How Appealing



Tuesday, February 11, 2020

“Senate Republicans confirm Trump’s 51st federal appeals court judge; McConnell: ‘My motto for the year is “leave no vacancy behind.”‘” Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has this report.

Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that “Despite criticism, Senate confirms Trump appointee to appellate court.”

Howard Koplowitz of Alabama Media Group reports that “Senate confirms Alabama Judge Andrew Brasher for federal appeals court post.”

Madison Alder of Bloomberg Law reports that “Trump Pick Confirmed, Boosts 11th Cir. Conservative Lean.”

And Tim Ryan of Courthouse News Service reports that “Former Alabama Official Confirmed to Seat on 11th Circuit.”

Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Brasher (M.D. Ala.) to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit by a vote of 52-to-43.

When Judge Brasher joins the Eleventh Circuit, that court’s current Chief Judge — Ed Carnes — will take senior status. As a result, the Eleventh Circuit will have a new chief judge — William H. Pryor Jr.

Posted at 9:37 PM by Howard Bashman



“Upcoming Supreme Court cases put private schools’ ‘ministerial exception’ in spotlight”: Christopher Vondracek of The Washington Times has this report.

Posted at 9:21 PM by Howard Bashman



“Barr takes control of legal matters of interest to Trump, including Stone sentencing; Barr’s intervention in Roger Stone’s case wasn’t the first time senior political appointees reached into a case involving an ex-Trump aide, officials say”: Carol E. Lee, Ken Dilanian, and Peter Alexander of NBC News have this report.

Aruna Viswanatha and Byron Tau of The Wall Street Journal report that “Prosecutors Quit Roger Stone Case After Justice Department Seeks Less Prison Time; Moves come after Trump criticized the initial sentence recommendation; Democrats see improper influence by president.”

Philip Rucker and Paul Kane of The Washington Post report that “Trump escalates campaign of retribution as Republican senators shrug.”

And online at Bloomberg Opinion, law professor Noah Feldman has an essay titled “Trump Has Hijacked Roger Stone’s Sentencing; The president would like some leniency for the man who lied for him.”

Posted at 8:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Prosecutors quit amid escalating Justice Dept. fight over Roger Stone’s prison term”: Matt Zapotosky, Devlin Barrett, Ann E. Marimow, and Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post have an article that begins, “All four career prosecutors handling the case against Roger Stone, a confidant of President Trump, asked to withdraw from the legal proceedings Tuesday — and one quit his job entirely — after the Justice Department signaled it planned to reduce their sentencing recommendation for the president’s friend.”

And Josh Gerstein and Daniel Lippman of Politico report that “Three prosecutors exit Roger Stone case after DOJ shifts to urge lighter sentence; The moves come as Trump has expressed his displeasure with the proposed 7-to-9 year prison term for his longtime adviser.”

Posted at 6:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“The ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment could lead to an Article V Constitutional Convention; If states cannot rescind their ratification proposals, then 2/3 of the states may have already voted to call an Article V Constitutional Convention for the Balanced Budget Amendment”: Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 2:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“NFL Asks Supreme Court to Hear Case That Could Shake Up Live Sports Telecasting; In a cert petition, the league says that broadcasts of games depend on cooperation — and that the Ninth Circuit discounted this when reviving an antitrust lawsuit over ‘Sunday Ticket'”: Eriq Gardner has this post at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter. You can access the cert. petition at this link.

Posted at 1:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ruth Bader Ginsburg probably just dealt a fatal blow to the Equal Rights Amendment; A half-century-long fight for equality is likely at an end”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

Posted at 1:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Justice Ginsburg calls for renewed effort to pass Equal Rights Amendment”: Mark Walsh has this report online at ABA Journal.

Posted at 1:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“Bernie Sanders’s radical plan to fix the Supreme Court — One possible version: What if the Court had 188 justices?” Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

Posted at 1:24 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge who sealed documents relating to her home in beach community gets reversed by Appellate Court”: Jon Lender of The Hartford Courant has this report on a matter that may be familiar to readers of “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 12:18 PM by Howard Bashman



“The U.S. Military Is Not Ready for a Constitutional Crisis: When I joined the navy, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution; But not once, in all of my training, did I receive meaningful instruction on the document to which I had pledged my life.” Ken Harbaugh has this essay online at The Atlantic.

Posted at 11:45 AM by Howard Bashman



“Ruth Bader Ginsburg says deadline to ratify Equal Rights Amendment has expired: ‘I’d like it to start over.'” Ariane de Vogue of CNN has this report.

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Josh Blackman has a post titled “Justice Ginsburg maintains her position that the deadline to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment has passed; Litigation concerning the ratification of the ERA is pending in federal court in Alabama, Massachusetts, and D.C.

You can view the video of Justice Ginsburg’s Georgetown Law appearance yesterday evening via this link.

Posted at 9:50 AM by Howard Bashman