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Wednesday, May 21, 2008 "Court rules U.S. paper money discriminates against blind people; The look and feel of America's currency may have to change after a ruling that the blind and visually impaired don't have reliable access to use of paper bills": David G. Savage has this article today in The Los Angeles Times. My earlier coverage of yesterday's D.C. Circuit ruling appears at this link. "Va. Abortion Law Overturned Again; Late-Term Ban Ruled Stricter Than U.S. Curb": Robert Barnes has this front page article today in The Washington Post. And The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that "4th Circuit panel again strikes down Virginia's late-term-abortion ban." You can access yesterday's Fourth Circuit ruling appears at this link. "Air Force major wins one round against 'don't ask, don't tell'": The Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides this news update. And The Associated Press reports that "Court reinstates nurse's suit over 'don't ask, don't tell.'" My earlier coverage of today's Ninth Circuit ruling appears at this link. "Voters can't bar waste from Hanford, court says": The Seattle Post-Intelligencer provides a news update that begins, "Washington citizens had no right to bar the federal government from dumping additional waste at the Hanford nuclear reservation, a federal appeals court decided Wednesday. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down I-297, a 2004 voter-passed initiative, saying it is in conflict with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954." And The Associated Press provides a report headlined "Appeals court: Hanford initiative no good." You can access today's ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit at this link. "Which States Have the Best (and Worst) High Courts?" Stephen J. Choi, Mitu Gulati, and Eric A. Posner have posted this article (abstract with links for download) online at SSRN (via "Legal Theory Blog"). Posted at 03:12 PM by Howard Bashman "Is John Yoo a Monster? The president asked John Yoo to define torture. He did it. Are Yoo's 'torture memos' one of the most heinous mistakes in American history -- or could he have been right?" John H. Richardson has this article (single-page version available at this link) in the June 2008 issue of Esquire magazine. (Via "InstaPundit.") As an online extra, the magazine has posted the text of Yoo's answers to his interviewer's questions at this link (access the lengthy single-page version of the answers here). "Snipes seeks bond as he appeals tax convictions": The Associated Press provides this report. Posted at 02:47 PM by Howard Bashman Three-judge Ninth Circuit panel revives constitutional challenge to military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy: The lawsuit in question was filed by a woman who was suspended from duty as an Air Force reservist nurse on account of her sexual relationship with a civilian woman. Today's ruling reinstates the plaintiff's substantive and procedural due process challenges to the policy but affirms the dismissal of the plaintiff's equal protection challenge. Today's majority opinion, written by Circuit Judge Ronald M. Gould and joined in by Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber, concludes: The issues posed by this case might generate great concern both from those who welcome Major Witt's continued participation in the Air Force and from those who may oppose it. Those issues must be, and have been, addressed in the first instance by leaders of the military community and by those in Congress with law-making responsibilities. All of Congress's laws must abide by the United States Constitution, however. Taking direction from what the Supreme Court decided in Lawrence and Sell, we hold that DADT, after Lawrence, must satisfy an intermediate level of scrutiny under substantive due process, an inquiry that requires facts not present on the record before us.Senior Circuit Judge William C. Canby issued an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. Judge Canby writes that he also would have ordered the revival of the plaintiff's equal protection claim and that he would subject the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy to strict scrutiny, rather than intermediate scrutiny as the majority has ordered. Posted at 01:00 PM by Howard Bashman David L. Hudson Jr. of the First Amendment Center examines the state of the law regarding "true threats": You can access his analysis at this link. Posted at 12:50 PM by Howard Bashman "Phelps family loses in court; In another case, sides argue tax status of truck": Today's edition of The Topeka Capital-Journal contains an article that begins, "Whether the picket signs carried by members of Westboro Baptist Church carry religious or political messages is at issue on whether the church has to pay tax on the pickup truck used to carry the signs. But the decision may be irrelevant if the church's appeal of a federal court decision in Maryland fails." Posted at 12:45 PM by Howard Bashman "Last Topeka Brown plaintiff dies": This article appears today in The Topeka Capital-Journal. And The AP reports that "Last surviving Brown v. Board plaintiff dies at 88." "Ark. judge who sought free speech voted off bench": The Associated Press provides a report that begins, "An appeals court judge who successfully battled an ethics panel for the right to criticize President