“Judges challenge DeSantis attorney about fairness of Amendment 4 bill; ‘Isn’t it punitive to say, “I will reinfranchise this group, but not reinfranchise this group?”‘ one judge asked”: Lawrence Mower of The Tampa Bay Times has a report that begins, “Three federal judges hearing a legal challenge to a Florida measure allowing felons to vote asked tough questions of the attorney for Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, repeatedly asking about the fairness of a subsequent bill that levied what critics called a ‘poll tax.'”
You can access via this link the audio of today’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.
“Chains, Shackles and Threats: Testimony on Torture Takes a Dramatic Turn; In a hearing at Guantánamo Bay, an architect of the C.I.A. interrogation program said he told the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks: ‘I will cut your son’s throat.'” Carol Rosenberg of The New York Times has this report.
And Terry McDermott of The Los Angeles Times reports that “CIA psychologist says he threatened to kill 9/11 plotter’s son.”
“Federal court says Arizona ‘ballot harvesting’ law discriminates against minority voters”: Andrew Oxford has this front page article in today’s edition of The Arizona Republic.
In today’s edition of The Arizona Daily Star, Howard Fischer has a front page article headlined “Appeals court: Arizona’s law banning ‘ballot harvesting’ is illegal.”
Bob Christie and Jacques Billeaud of The Associated Press report that “Appeals court throws out Arizona ballot harvesting law.”
John Bowden of The Hill reports that “Court rules Arizona GOP’s ballot law discriminates against minorities.”
MacKinley Lutes-Adlhoch of Cronkite News reports that “Court voids state ‘ballot harvesting’ ban, out-of-precinct voting rule.”
Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law reports that “Arizona Ballot Laws Tossed, U.S. Supreme Court Review Likely.”
And Brad Poole of Courthouse News Service reports that “En Banc Ninth Circuit Tosses Arizona Voting Rules as Discriminatory.”
You can access yesterday’s 7-to-4 ruling of an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.
“The Fifth Circuit & the Finality Trap; The en banc Fifth Circuit can disarm its finality trap, which occasionally precludes appeals when plaintiffs voluntarily dismiss some of their claims”: Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog.
“Appeals Court Finds Arizona Intended To Suppress Nonwhite Votes; Because racism”: Mark Joseph Stern has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
“As Clarence Thomas arrives to teach, some students protest”: Sarah Nelson has this front page article in today’s edition of The Gainesville Sun.
“Clarence Thomas speaks, but leaves many questions unanswered, in documentary”: Film critic Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post has this review of the new movie “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.”
Online at National Review, Kyle Smith has a movie review headlined “The Misunderstood Clarence Thomas: A superb documentary delivers a measure of justice to an extraordinary justice.”
Online at The Washington Post, columnist Kathleen Parker has a related essay titled “This may be Joe Biden’s worst nightmare.”
Episode 35 of “The Byron York Show” podcast is titled “Behind The Scenes Of The New Clarence Thomas Movie.”
And ManifoldProductions has posted trailers for the movie on YouTube here and here, and you can access additional video clips from the movie on YouTube via this link.
“Injunction upheld in campaign case; panel says Arkansas law likely unconstitutional”: Linda Satter of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette has this report.
And Mary Anne Pazanowski of Bloomberg Law reports that “Arkansas’ Campaign Contribution ‘Blackout Period’ Halted” (subscription may be required for full access).
You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit at this link.
“How Many Republican Votes Are Needed to Subpoena Bolton? 4, 3 or None? Scant precedent and gaps in written procedures make the rules for calling witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial debatable.” Charlie Savage of The New York Times has this report.
“Virginia finalizes passage of Equal Rights Amendment, setting stage for legal fight”: Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella of The Washington Post have this report.
“Water wars: Supreme Court gives Georgia, Florida 45 days to respond; Notice could signal oral arguments in long-running water rights case.” Tamar Hallerman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has this report.
“Ninth Circuit Clears ‘Fairbanks 4’ to Sue City for Malicious Prosecution”: Karina Brown of Courthouse News Service has this report on a ruling that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued last Wednesday.
