“‘Dumb, dumb, dumb!’ my Grandpa Harold would exclaim when I tried to explain a legal concept that made little sense.” So begins a concurring opinion that Ninth Circuit Judge John B. Owens issued today.
Not sure what to make of the third paragraph of Judge Owens’s concurring opinion, however:
We should avoid doing dumb things. Especially ones that are dumb3.
The call for footnote 3 is also puzzling, as the concurrence contains no footnotes (let alone three), and the majority opinion contains way more than three footnotes. (Perhaps this is some movie dialogue reference as to which I’m sadly unfamiliar?)
Update: A reader emails to opine that “3” is not a footnote but rather an exponent, meaning dumb to third power. That helps explain things. I plead guilty to being dumb to the second power for not recognizing that originally. (I might have spelled it out as “dumb cubed,” but then no one has appointed me to the Ninth Circuit.)
Second update: Dumb to the third power confirmed by the opinion’s author. And here’s the grandfather to whom the opinion refers.
“How Have Judges Responded To The Press? Chief Justice Marshall wrote pseudonymous editorials after McCulloch v. Maryland. Justice Stewart wrote a letter to the editor of the WSJ after Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Company.” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
“Anger, leaks and tensions at the Supreme Court during the LGBTQ rights case”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this exclusive report.
“More Leaks From The Supreme Court, All Of Which Make Roberts Look Powerful; Why are ‘multiple sources familiar with the inner workings of the court’ talking to the press?” Josh Blackman has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
Insert obligatory Mike Judge reference here: In response to my post this morning titled “Judge Judge and Judge Jury” — which has been receiving rave reviews if reader email is any guide — one such reader emails to note that Michael T. Judge currently serves as a judge for the Oconto County Circuit Court, Branch 1, in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, the other Mike Judge is apparently hard at work ensuring that future “How Appealing” posts can continue to feature endless “Beavis and Butt-Head” references.*
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*Alas, more than three years later, I’m also still awaiting my first real Bibas and Butt-Head reference (assuming this one doesn’t count).
“Conservatives Are Winning The Supreme Court’s Most Important Fight: Suppressing The Vote; Enabling widespread voter suppression is shaping up to be the Roberts Court’s most consequential accomplishment, because every other aspect of the Republican agenda depends on it.” Jay Willis has this essay online at The Appeal.
“The constitutionality of federal mask mandates”: Law professors James Phillips and John Yoo have this essay online at The Orange County Register.
“What Originalism Conserves”: Ilan Wurman has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.
“Two Trump-Appointed Judges Rejected Calls To Step Aside From A Florida Voting Rights Fight; 11th Circuit Judges Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck disputed that they were disqualified from a case because they participated in a related case as state supreme court judges”: Zoe Tillman of BuzzFeed News has this report on an opinion the two Eleventh Circuit judges issued today.
“Gorsuch Doesn’t Give a ‘Fig’ What You Think, Just Like Mentor”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law has this report.
Judge Judge and Judge Jury: Online at the National Judicial College, John C. Judge — a state district court judge in Latah County, Idaho — has an essay titled “Judge Squared.” Judge Judge became, um, a full-fledged judge (having formerly served as a state magistrate) in September 2018, and you can access some local news coverage here and here.
Given how my brain “works,” the news of this essay’s publication has caused me to wonder what’s up these days with Judge Jury. As I noted in this “How Appealing” post from February 2012, Meredith A. Jury was then serving on the Ninth Circuit‘s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel, causing her to be only an executioner away from many people’s favorite beer. As it turns out, Judge Jury is now former Judge Jury, having returned to private practice in 2018 after realizing that becoming an executioner while located in the Ninth Circuit was highly unlikely.
“The Supreme Court’s Pro-Partisanship Turn”: Law professor Richard L. Hasen has this article at The Georgetown Law Journal Online.
“Chief Justice Roberts and Injunctive Relief: The Chief Justice’s votes against injunctive relief for churches, voters, and those on death row are of a piece.” Jonathan H. Adler has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
“‘We will not be betrayed again’: Trump’s SCOTUS list hits a new roadblock; The president wants to rev up his supporters in the culture wars; His advisers now face a battle over whether some judges are reliable enough for the right.” Gabby Orr of Politico has this report.
“Appeals After Ordering (Class-Wide) and Rejecting (Individual) Arbitration; The Ninth Circuit held that an order granting class-wide arbitration — and rejecting a request for individual arbitration — was not appealable”: Bryan Lammon has this post at his “final decisions” blog about an unpublished opinion that a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued Friday.
“The Federal Death Penalty Can Be Administered Fairly; A top Justice Department official says for many Americans the death penalty is a difficult issue on moral, religious and policy grounds; But as a legal issue, it is straightforward”: Deputy U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen has this essay online at The New York Times.
“Inside John Roberts’ surprising streak of liberal wins”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this exclusive report.
Biskupic appeared on this morning’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day” to discuss her new article, and CNN has posted the video of her appearance titled “Understanding John Roberts’ surprising streak of liberal wins.”