Bush and the war in Iraq was voted off the bench Tuesday, six years after his remarks first attracted controversy. Wendell Griffen, a Baptist minister who joined the state's second-highest court in 1996, lost decisively to a juvenile court judge. His opponent did not discuss Griffen's comments during the campaign but credited them in part for her victory." And The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports today that "Gruber unseats Griffen on court; In two other appellate bench bids, Henry, Brown claim open posts." "A Discomfiting Threat to Free Speech": The New York Times today contains an editorial that begins, "The Supreme Court upheld a law on Monday that sweeps too broadly in its attempt to ban child pornography, which is repellent and illegal. Those who traffic in it must be punished, but this law is drawn in a way that also criminalizes speech that should be protected by the First Amendment." Posted at 08:34 AM by Howard Bashman "Inmate's pleas for a stay too late": Today's edition of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contains an article that begins, "A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that a condemned inmate waited too long to challenge Georgia's method of execution, lethal injection. Samuel David Crowe is to be executed Thursday for a murder he admitted to 20 years ago, the slaying of Joseph V. Pala, manager of Wikes Lumber Co. in Douglasville. Crowe would be the second person put to death in Georgia in 16 days." You can access yesterday's ruling of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit at this link. "Ga. Supreme Court Hears Key Case on Vaccine Suits; Manufacturers ask justices to overturn lower court finding that vaccine suits aren't automatically pre-empted by federal law": law.com provides this report. Posted at 08:25 AM by Howard Bashman "Judge's resignation leaves questions; Date has passed, but status unknown": The Boston Globe today contains an article that begins, "First he resigned. Then he unresigned, or at least tried to. Now, five days after his resignation was to take effect, it's anybody's guess whether Robert Somma, the US Bankruptcy Court judge who was arrested in February while wearing a dress and was later charged with drunken driving, is still employed by the federal judiciary." And this week's issue of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly contains an article headlined "No news on Somma resignation." "Supremes on road: Comedy, marketing." At "The Swamp" blog of The Chicago Tribune, Steven Schmadeke has a post that begins, "John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court justices from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, were in Chicago Monday and spoke about something on which they apparently agree - how good Scalia's new book is." And The Associated Press provides a report headlined "Scalia: A Courtroom Is Not a Cocktail Party." "Agee's move to federal court could spark another Va. political feud": Today's edition of The Richmond Times-Dispatch contains an article that begins, "The elevation of a Virginia Supreme Court justice to a Richmond-based federal appeals court could trigger more partisan squabbling over a prized state judgeship. The U.S. Senate yesterday backed Associate Justice G. Steven Agee for the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with a 96-0 vote." The Virginian-Pilot reports today that "Warner, Webb join to usher in judge, confirmed despite partisan sparring." And The Roanoke Times reports that "Senate confirms Agee for judgeship; The justice, voted in unanimously, was a recommendation of Sens. Webb and Warner." "Ex-chief justice scores lawsuit over Pa. pay raise": The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today contains an article that begins, "Former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy yesterday said a lawsuit alleging that he negotiated a plaintiff's rights in exchange for a larger paycheck for himself and fellow justices was 'preposterous,' and he criticized both the League of Women Voters, who filed the suit, and its lawyer. A second Supreme Court justice and the House Republican leader yesterday issued angry denunciations of the lawsuit, which they called frivolous and even slanderous." The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania today contains an article headlined "Chief justice warns League, attorney of repercussions" that begins, "The chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said the League of Women Voters 'slanders' the court and its former chief justice in a federal lawsuit, and he warned the group and its attorney could face repercussions." The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that "Sanctions threatened over suit involving slots, pay raises." The newspaper also contains an editorial entitled "The Cappy lawsuit." The Morning Call of Allentown, Pennsylvania reports that "Slots suit 'preposterous,' ex-chief justice says; Rendell's office denies he made secret deal with high court." The Times-Tribune of Scranton, Pennsylvania reports that "Justice calls suit 'slander.'" And in The Philadelphia Daily News, columnist John Baer has an op-ed entitled "Did state court, Legislature play for pay? Is this Pa.?" My earlier post on this matter, from yesterday, includes a link to the complaint initiating suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.  
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