“Impeachment by Day, Drum Solo by Night. More cowbell! Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, is the Beltway John Bonham, churning out propaganda rock with John Elefante from the band Kansas.” Tyler Foggatt has this Talk of the Town item in the February 3, 2020 issue of The New Yorker.
“Separating church and state is nothing like racial discrimination; Conservatives judges’ attempts to compare separation of church and state to racism are misguided”: Steven Mazie has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Wealth Test for Green Cards; The new policy revised the so-called public charge rule, making immigrants ineligible for permanent legal status if they use public benefits like Medicaid and food stamps”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.
Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court allows Trump administration to proceed with immigration rules.”
Brent Kendall of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Supreme Court Allows Trump to Implement Income-Based Restrictions on Immigration; Regulations expand the pool of people who could be considered a likely ‘public charge’ in the U.S.”
Richard Wolf of USA Today reports that “Supreme Court allows Trump policy against immigrants receiving public aid to go into effect.”
Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Supreme Court gives Trump go-ahead to deny immigrants who use welfare.”
Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Justices allow enforcement of new green card rule.”
Greg Stohr of Bloomberg News reports that “Trump’s Immigrant Wealth Test Cleared to Start by Supreme Court.”
Pete Williams of NBC News reports that “In 5-4 ruling, Supreme Court allows Trump plan to deny green cards to those who may need gov’t aid; DHS said last year that it would expand the definition of ‘public charge’ to be applied to people whose immigration to the U.S. could be denied because of a concern that they would primarily depend on the federal assistance.”
Ariane de Vogue of CNN reports that “5-4 Supreme Court allows rule that could reshape legal immigration to take effect.”
Shannon Bream and Bill Mears of Fox News report that “Supreme Court allows Trump administration to enforce ‘public charge’ immigration restriction.”
Susannah Luthi of Politico reports that “Supreme Court allows Trump to enforce ‘public charge’ immigration rule; The justices lifted a nationwide injunction against a sweeping policy targeting poor immigrants.”
And Harper Neidig of The Hill reports that “Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with ‘public charge’ rule.”
You can access today’s 5-to-4 order of the U.S. Supreme Court, and the opinion of Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, in which Justice Clarence Thomas joined, concurring in the grant of stay, at this link.
“John Roberts Can Call Witnesses to Trump’s Trial. Will He? Democratic House managers should ask the chief justice to issue subpoenas for John Bolton and others.” Law professors Neal K. Katyal and Joshua A. Geltzer and former U.S. Representative Mickey Edwards (R-OK) have this essay online at The New York Times.
And at “Just Security,” Aaron Astor has a post titled “How Chief Justice Chase in Johnson Impeachment Decided on Witnesses; An opening for Chief Justice Roberts?“
“Cassandra Moment”: You can access via this link today’s new installment of the “Strict Scrutiny” podcast, featuring law professors Melissa Murray and Leah Litman.
“A Proposal to Offset Prosecutors’ Power: The ‘Defender General’; If criminal defendants are to face a level playing field at the Supreme Court, a new article says, fundamental change is needed.” Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.
Access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: At this link. The Court did not grant review in any new cases, but the Court did call for the views of the Solicitor General in one case.
“Former federal judge, NAACP stalwart Nathaniel Jones dead at 93”: Mark Curnutte of The Cincinnati Enquirer has this report.
Mahoning Matters reports that “Judge Nathaniel Jones, local civil rights leader, dead at 93.”
And in commentary, online at The Cincinnati Enquirer, columnist Byron McCauley has an essay titled “Judge Nathaniel Jones ‘changed the world.’“
“Judge reinstates federal lawsuit against Augusta County investigator in dog killing”: Brad Zinn of The Staunton (Va.) News Leader has this report.
And Brad Kutner of Courthouse News Service reports that “Virginia Cop on the Hook for Killing Leashed Dog.”
You can access last Wednesday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit at this link.
“HSI, Caribbean Corridor Strike Force seize $24 million of cocaine, arrest 3”: The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued this news release back in August 2013.
More recently, in January 2019, the majority on a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit issued a decision rejecting the defendant’s constitutional challenge to his convictions under the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act that arose out of the August 2013 drug seizure.
Most recently, on January 17, 2020, the First Circuit issued this order granting rehearing en banc in this matter to reconsider the constitutional and international law issues that the appeal presents.
