How Appealing



Monday, June 1, 2020

“Scott Peterson’s appeal for new trial to be heard by California Supreme Court”: Kevin Valine of The Modesto Bee has this report.

Posted at 11:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ohio Supreme Court assessing damage to building from weekend protests”: Laura Hancock of The Cleveland Plain Dealer has this report.

Posted at 11:11 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Rules on Pension, Immigrant Deportation Cases; Rulings were among several decisions issued as justices work to clear caseload during final month of their current term”: Brent Kendall and Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal have this report.

Posted at 10:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court rejects challenge to attorneys’ mandatory state bar dues”: Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has this report.

Posted at 10:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Old law could leave 2020 presidential race in stalemate; Conditions may be ripe for an ‘almost unintelligible’ provision to muddle the election”: Todd Ruger of Roll Call has this report.

Posted at 10:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Upholds Federal Response to Puerto Rico Debt; The case concerned the constitutionality of appointments to a government board charged with restructuring billions of dollars of debt”: Adam Liptak of The New York Times has this report.

Robert Barnes of The Washington Post reports that “Supreme Court upholds Puerto Rico oversight board from constitutional challenge.”

Jess Bravin and Andrew Scurria of The Wall Street Journal report that “Supreme Court Upholds Puerto Rico Oversight Board; Unanimous decision lets restructuring of $125 billion debt continue.”

Richard Wolf and Kristine Phillips of USA Today report that “Supreme Court lets Puerto Rico, after debt and disaster, avoid further upheaval.”

Mark Sherman of The Associated Press reports that “Supreme Court upholds Puerto Rico financial oversight board.”

Lawrence Hurley of Reuters reports that “U.S. Supreme Court upholds Puerto Rico financial oversight board appointments.”

Greg Stohr and Michelle Kaske of Bloomberg News report that “Puerto Rico Board Upheld by Supreme Court in Defeat for Bondholders.”

By Ariane de Vogue and Jamie Ehrlich of CNN report that “Supreme Court upholds constitutionality of board charged with reorganizing Puerto Rican debt.”

Ronn Blitzer and Shannon Bream of Fox News report that “Supreme Court upholds Obama appointment of oversight board dealing with Puerto Rico’s financial crisis.”

Tucker Higgins and Dan Mangan of CNBC report that “Supreme Court hands hedge fund loss, rules Puerto Rico financial oversight board is legal.”

Katy O’Donnell of Politico reports that “High court backs Puerto Rico oversight board in blow to hedge funds; The court ruled that the appointments are constitutional because the board’s powers are ‘quintessentially local,’ rather than federal.”

John Kruzel of The Hill reports that “Supreme Court backs financial board overseeing Puerto Rico’s debt.”

And Jack Rodgers of Courthouse News Service reports that “High Court Rules Against Vulture Fund in Puerto Rican Debt Case.”

Posted at 9:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ward Connerly Rides Again; The civil-rights champ allies with Asian-Americans against race discrimination”: Columnist William McGurn has this essay online at The Wall Street Journal.

Posted at 9:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Judge Sullivan says he is not required to ‘rubber stamp’ DOJ’s bid to dismiss Flynn case”: Ann E. Marimow and Carol D. Leonnig of The Washington Post have this report.

Charlie Savage of The New York Times reports that “Judge Asks Court Not to ‘Short Circuit’ His Review of Flynn Case; A lawyer for the trial judge told an appeals court why he wanted to examine the Justice Department’s ‘unusual’ request to dismiss the charge.”

Aruna Viswanatha of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Judge Seeks Time to Consider Motion to Dismiss Michael Flynn Case; U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan says Justice Department’s decision to drop case after guilty plea raises uncommon questions.”

Jeff Mordock of The Washington Times has reports headlined “Judge in Flynn case says he hasn’t decided if he’ll grant DOJ request to drop the case” and “DOJ: Judge has ‘no authority’ to reject request for dismissal in Flynn case.”

And Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein of Politico report that “DOJ urges appeals court to force dismissal of Flynn case; A lower-court judge has held up the dismissal, citing DOJ’s ‘unusual’ reversal.”

You can access Judge Sullivan’s brief at this link. And you can access the U.S. Department of Justice’s brief at this link.

Posted at 8:26 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump must be removed. So must his congressional enablers.” Columnist George F. Will has this essay online at The Washington Post.

Posted at 7:50 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Court Deals a Blow to a Pentecostal Church Just before Pentecost Sunday”: Carrie Campbell Severino has this post at the “Bench Memos” blog of National Review.

Posted at 7:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Roberts embraces role as Supreme Court swing justice, with latest church ruling”: Ronn Blitzer of Fox News has this report.

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



Has the long-awaited judicial trifecta finally been achieved? From time to time, an appellate judge deciding a case will write both the majority opinion and then separately issue a concurring opinion. On occasion, I have joked that if only that judge had also issued a dissenting opinion, then he or she would have achieved the never-before-seen judicial trifecta.

Last Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a published opinion in which Circuit Judge Edith H. Jones is credited with being both the author of the majority opinion and the author of an opinion dissenting in part. This to my knowledge is closer than any other federal appellate judge has ever come to achieving the trifecta. Indeed, she could have achieved this distinction without question had she merely titled her separate opinion as concurring in part and dissenting in part. (h/t Josh Block.)

Posted at 4:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“It wasn’t just religious liberty that Chief Justice Roberts strangled”: Andrew C. McCarthy has this essay online at The Hill.

Posted at 1:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court Extends Hunt for $3 Billion in Offshore Madoff Cash; Justices decline to shield European banks and other foreign investors from litigation over money they received from Ponzi scheme”: Andrew Scurria of The Wall Street Journal has this report.

Posted at 1:35 PM by Howard Bashman



Access today’s rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court in argued cases: The Court issued rulings in five argued cases.

1. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh delivered the opinion of the Court in Thole v. U.S. Bank N.A., No. 17-1712. Justice Clarence Thomas issued a concurring opinion, in which Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor isued a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, and Elena Kagan joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

2. Justice Kavanaugh also delivered the opinion of the Court in Nasrallah v. Barr, No. 18-1432. Justice Thomas issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

3. Justice Kagan delivered the opinion of the Court in Banister v. Davis, No. 18-6943. Justice Alito issued a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Thomas joined. You can access the oral argument via this link.

4. Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court in Financial Oversight and Management Bd. for Puerto Rico v. Aurelius Investment, LLC, No. 18-1334. Justices Thomas and Sotomayor each issued opinions concurring in the judgment. You can access the oral argument via this link.

5. And Justice Thomas delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court in GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS v. Outokumpu Stainless USA, LLC, No. 18-1048. Justice Sotomayor issued a concurring opinion. You can access the oral argument via this link.

Posted at 10:01 AM by Howard Bashman



“William Barr’s State of Emergency: The attorney general has long held an expansive view of presidential power; With multiple crises converging in the run-up to the 2020 election, he is busy putting his theories to work.” Mattathias Schwartz has this profile online at The New York Times Magazine.

Posted at 9:40 AM by Howard Bashman



“Campaign Funds for Judges Warp Criminal Justice, Study Finds; Judges in Harris County, Texas, were far more likely to appoint lawyers who had donated to their campaigns to represent poor criminal defendants”: Adam Liptak will have this new installment of his “Sidebar” column in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 9:36 AM by Howard Bashman



Access today’s Order List of the U.S. Supreme Court: At this link. The Court did not grant review in any new cases.

And in Jarchow v. State Bar of Wisc., No. 19–831, Justice Clarence Thomas issued a dissent, in which Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joined, from the denial of certiorari.

Posted at 9:31 AM by Howard Bashman