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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 Available online from law.com: Tony Mauro has an article headlined "Could Supreme Court Settle Presidential Signing Scrap? Presidential prerogative has interested Scalia, Alito; But they may not get a chance to weigh in." And Shannon P. Duffy has an article headlined "At 3rd Circuit, Topless Bar Topples Lewdness Law." "Prosecutors Oppose Clearing Lay's Record": The Associated Press provides this report. Posted at 10:32 PM by Howard Bashman Apparently federal appellate court judges can be confirmed in September of a Senatorial election year: The U.S. Senate's executive calendar for September 5, 2006 states that "at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, the Senate proceed to executive session and immediate consideration of the nomination of Kimberly Ann Moore, of Virginia, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Federal Circuit, with one hour of debate equally divided to be followed by a vote on confirmation at 5:30 p.m., with no intervening action or debate." Moore's faculty bio at the George Mason University School of Law can be accessed here. Posted at 10:30 PM by Howard Bashman "End of a Supreme Court Blunder? The exclusionary rule hangs on by one vote." William Tucker has this essay in the August 21, 2006 issue of The Weekly Standard. Posted at 06:04 PM by Howard Bashman "Police Say Crime Scene Was Altered": The Washington Post today contains an article that begins, "Two weeks after a prominent lawyer was killed in a Washington townhouse, D.C. police are still searching the home for clues, and they believe crime scene evidence was cleaned, according to court documents." Posted at 05:55 PM by Howard Bashman "Don't Ask, Don't Tell Follies: Military recruiters are cutting corners to meet goals; So why do the services keep kicking out gay men and lesbians?" This editorial appears today in The Washington Post. Posted at 05:49 PM by Howard Bashman "A Gotti Approaches the Bench": The New York Times today contains an article that begins, "It is safe to assume that, after 39 years on the federal bench, Judge Jack B. Weinstein has had his share of fan mail. Jurists may not receive as many letters as, say, movie stars or rock ’n’ rollers, but it would be unlikely for a legal giant who has issued rulings on everything from Agent Orange to asbestos not to have received at least a couple of mash notes." Posted at 05:25 PM by Howard Bashman "Bad idea: Flipping off the judge; Offender jailed, required to apologize for obscenities." This article appears today in The Times of Munster, Indiana. Posted at 05:18 PM by Howard Bashman "This appeal calls upon us to decide whether a district court's sentence can be upheld as reasonable when it is based solely on the district court's policy disagreement with how the United States Sentencing Guidelines treat crack cocaine offenses as compared to powder cocaine offenses, notwithstanding Congress's repeated rejection of proposals to alter that treatment." In a lengthy opinion issued today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit answers "no." Posted at 04:55 PM by Howard Bashman "Husband Takes Schiavo Fight Back to Politicians": This article appears today in The New York Times. Posted at 04:50 PM by Howard Bashman Hey Chad, how's it hangin'? The Associated Press provides a report headlined "Justices order more evidence gathering in city council stalemate" that begins, "A court erred when declaring a winner in a city council election that was so close that a coin toss and two recounts did not resolve who won, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday. Rick Bain, a council candidate in the Cleveland suburb of Pepper Pike, should have been allowed to present evidence he says shows that a punch-card ballot with a hanging chad would break a tie in his favor, the Supreme Court said." You can access today's ruling of the Supreme Court of Ohio at this link. "Non-US citizens cannot claim bias outside US-court": Reuters provides this report. My earlier coverage is here. Posted at 04:40 PM by Howard Bashman "Young Lawyers Flock To Chertoff & Rumsfeld": Anna Schneider-Mayerson has this article in the August 21, 2006 issue of The New York Observer. Posted at 04:18 PM by Howard Bashman Savages who blog: Luiza Ch. Savage has a blog, which you can access at this link via Macleans.ca. Now if only her husband Charlie of The Boston Globe also had a blog, or even David G. (possibly "no relation") of the LA Times. Posted at 03:40 PM by Howard Bashman "The question presented in this appeal is whether Delaware's Freedom of Information Act violates the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution by restricting noncitizens' rights to access, inspect, and copy public documents." Today, a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a decision agreeing with a Delaware-based federal district court in answering that question in the affirmative. Today's ruling thus affirms the district court's injunction prohibiting Delaware from limiting FOIA benefits to Delaware citizens. In early press coverage, The Delaware News Journal provides an update headlined "Federal court orders Delaware to open public records to nonresidents." Eleventh Circuit affirms the dismissal of lawsuit seeking damages for injuries caused by INS agents' use of force during the execution of the warrants authorizing the removal of Elian Gonzalez from his great-uncle's home in Miami on April 22, 2000: You can