“D.C. Circuit revives First Amendment challenge to anti-sex trafficking bill”: Jan Wolfe of Reuters has this report (subscription required for full access).
Julie Steinberg of Bloomberg Law reports that “Challenge to Online Sex Trafficking Liability Law Reinstated” (subscription required for full access).
And Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued a news release titled “Victory! Lawsuit Challenging FOSTA Reinstated by Court; Judges Found Plaintiffs Have Standing to Sue.”
You can access Friday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.
“The Trump administration says the ERA is dead on arrival. It isn’t. Yes, the deadline for ratification has passed. But Congress has the power to change it.” Julie C. Suk has this essay in the Outlook section of today’s edition of The Washington Post.
“The loser of November’s election may not concede. Their voters won’t, either. It’s all too easy to imagine scenarios where the results are contested.” Law professor Richard L. Hasen — author of the “Election Law Blog” — has this essay in the Outlook section of today’s edition of The Washington Post.
The essay offers a preview of Hasen’s newest book, “Election Meltdown: Dirty Tricks, Distrust, and the Threat to American Democracy,” an advance copy of which arrived at my office last week. The book’s official on-sale date is February 4, 2020.
“A little ‘civility’ can be a dangerous thing. Even in the impeachment trial. When Chief Justice Roberts reminded advocates to avoid language ‘not conducive to civil discourse,’ he helped shift the focus from damning facts.” Steven Beschloss has this essay online at The Washington Post.
“Seeking new trial, ex-warlord living in Delco questions whether murders, rapes, torture, and cannibalism make him a genocidal war criminal”: Jeremy Roebuck had this article in Wednesday’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer.
You can access at this link the audio of Tuesday’s oral argument before a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
“Florida Supreme Court says unanimous jury not needed for death penalty in major reversal; ‘Death is indeed different,’ wrote the lone dissenting justice; ‘This Court has taken a giant step backward'”: Emily L. Mahoney of The Tampa Bay Times has this report.
Suzie Schottelkotte of The Ledger of Lakeland, Florida reports that “Back to death row for convicted Lakeland murderer.”
Jim Saunders of the News Service Of Florida has a report headlined “In a stunning reversal, Florida Supreme Court says death sentences don’t have to be unanimous.”
And online at Slate, Mark Joseph Stern has a jurisprudence essay titled “Florida Supreme Court Gives Itself the Power to Shred Liberal Precedent, Starting With Death Penalty Limits; Everything is up for grabs.”
You can access today’s lengthy per curiam ruling of the Supreme Court of Florida at this link.
“A ‘faithless elector’ betrayed his state’s voters. You won’t believe why. Colorado’s Micheal Baca had a far-fetched plan to stop Trump. Now it’s before the Supreme Court.” Adam Edelman of NBC News has this report.
“A Climate-Lawsuit Dissent That Changed My Mind: Twenty-one children brought a lawsuit arguing that the government needs to act on climate change; A federal court dismissed it.” Robinson Meyer has this essay online at The Atlantic.
“Seventh Cir. Slams Immigration Board’s ‘Defiance’ in Visa Case”: Brian Flood of Bloomberg Law has a report (subscription required for full access) that begins, “The Seventh Circuit harshly criticized the Board of Immigration Appeals for defying the court’s prior order in a case about the scope of immigration judges’ authority, and, rather than rewarding the board’s ‘effrontery’ and remanding again, held that a Mexican citizen in the U.S. is entitled to apply for a U visa.”
Circuit Judge Frank H. Easterbrook wrote today’s ruling on behalf of a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
“Michael Avenatti should not be in solitary confinement”: David Oscar Markus, author of “The SDFLA Blog,” has this essay online at The Hill.
“How Trump has reshaped the federal judiciary, 3 years into his presidency”: Maxim Lott of Fox News has this report.
“Activist or Restrained, the Current Court’s Movement is Often Directed by the Chief”: Adam Feldman has this post at his “Empirical SCOTUS” blog.
“Trump Acts Like a Politician. That’s Not an Impeachable Offense. Receiving a ‘political benefit’ does not transform an otherwise legal action (like requesting an investigation) into an abuse of power.” Law professor Josh Blackman has this essay online at The New York Times.
