How Appealing



Thursday, February 21, 2019

“Supreme Court ruling has Florida police reassessing how they seize cars and cash; The 9-0 ruling struck at the heart of a practice derisively known as ‘policing for profit,’ where police can seize someone’s assets if they suspect it was involved in a crime”: Lawrence Mower and Zachary T. Sampson of The Tampa Bay Times have this report.

Posted at 9:54 PM by Howard Bashman



“Clarence Thomas wants to crush the free press just like Southern segregationists of the 1960s”: Columnist Will Bunch has this essay online at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Posted at 9:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pa. Supreme Court won’t hear ex-Penn State president’s appeal in Jerry Sandusky case”: Charles Thompson of The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania has this report.

Maddie Aiken of The Daily Collegian, the student newspaper of Penn State University, reports that “Graham Spanier’s appeal of conviction denied by Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”

And Mark Scolforo of The Associated Press reports that “Penn State ex-president Spanier’s request for appeal denied.”

You can access today’s order of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania at this link.

Posted at 6:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“American Democracy Is on the Supreme Court Docket; Three cases being heard this term could amplify the imbalance of power and influence in U.S. politics”: Matt Ford of The New Republic has this report.

Posted at 6:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Clarence Thomas Has a Point About Free-Speech Law; The constitutional foundations of New York Times v. Sullivan are not looking all that firm”: Law professor Cass R. Sunstein has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

Posted at 4:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Gov. Greg Abbott appoints Brett Busby to Texas Supreme Court; Busby, a former U.S. Supreme Court clerk, replaces Justice Phil Johnson, who retired after 13 years on the high court”: Emma Platoff of The Texas Tribune has this report.

Posted at 3:23 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court May Not Save the President This Time”: Brianne J. Gorod has this post at the “Take Care” blog.

Posted at 2:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Thomas, originalism and the First Amendment”: Lyle Denniston has this post at the “Constitution Daily” blog of the National Constitution Center.

Posted at 1:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“After Texas’ second Supreme Court loss in a death penalty case, reform bill lands key GOP support; The chairs of two House committees signed on as joint authors of a bill that would set the method of determining if a capital murder defendant is intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for execution”: Jolie McCullough of The Texas Tribune has this report.

Posted at 1:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate loses influential backer”: Riley Vetterkind of The Wisconsin State Journal has an article that begins, “In an unusual move, the Wisconsin Realtors Association has pulled its endorsement of conservative-backed Supreme Court candidate Brian Hagedorn following reports revealing the candidate’s anti-gay views and actions.”

Posted at 1:28 PM by Howard Bashman



“A religious group wants the Supreme Court to overturn N.J.’s ban on gay conversion therapy”: Susan K. Livio of NJ Advance Media has this report.

Posted at 1:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“A child custody dispute will get a new hearing because the judge became Facebook friends with the mother before his ruling”: Bruce Vielmetti has this front page article in today’s edition of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Todd Richmond of The Associated Press has a report headlined “Wisconsin court: Judge’s Facebook friendship could show bias.”

And Joe Forward of WisBar News reports that “Facebook ‘Friending’ Between Judge and Litigant Created Risk of Bias.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District III, at this link.

Posted at 1:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Powerful personal stories cut through the politics of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race”: Molly Beck and Patrick Marley of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have this report.

Posted at 1:07 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Jurisprudence of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy: Four Decades of Influence.” Hastings Law Journal hosted this symposium earlier this month.

More recently, UC Hastings College of the Law has posted on YouTube four videos from that event: “Justice Kennedy and the First Amendment“; “Justice Kennedy and Due Process“; “Justice Kennedy’s Overall Impact“; and “Orin Kerr on Justice Kennedy and the Counter-Majoritarian Difficulty.”

Sadly, thus far the video of the session in which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy himself participated has not been posted online.

Posted at 10:44 AM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Limits Civil Asset Forfeiture, Rules Excessive Fines Apply To States”: Nina Totenberg had this audio segment on today’s broadcast of NPR’s “Morning Edition.”

Posted at 10:31 AM by Howard Bashman



“Symposium To Discuss Future of Originalism; Event Features Re-Argument of Landmark Civil Liberties Case”: Mike Fox of the University of Virginia School of Law has this report.

Posted at 10:28 AM by Howard Bashman