“A National Town Hall on Policing and the Constitution”: The National Constitution Center has posted on YouTube this program from earlier today, which included a conversation with Third Circuit Judge Theodore A. McKee.
“People Who Type Two Spaces After a Period Just Can’t Win; Two-spacers say the extra room after a sentence is easier on the eyes, but the one-spacers keep gaining ground”: In yesterday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal, James Hookway had a front page article that begins, “Ever since computers displaced typewriters, a rift has grown between people who put two spaces after a period and people who put one.”
“Equity and Juries in Patent Law; A cert petition to watch at the Supreme Court”: Samuel Bray has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
“Supreme Court asked to reconsider immunity available to police accused of brutality”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this article in today’s edition of The Washington Post.
Pete Williams of NBC News reports that “Supreme Court may consider making it easier to sue police for misconduct; The justices are weighing the issue known as ‘qualified immunity,’ which protects law enforcement.”
Devin Dwyer of ABC News reports that “‘Qualified immunity’ for police getting fresh look by Supreme Court after George Floyd death; The justices are reviewing cases on police misconduct and ‘qualified immunity.’”
Melissa Quinn of CBS News reports that “Supreme Court announcement on reexamining qualified immunity for police could come soon.”
Jamie Ehrlich of CNN reports that “The question before the Supreme Court is who polices the police.”
Jordan S. Rubin. Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson, and Porter Wells of Bloomberg Law have an article headlined “How the Law Shields Cops From Suit: Qualified Immunity Explained.”
Madison Pauly of Mother Jones has an article headlined “‘Qualified Immunity’ Gives Abusive Cops a Free Pass. Will the Supreme Court End It? Pressure to lift the shield for police who violate civil rights is growing.”
And online at Reason, Jacob Sullum has a blog post titled “5 Ways to Curtail Police Violence and Prevent More Deaths Like George Floyd’s; From tighter use-of-force rules to eliminating qualified immunity, here are some reforms that could make a real difference.”
“Chief Justice Roberts wisely defers to California governor in church challenge”: Meryl J. Chertoff has this essay online at The Hill.
“The Supreme Court, Too, Is on the Brink; The polarization roiling the country has the Supreme Court in its grip”: Linda Greenhouse has this essay online at The New York Times.
“Sheldon Whitehouse leads Democrats into battle against Trump judiciary”: Harper Neidig of The Hill has this report.
“CNN’s Brian Karem lands legal victory, court orders White House to restore credential”: Brian Flood of Fox News has this report.
Josh Gerstein of Politico reports that “Appeals court upholds order to restore reporter’s White House press pass; Journalist Brian Karem traded insults with Trump ally Sebastian Gorka after a Rose Garden event.”
Harper Neidig of The Hill reports that “Appeals court blocks White House from suspending reporter.”
Megan Mineiro of Courthouse News Service reports that “White House Must Return Playboy Reporter’s Pass, Court Affirms.”
Ted Johnson of Deadline reports that “White House Wrongly Suspended Playboy Correspondent Brian Karem’s Press Pass, Appeals Court Rules.”
And at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Appeals Court: White House’s Suspension of Press Pass Violates Due Process; Brian Karem won’t be suspended after appellate judges affirm the conclusion he wasn’t provided fair notice about the White House’s rules of decorum.”
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.
“He spent 23 years on death row for a Philly murder he said he didn’t commit. On Friday, a judge overturned his conviction.” Chris Palmer of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.
“The New Jersey Supreme Court is poised to have its first black female justice”: Andrew Seidman of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.
“Harvard Law School expects robust, high-quality online program for the fall 2020; The continuing public health crisis, limited availability of testing, and the need to give students time to plan informed HLS’ decision to continue remote teaching and learning next semester”: Harvard Law Today on Wednesday had this report on an announcement that the law school issued earlier that day.
In news coverage, Deirdre Fernandes of The Boston Globe reports that “Six Harvard graduate schools will hold only online classes this fall.”
“PROMESA and Original Understandings of the Territories’ Constitutional Status”: Gregory Ablavsky has this guest post at the “Balkinization” blog.
“A Profile of John J. Gleeson, the Trial Court’s Proposed ‘Friend Of The Court’ in the Michael Flynn Case”: Law professors Jeffrey Morris and Rodger Citron have this essay online at Justia’s Verdict.
“Murphy to nominate attorney to become first black woman to N.J. Supreme Court”: Brent Johnson of NJ Advance Media has this report.
