An appeals judge who compared a Black defendant to a monster in the epic poem Beowulf used language that could be interpreted as evoking racial stereotypes, according to the Maryland Supreme Court.
In The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic, University of Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck argues that the U.S. Supreme Court is expanding its powers at the expense of the rule of law and public transparency.
Twitter critics were quick to scold a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison after he called a brief by U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar “a hot mess” in a U.S. Supreme Court filing.
For first-time advocates before the U.S. Supreme Court, it can come as a shock when they realize how close they are to the justices—so close some are just out of their sight line. In the words of Supreme Court veteran Neal Katyal, Chief Justice John Roberts “sees everything—he sees you sweat.”
A federal appeals court has ruled that a Tennessee legal ethics lawyer who was fired for tweeting about Islam can seek damages against his former supervisor.
The U.S. Judicial Conference is recommending that Congress create two more permanent judgeships with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco and dozens of new judgeships at the district court level.
A federal appeals court on Wednesday struck down two South Carolina laws that punish elementary and secondary school students who act “disorderly,” use “obscene” language or “act in an obnoxious manner” in or near a school.
Many appeals are won or lost before the notice of appeal is even filed. Trial counsel are accordingly wise to focus their litigation strategies not only on trial preparation but also on the eventual appeal. Working with an experienced appellate attorney earlier in the process—which is an option many trial lawyers and counsel overlook—can pay significant dividends.
The U.S. Supreme Court should adopt a binding code of ethics for its justices that is akin to the code of conduct the Judicial Conference of the United States adopted for other federal judges, the House of Delegates said after a spirited debate at the 2023 ABA Midyear Meeting in New Orleans on Monday.
Out of 2,396 elected prosecutors in the United States, eight identified as Asian American, according to a new study sponsored by the American Bar Foundation and the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association.
In a recent study of federal appellate judges, many indicated that they had difficulties hiring Black law clerks. Black jurists, who make up less than one-eighth of the federal appellate courts, hired more than half of the Black clerks.
In an amicus brief filed Wednesday, the ABA urged the U.S. Supreme Court to consider client-lawyer communications privileged, even if the purpose of some of those communications is not to request or give legal advice.
Updated: A California lawyer was unable to get his client’s case reinstated when a federal appeals court rejected his excuse for missing a court deadline—that he was in Illinois to see his son’s professional baseball debut.
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