access today's ruling at this link. Posted at 03:02 PM by Howard Bashman "The question before us, as framed by the parties, is whether a reasonable jury reviewing the three photographs could have concluded that they met the statutory requirement of 'lascivious exhibition of the genitals or pubic area.'" A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in a majority opinion and an opinion concurring in the judgment issued today, spends 39 pages discussing that issue in an appeal by the federal government from "a pre-trial order by a district court excluding from jury consideration three photographs, which the government has charged are child pornography." Posted at 02:55 PM by Howard Bashman "Court Nixes Mich. School Sports Schedule": The Associated Press provides this report. And The Detroit News provides an update headlined "State high school body vows to appeal circuit court ruling." My earlier coverage appears at this link. "The Outsourcing of American Law: Who needs federal judges when you have Canadians?" Ariel N. Lavinbuk has this jurisprudence essay online at Slate. Posted at 10:20 AM by Howard Bashman Three-judge Sixth Circuit panel rejects Thomas M. Cooley Law School's claim that the American Bar Association denied Cooley due process in failing to accredit Cooley's two proposed satellite campuses and in imposing sanctions on Cooley for operating the satellites without prior ABA acquiescence: You can access today's ruling at this link. Posted at 10:00 AM by Howard Bashman "This case presents the question of whether a change in a rule governing the adjudication of social security disability benefits claims that is applied as of its effective date to all pending cases has an impermissibly retroactive effect." So begins the opinion issued today announcing the judgment of an en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. By a vote of 7-1-1-5, the court today has ruled that "The change in the rule is * * * not impermissibly retroactive." Circuit Judge Ronald Lee Gilman's opinion concurring in the judgment begins, "'Any test of retroactivity,' the Supreme Court has acknowledged, 'will leave room for disagreement in hard cases.' Landgraf v. USI Film Prods., 511 U.S. 244, 270 (1994). As the four opinions produced today demonstrate, this is such a case." On remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit again holds that the Michigan High School Athletic Association's scheduling of sports seasons discriminates against female athletes on the basis of gender: You can access today's three-judge panel ruling at this link. Maureen E. Mahoney argued the case in the Sixth Circuit on behalf of the MHSAA. Posted at 09:48 AM by Howard Bashman "Commandments set for Idaho vote": The Washington Times today contains an article that begins, "The Idaho Supreme Court has authorized the nation's first ballot initiative to let voters decide whether a Boise public park should be allowed to have a Ten Commandments monument, like the one removed two years ago." My earlier coverage appears at this link. In re Led Zeppelin song lyrics litigation: There are at least two Led Zeppelin songs whose lyrics discuss falling out of bed in response to citrus fruit squeezing, "Travelling Riverside Blues" and "The Lemon Song." Today, The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger contains an article headlined "Suit over loft bed falls short; Appeals court says no damages for lack of warning label" that begins, "Coffee is served in cups that warn: 'Caution: This beverage is extremely hot.' Ladders carry warnings about falls. Lawn tractors are emblazoned with stick figures depicting the risk of amputation. Is there any hazard so obvious it does not require a warning label? Yes, a state appeals court said yesterday. It ruled the risk of falling from a loft bed is obvious, at least when that bed is used by a college student. It overturned a $179,001 award to a college senior who blamed his fall from a loft bed on the lack of a warning label." You can access yesterday's ruling of the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, at this link. "Judge in ‘Mafia Cops' Trial Received Angry Letters After Decision": This article appears today in The New York Sun. Posted at 07:30 AM by Howard Bashman "Judge rules Chronicle reporters must name their BALCO sources": Bob Egelko has this article today in The San Francisco Chronicle. And The Los Angeles Times reports today that "Chronicle Reporters Ordered to Reveal Sources in Bonds Case; A federal judge rules the writers must identify those who leaked secret grand jury testimony in the BALCO steroid probe." My earlier coverage is at this link. "Court: Bible display must go; Ruling finds Harris County monument's initial purpose was changed." The Houston Chronicle today contains an article that begins, "A Bible must be removed from a 50-year-old monument in front of the Harris County civil courthouse because a district judge changed it from a secular to a religious use in violation of the Constitution, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday." And The Associated Press reports that "Appeals court upholds order to remove Bible from courthouse." My earlier coverage appears at this link. In addition, my "20 questions for the appellate judge" interview with the dissenting judge can be accessed here, while a glimpse of the judge who wrote the majority opinion can be viewed via the blogs of several of his recent law clerks (see here, here, and here).  
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