How Appealing



Thursday, October 18, 2018

“On Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court’s Future: The Court’s ideological majorities are always apt to evolve.” Conrad Black has this essay online at National Review.

Posted at 10:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Sotomayor to SBU students: ‘It’s not your journey alone’; Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir, ‘My Beloved World,’ was required reading for freshmen in the First Year Reading Program; Wednesday’s event drew about 3,000 students”: Keshia Clukey of Newsday has this report.

Posted at 9:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Deep In The Desert, A Case Pits Immigration Crackdown Against Religious Freedom”: Ryan Lucas had this audio segment on this evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

Posted at 9:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Neil Gorsuch’s Speech to Catholic Group Closed to the Media; Recent weeks have seen other Supreme Court justices allow coverage of their remarks at events”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has an article that begins, “Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s doctoral study on a conservative philosophy called natural law is a prime reason right-leaning legal thinkers recommended him to President Trump.”

Posted at 7:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Harvard Trial Doesn’t Matter: The lawyers challenging the university are testing out their arguments to see which ones stick ahead of a potential appeal to the Supreme Court.” Adam Harris of The Atlantic has this report.

Posted at 5:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Kavanaugh’s emotions showed he’s human. That’s a good thing in a Supreme Court justice. Kavanaugh’s emotional testimony isn’t disqualifying for the Supreme Court. I’ve been around judges my whole life. It’s the robotic ones who terrify me.” Columnist Ruben Navarrette Jr. has this essay online at USA Today.

Posted at 4:20 PM by Howard Bashman



“Jimmy Carter: Brett Kavanaugh ‘Unfit’ to Serve on Supreme Court.” Michelle Lou of The Emory Wheel, the student newspaper of Emory University, has an article that begins, “Former U.S. President and Emory University Distinguished Professor Jimmy Carter said on Wednesday that he believes Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is ‘unfit’ to serve on the nation’s most powerful judicial body.”

Posted at 4:15 PM by Howard Bashman



“Jueza de la Corte Suprema Sonia Sotomayor habla de su vida, Puerto Rico y Brett Kavanaugh”: Univision has posted online this video excerpt of an interview with Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

Posted at 4:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“Feinstein says she would ‘absolutely’ favor reopening Kavanaugh investigation next year”: John Wagner of The Washington Post has this report.

Bridget Bowman of Roll Call reports that “Feinstein ‘Absolutely’ Supports Revisiting Kavanaugh Allegations, She Says in Debate; California Democrat was asked about further investigating sexual assault claims.”

And Andrew O’Reilly of Fox News reports that “Feinstein wants Kavanaugh sexual misconduct investigation reopened if Dems take Senate.”

Posted at 4:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Two ways Democrats can remove Kavanaugh — without impeaching him: Impeachment would be a hyperpartisan spectacle; But it’s not the only disciplinary option.” Law professor Aziz Huq has this essay online at The Washington Post.

Posted at 3:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“Clinic Presses Government to Release Documents About Prison Email Monitoring”: Michael Bazeley of Berkeley Law has a report that begins, “The law school’s Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic filed a lawsuit today in federal court to compel the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Department of Justice to release records related to the monitoring of email messages between federal inmates and their attorneys.”

This issue is likely to be of particular interest to lawyers who represent federal criminal defendants on appeal.

Posted at 3:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“Liberals Must Embrace a Bankrupt Judicial Philosophy to Have Any Chance of Winning at the Supreme Court”: Law professor Richard L. Hasen — author of the “Election Law Blog” — has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

And in recent related blog posts from elsewhere, at “Balkinization,” Mark Tushnet has a post titled “Originalism as Performed by the Supreme Court.”

At the Law and Liberty blog, John O. McGinnis has a post titled “Why Law Students Need to Learn More about Originalism.”

And in response to that post, at “Balkinization,” Eric Segall has a post titled “Originalism in the Classroom?

Posted at 2:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“How Young is Too Young to Be a Federal Court of Appeals Judge? Experience versus attitude.” Orin Kerr has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Now that Halloween is around the corner, the same question could be asked of U.S. Supreme Court Justices.

Posted at 2:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“Elitist or Egalitarian: Competing Views of Harvard Emerge in Bias Trial.” Anemona Hartocollis has this article in today’s edition of The New York Times.

In today’s edition of The Boston Globe, Deirdre Fernandes has a front page article headlined “E-mails show how donors are considered in Harvard admissions.”

Delano R. Franklin and Samuel W. Zwickel of The Harvard Crimson report that “In Admissions, Harvard Favors Those Who Fund It, Internal Emails Show.”

And yesterday evening’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered” contained an audio segment titled “Harvard Student Discusses Why She Opposes The University’s Admissions Process.”

Posted at 2:40 PM by Howard Bashman



“Could an Ex-Convict Become an Attorney? I Intended to Find Out. After serving time for a crime I committed at 16, I discovered how hard it is for a felon to get a second chance.” Reginald Dwayne Betts will have this article in this upcoming Sunday’s issue of The New York Times Magazine.

Posted at 1:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Conservative Group’s Closed-Door ‘Training’ of Judicial Clerks Draws Concern”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

This blog’s earlier coverage of the training program, from Tuesday, can be accessed here.

Posted at 1:07 PM by Howard Bashman



Masterpiece Cakeshop Redux: A conservative appeals court is poised to topple the entire framework of civil rights law.” Mark Joseph Stern has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.

And in news coverage of the oral argument, Emily Zantow of Courthouse News Service reports that “Videographers Argue For Right to Refuse Gay Couples.”

You can access the audio of Tuesday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit via this link. And you can access the court filings in the case here and here.

Posted at 1:00 PM by Howard Bashman