Today, the office of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy issued a news release titled “Governor Murphy Announces Intention to Nominate Fabiana Pierre-Louis to Serve on the New Jersey Supreme Court.”
“Yada Yada Law School — Class 1 — Property Law, Prof. Sara Bronin”: You can view the video of the first hour-long lecture of this Seinfeld-inspired “law school” on YouTube via this link, as I and a family member who is now studying for the bar did together Wednesday night using my cell phone during our recent dericho-related power outage.
Recently received in the mail: I recently received in the mail a review copy of “Legal Writing: A Judge’s Perspective on the Science and Rhetoric of the Written Word,” by Tenth Circuit Judge Robert E Bacharach. The book weighs in at just 159 pages, making it one of the rare books on legal writing that one could actually read from cover-to-cover. And, once I have done so, I will hope to have more to say about it.
William H. Pryor, Jr. — long after he avoided becoming a member of the “Wallace McCamant club” — is now the Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit: Congratulations to “How Appealing” reader William H. Pryor, Jr. — who will never allow me to forget that I once asked whether he might become a member of the exclusive Wallace McCamant club — for instead becoming the Eleventh Circuit’s Chief Judge earlier this week.
Raychel Lean of the Daily Business Review reports that “11th Circuit Names New Chief Judge as Ed Carnes Takes Senior Status.”
In becoming Chief Judge, Pryor replaces “How Appealing” reader Ed Carnes, who has pledged to take senior status soon, and whose successor on that court the U.S. Senate confirmed back in February. As I noted in the March 2016 edition of the “Appellate Issues” publication, Carnes is among the baker’s dozen of my favorite federal appellate judge writers.
“Washington Supreme Court issues open letter calling on judicial, legal community to work together on racial justice”: Washington Courts issued this news release yesterday about a letter that the Supreme Court of Washington State issued yesterday addressed to judges and the legal community.
In news coverage, Alexis Krell of The News Tribune of Tacoma, Washington reports that “Washington state high court urged to ‘reflect on this moment,’ address racial justice.”
“En Banc Pa. Superior Court Panel Weighs if Power Tool Maker May Be Sued in Philadelphia; Husqvarna’s arguments are part of an effort by the company to keep the lawsuit out of Philadelphia, after a trial judge there determined that the company did not conduct enough business in Philadelphia — at least proportionally — to establish venue”: Max Mitchell of The Legal Intelligencer has this report on the case that I reargued on behalf of the plaintiffs before a nine-judge en banc panel of the Pa. Superior Court on Wednesday morning.
And in other coverage of the case, at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “First Amendment Right of Access Applies to Appellate Oral Arguments, and not just to trials.” My side of this case sought to keep the proceeding open to the public and the media, while the defendant fought to close the proceeding and filed a motion asking that the oral argument neither be videostreamed live on YouTube nor recorded for rebroadcast by Pennsylvania Cable Network.
Welcome back: On Wednesday morning, I had the pleasure of being the very first attorney in Pennsylvania history to argue by video before an en banc panel of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, whose nine judges were all also themselves participating by video. The oral argument wrapped-up between 11 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
At 12:25 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, my entire neighborhood lost power as a result of the tremendously strong dericho that stormed across the northern and western Philadelphia suburbs. In today’s edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Anthony R. Wood reports on the storms, which caused four deaths in the region and knocked out power for more than 400,000 customers, in an article headlined “‘Derecho,’ calm, and supercell thunderstorms a ‘rare’ and dangerous combination for Philly region.”
My local power company originally had predicted that we would get the power back by 11 p.m. last night. Early Thursday morning, the estimate was moved back to 11 p.m. tonight (Friday). Then, yesterday afternoon, the estimate was further pushed back to 11 p.m. Sunday night. Although it is now early June, yesterday the high temperature in my area reached 90 degrees, and the thermostat on the first floor of our house registered 80 degrees late yesterday afternoon even though we had closed the shades around the house yesterday morning to keep the sun out as much as possible.
Happily, shortly after 8 p.m. last night, our power was restored, and cable and internet service returned around an hour after that. The power outage lasted a little under 32 hours. According to the CDC, the contents of a full freezer can survive a power outage of up to 48 hours. Although my neighborhood was not among the first to have its power restored, we fortunately were also not among the last. I hope that others in region who are still awaiting the restoration of their power will likewise have it restored long before whatever their current estimates happen to be.