orally argued against Robb’s appeal, pending in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the Superior Court issued a judgment order dismissing Robb’s appeal as improper, which is precisely the outcome my client sought in the Brief for Plaintiff/Appellee that I filed on the estate’s behalf.
“Man in motorizied wheelchair convicted of DUII, Oregon Court of Appeals reverses”: Aimee Green of The Oregonian has this report.
And The Associated Press reports that “Oregon court reverses DUI conviction of wheelchair user.”
According to today’s ruling of the Oregon Court of Appeals:
[Defendant] argues that a person crossing a street in a crosswalk in a motorized wheelchair is a pedestrian and not the operator of a vehicle for purposes of the DUII statutes. The state responds that the meaning of “vehicle” under ORS 813.010 is broad and applies to a motorized wheelchair, including when the wheelchair is being used to cross a street in a crosswalk and, hence, that defendant was subject to the DUII statutes when he drove his wheelchair on the street.
This case thus appears to be a real-life example of the “No Vehicles in the Park” hypothetical that fans of statutory interpretation love to endlessly debate (see, for example, here, here, and here).
“Court Vacancies Offer Trump An Early Opportunity To Leave A Lasting Legacy; More than 100 federal judgeships will be vacant when Donald Trump becomes president — a higher number than the past two presidents had when they took office”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report.
“For Supreme Court, 2016 Had More Question Marks Than Certainty”: Nina Totenberg had this audio segment on Monday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
“Peril and promise on Trump’s Supreme Court list: Americans want judges who, like Antonin Scalia, don’t accept government arguments on faith.” Evan Bernick and Clark Neily have this essay online at USA Today.
“Here’s what a ‘digital Miranda warning’ might look like: Smartphone owners need to know if — and when — they need to reveal their passcodes.” Cyrus Farivar of Ars Technica has this report.
“Former state Supreme Court candidate fined for violating election law; MacDonald was accused of citing an endorsement that she did not have”: Ricardo Lopez of The Minneapolis Star Tribune has this report.
“N.J. college wins immunity in lawsuit from fired employee”: Adam Clark of NJ.com has an article that begins, “One of New Jersey’s largest public colleges can’t be sued for discrimination in federal court because its an arm of the state, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled Tuesday.”
Patrick Dorrian of Bloomberg BNA reports that “Montclair State Immune From Ex-Employee’s Medical Leave Suit.”
And Doug Lederman of Inside Higher Ed has a post titled “New Jersey University Has State Immunity, U.S. Court Rules.”
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit at this link.
“US appeals court orders review of police hair-testing lawsuit”: Milton J. Valencia of The Boston Globe has an article that begins, “After more than a decade of litigation, a federal judge will have to consider for the third time whether a controversial hair test the Boston Police Department uses to screen officers for drug use discriminates against officers of color.”
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit at this link.
Dan Markel murder leads list of “the most high-profile cases in Leon County in 2016 and trials to watch in 2017”: Karl Etters of The Tallahassee Democrat has an article headlined “2016: The year in crime.”
“Appeals court ruling could nullify hundreds of decisions by SEC judges in Colorado and 5 other states; The ruling dissolves a $1.2 million fine levied against David Bandimere”: David Migoya of The Denver Post has this report.
Dave Michaels of The Wall Street Journal has an article headlined “SEC’s Use of In-House Courts Unconstitutional, Appeals Court Rules; Three-judge panel’s decision diverges from earlier ruling by District of Columbia Circuit.”
Nate Raymond of Reuters reports that “U.S. appeals court rejects SEC’s use of administrative law judges.”
And Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Thomson Reuters News & Insight today has a post titled “10th Circuit strikes down SEC ALJ regime, debates reach to other agencies.”
My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Tenth Circuit ruling can be accessed here.
“New Jersey makes case to Supreme Court on sports betting”: The Associated Press has this report.
“The Religious-Liberty Showdowns Coming in 2017: From mosque surveillance to new religious-exemption laws, a look at some of the issues likely to come up under Trump.” Emma Green of The Atlantic has this report.
“SCOTUS’ Slight Push Back at the End of 2016”: Adam Feldman has this post today at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.
“Lanzinger gets set for retirement from Ohio’s top court; No justice from area for 1st time in decades”: Jim Provance of The Toledo Blade has this report.
“‘Sister Wives’ case should not go to U.S. Supreme Court, argues Utah A.G.’s office”: Courtney Tanner of The Salt Lake Tribune has this report.
And Ben Winslow of Fox13 of Salt Lake City reports that “Utah asks U.S. Supreme Court to uphold polygamy ban in ‘Sister Wives’ appeal.”
You can view Utah’s brief in opposition at this link.
“Corruption in the White House: The founders were so adamant about preventing the kind of presidency we’re about to witness; Plus, reflecting on the climate for free speech on college campuses.” Slate has posted online this new installment of its “Amicus” podcast featuring Dahlia Lithwick.
“Scalia’s Legacy on the Court Looks Surprisingly Secure”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online today at Bloomberg View.
“Appeals court weighs Ohio law shielding lethal drugs source”: Andrew Welsh-Huggins of The Associated Press has an article that begins, “A federal appeals court is weighing a challenge by death row inmates of an Ohio law that shields the names of companies that provide lethal injection drugs.”
“Pa. Supreme Court to hear dispute over gun owner privacy”: Matt Miller of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.
“WV Supreme Court to have female majority for 1st time”: Kate White of The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette-Mail has this report. According to the article, West Virginia will be “one of 11 top courts that will have a majority of justices who are women in 2017.”
