How Appealing



Thursday, September 29, 2022

“Justices shield spouses’ work from potential conflict of interest disclosures; Ginni Thomas, Jane Roberts and Jesse Barrett’s clients remain a mystery, fanning fears of outside influences”: Hailey Fuchs, Josh Gerstein, and Peter S. Canellos of Politico have this report.

Posted at 10:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court to hear 2 cases with major implications for 2024; The Court’s new term starts in October and includes significant voting cases”: Zach Montellaro of Politico has this report.

Posted at 9:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court starts new term in political spotlight, tilted right; Justices will consider affirmative action, the use of race in congressional redistricting and more in term beginning Monday”: Michael Macagnone of Roll Call has this report.

Posted at 9:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Supreme Court Returns on Monday, Stronger and More Terrible Than Ever; This term, the high court will cement its grip on political life in America, overturning affirmative action and other critical protections along the way”: Elie Mystal has this essay online at The Nation.

Posted at 9:35 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ginni Thomas Denies Discussing Election Subversion Efforts With Her Husband; In a closed-door interview with the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, Ms. Thomas reiterated her false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen from President Donald J. Trump”: Luke Broadwater and Stephanie Lai of The New York Times have this report.

And Jacqueline Alemany of The Washington Post reports that “Ginni Thomas falsely asserts to Jan. 6 panel that election was stolen, chairman says.”

Posted at 9:14 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court, dogged by questions of legitimacy, is ready to resume; A new term opens with public approval of the court at historic lows and the justices themselves debating what the court’s rightward turn means for its institutional integrity”: Robert Barnes of The Washington Post has this report.

Posted at 8:58 PM by Howard Bashman



“Senate confirms Arianna Freeman to US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, the first woman of color to join that bench; Freeman, of Philadelphia, was confirmed in a 50-47 vote that broke strictly along party lines; The vote came about two weeks after an initial attempt failed, when two Democrats were absent”: Jonathan Tamari of The Philadelphia Inquirer has this report.

And Nate Raymond of Reuters reports that “First Black woman to serve on Philadelphia appeals court approved by U.S. Senate.”

Posted at 8:16 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Yaliest of All Torts: Wrongful Interference with Clerkship Opportunities; The Yale Law School DinnerPartyGate lawsuit (Stubbs v. Gerken) can go forward on an interference with prospective business relationships claim, based in large part on the law school’s alleged interference with plaintiffs’ clerkship opportunities, though the other claims are dismissed.” Eugene Volokh has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy” about a ruling that the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut issued today.

Posted at 8:10 PM by Howard Bashman



“Split deepens on incentive awards for class representatives”: Alison Frankel’s “On the Case” from Reuters has a post that begins, “The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals just made it clear that the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide whether lead plaintiffs in class actions are entitled to a nominal fee for their work on behalf of the class.”

You can access yesterday’s ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link.

In other coverage of the ruling, Brendan Pierson of Reuters has a report headlined “Apple’s $310 mln iPhone throttling settlement must be reconsidered — court.”

Mike Leonard of Bloomberg Law reports that “Apple’s $310 Million iPhone Settlement Rejected on Appeal.”

And Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports that “Ninth Circuit Tosses Class Settlement in ‘Batterygate’ Suit; Panel Says Judge Erred in Applying Presumption of Fairness and Reasonableness.”

Posted at 8:03 PM by Howard Bashman



“Trump-appointed judge boycotts Yale for law clerks over ‘cancel culture'”: Nate Raymond of Reuters has this report.

Avalon Zoppo, Brad Kutner, and Christine Charnosky of The National Law Journal have a report headlined “In Slamming ‘Cancel Culture,’ Judge James Ho Boycotts Yale Law Clerks; ‘I very much doubt that any liberal-leaning students had any desire to clerk for him, so his decision ironically only adversely impacts conservative-leaning Federalist Society members who agree with him ideologically,’ one Yale law student said.”

And at “The Corner” blog of National Review, Isaac Schorr has a post titled “Judge Ho’s Misguided Answer to Illiberalism at Yale.”

Posted at 7:44 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court ready to tackle free speech, affirmative action and election law in new term”: Mark Walsh has this report online at ABA Journal.

Posted at 7:31 PM by Howard Bashman



“Cannon rules Trump lawyers don’t have to clarify claims on Mar-a-Lago documents; Special master Raymond Dearie had told Donald Trump’s attorneys lawyers to address whether documents were planted or declassified”: Perry Stein of The Washington Post has this report.

Posted at 5:48 PM by Howard Bashman



“Just Call Supreme Court Justices ‘Republicans’ and ‘Democrats’; Judges love talking publicly about how they do law, not politics; Journalists don’t need to tell this fairy tale any longer”: Jay Willis has this post at Balls and Strikes.

Posted at 5:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“A Prominent Federal Judge Declares He Will No Longer Hire Clerks From Yale Law School; And he’s trying to get his fellow judges to join his boycott of YLS clerks — will it work?” David Lat has this post at his “Original Jurisdiction” Substack site.

Posted at 4:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“Ginni Thomas meets with January 6 committee for more than 4 hours”: Annie Grayer, Sara Murray, Kristin Wilson, Andrew Millman, and Paul LeBlanc of CNN have this report.

Summer Concepcion, Haley Talbot, and Ali Vitali of NBC News report that “The Jan. 6 committee interviewed Ginni Thomas following questions about ‘fake elector’ scheme; Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was interviewed at the Capitol Thursday morning.”

Farnoush Amiri and Michael Balsamo of The Associated Press report that “Virginia Thomas appears for interview with Jan. 6 panel.”

And Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan of Reuters report that “Wife of Supreme Court justice meets with U.S. Capitol riot committee.”

Posted at 3:25 PM by Howard Bashman



“Exclusive: Federal Judge Vows to Stop Hiring Law Clerks from Yale Law School; ‘Yale not only tolerates the cancellation of views — it actively practices it,’ Judge James C. Ho said.” Nate Hochman of National Review has this report.

Posted at 2:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Chief Justice Roberts is in the spotlight as the Supreme Court tackles race cases; Conservative arguments in favor of a ‘colorblind’ Constitution could appeal to Roberts as the new term begins”: Lawrence Hurley of NBC News has this report.

Posted at 1:05 PM by Howard Bashman



“Supreme Court investiture marks another historic first for Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson”: Joan Biskupic of CNN has this report.

Posted at 1:02 PM by Howard Bashman



“Senate Confirms Public Defender Arianna Freeman to 3rd Circuit After First Vote Failed; Arianna Freeman will be the first Black woman to sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit”: Avalon Zoppo of The National Law Journal has this report.

And Madison Alder of Bloomberg Law reports that “Freeman Confirmed as Third Circuit’s First Woman of Color.”

Update: You can access the official roll call vote tally of today’s U.S. Senate confirmation of Arianna J. Freeman to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, by a vote of 50-to-47, at this link.

Insofar as I have been able to determine, this is the very first time that the U.S. Senate has confirmed a federal judicial nominee on reconsideration after voting to reject the nomination earlier in the same session.

Posted at 12:57 PM by Howard Bashman