“Inside the Violent and Misogynistic World of Roy Den Hollander: He was known for his hatred of women and frivolous lawsuits; Then he killed the son of a New Jersey federal judge before taking his own life, officials said.” Nicole Hong, Mihir Zaveri, and William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times have this report.
“Gov. Doug Ducey to Arizona Supreme Court: Toss bar owners’ challenge to his authority.” Howard Fischer of The Arizona Daily Star has an article that begins, “Gov. Doug Ducey is asking the Arizona Supreme Court to throw out a challenge to his authority filed by dozens of bar owners, in a case that will determine the scope of gubernatorial power.”
“Sen. Hawley lays down new antiabortion marker for Supreme Court nominees”: Robert Costa of The Washington Post has an article that begins, “Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Sunday that he would not support any future nominee for the Supreme Court unless they had publicly stated before their nomination that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that established federal protection for abortion, was ‘wrongly decided.'”
“Texas 5th Court of Appeals Justice David Bridges killed in wrong-way crash with suspected drunk driver”: Mathew Richards of inForney has this report.
“Right to farm: Indiana families ask U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on case over factory farm.” Sarah Bowman of The Indianapolis Star has an article that begins, “A local environmental group believes that Indiana’s Right to Farm Act violates the federal constitution, and they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in.”
“Louisiana Supreme Court says coronavirus-stricken judge can skip election paperwork for now”: Andrea Gallo of The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana has an article that begins, “Campaign officials for an East Baton Rouge district judge incapacitated by the novel coronavirus filed paperwork Friday to place him on the Nov. 3 ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled that extraordinary circumstances caused by a worldwide pandemic shouldn’t disqualify him.”
“Supreme Court decision reignites the fight over Utah’s 18-week abortion law”: Bethany Rodgers of The Salt Lake Tribune has this report.
“The Supreme Court Built America’s Broken Policing System And It’s Working Just As Intended; For over 50 years, the court has provided ‘super powers’ to American police that free them to stop and frisk, use deadly force and evade accountability”: Paul Blumenthal of HuffPost has this report.
“Conservatives Slam ‘Swamp-Infected’ John Roberts After Nevada Church Ruling: ‘National Disgrace.'” Daniel Politi of Slate has this report.
“Republicans will fill a Supreme Court vacancy this year if they get one. But that could backfire. Making the court grounds for an endless cycle of retaliation and counter-retaliation between the parties is a constitutional crisis that no one needs.” Scott Lemieux has this essay online at NBC News.
“Amicus Presents: The Class of RBG, Part 2; Ruth Bader Ginsburg and two of her classmates discuss their lives from Harvard Law School through today.” Slate has posted online this new installment of its “Amicus” podcast featuring Dahlia Lithwick.
“Democrats Couldn’t Stop a Third Trump Supreme Court Nominee; Liberals don’t have a lot of options other than praying for the health of Ruth Bader Ginsburg”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.
“Judge overturns $200 ethics fine for R.I. Supreme Court justice; Superior Court judge says Ethics Commission never showed that Justice Flaherty’s failure to disclose position on Catholic group was ‘deliberate or intentional'”: Edward Fitzpatrick of The Boston Globe has this report.
In earlier coverage, back in March, Fitzpatrick had an article headlined “High court judge spends a year fighting low-dollar fine; A R.I. Supreme Court justice has been fighting a $200 ethics fine for months — using a taxpayer-funded insurance policy.”
“Conservatives blast Supreme Court ruling: Roberts ‘abandoned his oath.'” Marty Johnson of The Hill has an article that begins, “Conservative lawmakers blasted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts after he sided with the court’s liberal wing in a 5-4 decision Friday that rejected a Nevada church’s request to block the state government from enforcing a cap on attendance at religious services.”
In commentary, online at Vox, Ian Millhiser has an essay titled “The Supreme Court’s surprising decision on churches and the pandemic, explained; Nevada churches brought an unusually strong challenge to the state’s public health rules, but they lost anyway.”
And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Josh Blackman has a post titled “The Three Dissents in Calvary Chapel Dayton Valley v. Sisolak.”
“Misogynistic Lawyer Who Killed Judge’s Son Had List of Possible Targets; The list was found after the lawyer killed himself and had more than a dozen names, including three other judges and two doctors”: William K. Rashbaum of The New York Times has this report.
And WBGO Radio, Newark, New Jersey’s NPR affiliate, reports that “Murder of Federal Judge’s Son comes amidst Surge in Threats on Jurists and Their Families.”
“Federal judge blocks rollout of Tennessee’s strict new abortion restrictions as court weighs law’s fate”: Mariah Timms has this front page article in today’s edition of The Tennessean.
“Texas Bar Fees Don’t Compel Speech, Legal Ethics Attorneys Say”: Martina Barash of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Trump administration has put DACA applications ‘on hold’ despite Supreme Court ruling restoring program”: Emily Davies of The Washington Post has this report.
