How Appealing



Thursday, January 31, 2019

“Net Neutrality Rollback Faces Legal Challenges Testing Trump Agenda; Internet companies, consumer advocates and several states want to invalidate the Federal Communications Commission overturn of net neutrality”: Brent Kendall and John D. McKinnon of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Brian Fung of The Washington Post has an article headlined “Net neutrality heads to court tomorrow. Here’s what to expect.”

David Shepardson of Reuters reports that “U.S. appeals court, House panel to take up net neutrality.”

And Jon Brodkin of Ars Technica has a report headlined “Net neutrality court case preview: Did FCC mess up by redefining broadband? Ajit Pai’s net neutrality repeal faces legal test in oral arguments Friday.”

Posted at 10:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judicial Scramble Drill: The White House walks away from a bad deal but harms a good nominee.” This editorial will appear in Friday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Posted at 10:12 PM by Howard Bashman



“San Francisco’s Soda Health Warning Found Unconstitutional; Judges rule that city’s required wording on ads for sugary drinks violates First Amendment”: Jim Carlton of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Christopher Weber and Sudhin Thanawala of The Associated Press report that “Federal court again blocks San Francisco warning on soda ads.”

And Tina Bellon of Reuters reports that “U.S. court blocks San Francisco health warning on soda ads.”

You can access today’s en banc ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

Posted at 9:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Arkansas Supreme Court puts an end to Fayetteville non-discrimination ordinance. For now.” Max Brantley of Arkansas Times has a report that begins, “In a pair of cases today, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled definitively that state law overrides a Fayetteville ordinance meant primarily to extend civil rights protections to LGBT people.”

And Andrew DeMillo of The Associated Press reports that “Arkansas court rules city can’t enforce LGBT protections.”

The Supreme Court of Arkansas issued two related rulings today, and you can access them here and here.

Posted at 8:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federalist Society celebrates new, conservative-leaning Florida Supreme Court with fireworks at Walt Disney World”: Steven Lemongello of The Orlando Sentinel has this report.

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Courts Are Making a Killing on Public Records: A class action lawsuit backed by Joe Lieberman is challenging the excessive fees charged by PACER, the federal judiciary’s electronic document system.” Matt Ford of The New Republic has this report.

Posted at 7:34 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court candidate once wrote that gay rights ruling could lead to legalized bestiality”: Columnist Daniel Bice of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has an essay that begins, “Like many judicial candidates, state appeals court Judge Brian Hagedorn isn’t eager to discuss his positions on some of the most controversial issues of the day. But that wasn’t always the case. Hagedorn, who is running for the state Supreme Court, wrote a blog beginning in 2005 in which he addressed readers as ‘fellow soldiers in the culture wars’ while posting sometimes provocative comments on homosexuality and abortion.”

And The Associated Press reports that “Wisconsin high court candidate’s blog posts called ‘extreme.’

Posted at 7:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Yet another abortion law wants to return women to the dark ages”: Carla Hall has this essay online at The Los Angeles Times.

Posted at 5:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“‘The time has come’: The fraught history of lifetime tenure for Supreme Court justices; The Founders didn’t envision the issues posed by aging justices who weren’t ready to retire, one scholar says.” Michael S. Rosenwald of The Washington Post has this report.

Posted at 5:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Corpus Linguistics Comes to the Fourth Circuit (and that’s not a good thing!)” Carissa Byrne Hessick has this post at “PrawfsBlawg.”

Posted at 2:53 PM by Howard Bashman



“Marshall, the Dartmouth College Case, and Originalism”: Carson Holloway has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.

Posted at 2:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Register now to attend the 2019 Justice Donald L. Corbin Appellate Symposium, taking place March 28 & 29, 2019 in Fayetteville AR: You can register via this link. I will be attending both days of the symposium, and I will be speaking on the morning of the first day about a topic of particular interest to me, “Courts in the age of ‘New Media’: Seeking to Counteract the Decline in Mainstream Media Coverage of Appellate Courts.”

You can view the program’s agenda at this link, while bios of the speakers can be accessed here.

Kannon Shanmugam will be speaking about the latest developments at the U.S. Supreme Court. And the program is chock-full of federal and state appellate judges, both from within Arkansas and the Eighth Circuit and from other federal and state appellate courts.

I have learned over the nearly 17 years of this blog’s existence that “How Appealing” readers are located everywhere. Although I’ve been fortunate to have had numerous speaking engagements elsewhere within the Eighth Circuit, this event will be my very first speaking appearance in Arkansas. I hope to see you there!

Posted at 11:54 AM by Howard Bashman



Yesterday, retired Fourth Circuit Judge Andre M. Davis argued an appeal two appeals before his former court: You can access the oral argument audio via this link.

Apparently being a former judge doesn’t exempt you from having the final case on the oral argument list. The three-judge panel assigned to hear and decide the appeal consists of Circuit Judges Henry F. Floyd, Stephanie D. Thacker, and A. Marvin Quattlebaum Jr. (one of only six Article III judges whose last name begins with Q). Kevin Elliker describes the oral argument as “lively.”

Thanks to Eric Brignac for drawing this oral argument to my attention.

Update: And thanks to Kevin Elliker for pointing out on Twitter that Davis in fact had two arguments yesterday before the same Fourth Circuit panel. I linked above to the second argument. You can hear the audio of the first argument, in which Davis represented the appellee, via this link.

Posted at 11:32 AM by Howard Bashman



What, if anything, happens when the brother of a state Supreme Court Justice is under federal indictment for unlawful influence buying? We are about to find out in Pennsylvania. In today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jeremy Roebuck and David Gambacorta have a front page article headlined “Feds say Johnny Doc used Local 98’s money to buy influence, power, and a Philly councilman.” And Chris Brennan and Andrew Seidman have a front page article headlined “Indictment of Johnny Doc, Councilman Bobby Henon heaps scrutiny on Philly’s soda tax.”

You can view the indictment at this link.

Posted at 11:18 AM by Howard Bashman



“Eric Miller — Nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit”: At “The Vetting Room” blog, Harsh Voruganti has a post that begins, “Eric Miller is one of several clerks of Justice Clarence Thomas who are finding their way onto the bench (President Trump has already appointed ten to the federal bench).”

Posted at 10:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court’s conservatives appear poised to expand Second Amendment gun rights”: Richard Wolf of USA Today has this report.

Posted at 8:42 AM by Howard Bashman



“Gov. Bevin’s lawyers say Kim Davis failed to do her job as clerk, must pay the bill”: John Cheves of The Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader has an article that begins, “Citing ‘conduct that violates civil rights,’ lawyers for Gov. Matt Bevin say former Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis should be held responsible for nearly $225,000 in legal fees and court costs incurred by couples who sued her in 2015 when she refused to issue marriage licenses because of her religious opposition to same-sex marriage.”

Both this matter and a related matter are scheduled for oral argument this morning before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Circuit Judges Richard Allen Griffin, Helene N. White, and John K. Bush have been assigned to hear and decide the appeals. Once the oral argument audio becomes available online, I will link to it.

Posted at 8:33 AM by Howard Bashman



“Why This Victim of Blatant Racial Discrimination Struggled to Get a Fair Trial: The case of Johnny Lee Gates shows the unconscionable legal hurdles facing the wrongly convicted.” Andrew Cohen has this essay online at The New Republic.

Posted at 8:24 AM by Howard Bashman



“Family Ties at the Supreme Court: Do the political activities of Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife cross a line?” Linda Greenhouse has this essay online at The New York Times.

Posted at 8:22 AM by Howard Bashman