“Court dismisses wrongful-death lawsuit from 2014 SXSW tragedy”: Chuck Lindell of The Austin American-Statesman has this report on a ruling that a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued yesterday.
“Is peeing in public a crime? Not under state law, Oregon Court of Appeals says.” Aimee Green of The Oregonian has this report on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the Oregon Court of Appeals issued yesterday.
“Kavanaugh contacted Kozinski after resignation because he was ‘concerned about his mental health'”: Sophie Tatum of CNN has this report.
“Supreme Court All-Stars 2013-2017”: Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.
“Convicted medical pot seller finds congressional allies in legal appeal”: Joel Rubin of The Los Angeles Times had this report back in May 2015.
Today, the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued this decision affirming the defendant’s conviction for violating federal drug laws and remanding for certain additional proceedings. Circuit Judge Paul J. Watford issued a dissenting opinion, concluding that the district court’s specific anti-jury nullification charge violated the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
“Dianne Feinstein Withholding Brett Kavanaugh Document From Fellow Judiciary Committee Democrats”: Ryan Grim of The Intercept has this report.
And Lissandra Villa and Paul McLeod of BuzzFeed News report that “Senate Democrats Have Referred A Secret Letter About Brett Kavanaugh To The FBI; Rumors about the letters’ contents have flooded Capitol Hill over the last week, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein has declined to share its contents.”
Update: In other coverage, Catie Edmondson and Nicholas Fandos of The New York Times report that “Dianne Feinstein Refers a Kavanaugh Matter to Federal Investigators.”
Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Senate Democrats forward ‘information’ to FBI about Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.”
Ariane de Vogue and Ted Barrett of CNN report that “Democrats send ‘information’ concerning Kavanaugh nomination to FBI.”
“Judicial Conference Addresses Workplace Conduct and Criminal Justice Act Issues”: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts issued this news release today.
The AO also issued an announcement requesting public comment by November 13, 2018 on proposed changes to the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges and the Judicial Conduct and Disability Rules.
“Howard County teen pleads guilty to terrorism plot”: Back in May 2012, Tricia Bishop of The Baltimore Sun had an article that begins, “With a full math and science scholarship to the Johns Hopkins University and accolades for his writing, Howard County’s Mohammad Hassan Khalid seemed ready to continue the American dream his father embarked on years ago when he brought the family from Pakistan.”
And in April 2014, Ed Pilkington of The Guardian (UK) had an article headlined “Mohammad Hassan Khalid given five years in jail for his part in jihadist plot; Khalid, the youngest person at 15 to be prosecuted for terrorism in the US, found guilty of involvement in conspiracy by ‘Jihad Jane’ to kill Swedish artist.”
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued this decision holding that Khalid is a U.S. citizen.
“Supreme Court Justices Become Less Impartial and More Ideological When Casting the Swing Vote; A new study suggests that justices may treat cases differently when given a chance to shape policy”: Kellogg Insight has this report on a research paper titled “Politics from the Bench? Ideology and Strategic Voting in the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“State Supreme Courts Increasingly Face Partisan Impeachment Threats; The trial to impeach the entire West Virginia Supreme Court starts this week; It’s just one example of a growing trend among unhappy lawmakers”: Alan Greenblatt of Governing has this report.
“Stop Pretending the Supreme Court Is Above Politics: Since the 1950s, the court has become ever more powerful and partisan; The founders never wanted it that way.” Joseph J. Ellis has this essay online at The Wall Street Journal.
“Kavanaugh rebuffs call to open up confidential talks with journalists”: Josh Gerstein of Politico has this report.
“A Supreme Court Transformed: What will the court look like when neither side of the ideological divide has to walk on eggs to win the favor of the justice in the middle?” Linda Greenhouse has this essay online at The New York Times.
“Court ruling revives fight by undocumented immigrants against mobile home park evictions in Va.” Antonio Olivo has this article in today’s edition of The Washington Post reporting on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued yesterday.