How Appealing



Saturday, March 27, 2021

“As madness moves through March, SCOTUS considers NCAA case over athlete compensation”: Mark Walsh of ABA Journal has this report.

Posted at 10:04 PM by Howard Bashman



“They Were Guantánamo’s First Detainees. Here’s Where They Are Now. The Pentagon called the first 20 prisoners sent to Guantánamo in 2002 ‘the worst of the worst.’ Just two remain there. Others are spread around the world — including four senior Taliban figures.” Carol Rosenberg will have this article in Sunday’s edition of The New York Times.

Posted at 9:52 PM by Howard Bashman



“A law has empowered farmworkers for 46 years. The Supreme Court must let it be.” Jerry Brown and Miles Reiter have this essay online at The Washington Post.

Posted at 8:32 PM by Howard Bashman



“For the first time in its more than 100-year-old history, the [Ames Moot Court Competition] was conducted virtually, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.” Harvard Law School has posted on YouTube at this link the video of the competition’s final round, which occurred earlier this month. Justice Stephen G. Breyer presided over the virtual oral argument.

Harvard Law Today has a report headlined “Taking Ames: The 2020 Ames Moot Court Competition showcased some of HLS’ top advocates.”

Posted at 8:22 PM by Howard Bashman



“Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum: Reform of the Supreme Court?” Harvard Law School has posted this video on YouTube.

Rachel Reed of Harvard Law Today reports that “Is the Supreme Court broken? At the Harvard Law School Rappaport Forum, panelists agreed on the need to reform the nation’s highest court — but diverged on what that would mean.”

And Brett Milano of The Harvard Gazette has a report headlined “Reordering the court: With more Americans saying Supreme Court should be reformed, panelists suggest how to do so.”

Posted at 8:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Could the next Supreme Court justice be a Black woman from Minnesota? Candidate Joe Biden promised that, if elected, his first nomination for a vacancy on that court would be a Black woman jurist, the first of her kind on that bench.” Marshall H. Tanick has this essay online at MinnPost.

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court’s coming war with Joe Biden, explained; The Supreme Court is poised to give itself a veto power over much of the Biden administration’s authority”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.

Posted at 7:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ban Garamond? C’mon People, It’s Not Exactly Comic Sans. The D.C. Circuit Court would prefer to deliver justice in Times New Roman, thank you very much.” Law professor Stephen L. Carter has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.

Bloomberg Opinion’s extensive promotion of the essay on Twitter has caused “Garamond” to be trending at the moment.

Posted at 1:34 PM by Howard Bashman



“Appellants and Appellees are ordered to file supplemental briefing addressing the original public meaning of the Second Amendment.” So begins a detailed order that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued yesterday in an appeal from a federal district court’s denial of a preliminary injunction against a California law that bans the sale of firearms to adults over the age of 18 but under the age of 21.

The Ninth Circuit has scheduled oral argument of the appeal for May 12, 2021, but the identities of the judges on the three-judge panel assigned to hear and decide the appeal have not yet been made public.

Firearms Policy Coalition has made available for download via this link many of the relevant documents filed in the appeal and in the district court, including the opening brief for plaintiffs-appellants, the brief for defendants-appellees, and the reply brief for plaintiffs-appellants.

Posted at 1:30 PM by Howard Bashman



“Federal Appeals Court Suspends Larry Klayman from Practicing Law in D.C.” Jerry Lambe has this post at Law & Crime about a ruling that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit issued yesterday.

In earlier related coverage, Josh Gerstein of Politico had a report in September 2020 headlined “A conservative legal gadfly faces the music: Larry Klayman pioneered the slash-and-burn legal tactics that have become an endemic feature of American politics; Now, he faces the prospect of his own professional demise.”

Posted at 11:11 AM by Howard Bashman



“Court ordered to review detention of ‘zip tie guy’ suspect, mom in Capitol riot case”: Mariah Timms of The Tennessean has this report.

David Yaffe-Bellany of Bloomberg News reports that “Capitol Riot Ruling Separates Assaults, Plots From Cheering.”

Josh Gerstein of Politico reports that “Capitol riot defendants notch win at appeals court; In bail ruling, D.C. Circuit panel says non-violent participants in Jan. 6 breach may not pose ongoing danger.”

Zoe Tillman, Ken Bensinger, and Jessica Garrison of BuzzFeed News report that “A Court Made It Harder For Prosecutors To Keep Capitol Riot Defendants Behind Bars; The DC Circuit ruling was applied almost immediately to two defendants in the Oath Keepers conspiracy case who were granted bond.”

Celine Castronuovo of The Hill reports that “Federal court hands win to Capitol riot defendants, rules they may be eligible for release.”

And Erika Williams of Courthouse News Service reports that “Appeals Court Rules for Capitol Riot Suspects in Pretrial Detention Fight; The D.C. Circuit ordered a lower court to reconsider letting two people charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol walk free until their trials.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of a partially divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at this link.

Posted at 11:03 AM by Howard Bashman



“US court sides with photographer in fight over Warhol art”: Larry Neumeister of The Associated Press has this report.

Ian Mohr of The New York Post’s Page Six reports that “Court reverses Warhol Foundation legal win over ’80s Prince pics.”

Josh Russell of Courthouse News Service reports that “2nd Circuit Flays Fair-Use Defense to Warhol Prince Prints; The reversal breathes new life into copyright claims over Andy Warhol screen prints of Prince that shook up one photographer’s 1981 portrait of the beloved singer.”

And at the “THR, Esq.” blog of The Hollywood Reporter, Eriq Gardner has a post titled “Andy Warhol Foundation Suffers Big Copyright Defeat at Appeals Court; The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rules that Andy Warhol didn’t make fair use of a photographer’s image of Prince.”

Yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit consists of a unanimous opinion and two concurring opinions.

Posted at 10:52 AM by Howard Bashman



“Professor wins free-speech fight over gender pronouns”: Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times has this report.

Jonathan Stempel of Reuters has a report headlined “Ohio professor who rejected transgender pronouns can sue university: U.S. appeals court.”

Kevin Koeninger of Courthouse News Service reports that “University Can’t Force Professor to Use Students’ Preferred Pronouns, Panel Rules; An appeals panel reinstated First Amendment claims brought by a philosophy professor who was threatened with suspension or termination after he refused to call a transgender student by her preferred pronouns because of his religious beliefs.”

Nicholas Rowan of the Washington Examiner reports that “Appeals court rules for professor who refused to use transgender student’s preferred pronouns.”

And at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Eugene Volokh has a post titled “Pronouns in the University Classroom & the First Amendment; A federal appellate court lets a professor’s First Amendment claim go forward, in an opinion that powerfully protects faculty academic freedom more broadly.”

My earlier coverage of yesterday’s Sixth Circuit ruling can be accessed here.

Update: In other coverage, Derek Hawkins of The Washington Post reports that “A professor was reprimanded for refusing to use a transgender student’s pronouns. A court says he can sue.”

Posted at 10:38 AM by Howard Bashman