Appellate Practice

An Anniversary Approaches for Justice Thomas: 5 Years Without Speaking in Arguments

A week from Tuesday will mark the day that Justice Clarence Thomas has gone five years without making a comment during oral arguments. Thomas wasn’t always silent, the New York Times reports. He spoke 12 times in the 2005-2006 term, and 11 times in the previous term. His last question…

Feb 14, 2011 12:00 PM CST

Last Week You Saw Larry Tribe’s Name on US Supreme Court Brief, This Week You Don’t

Last week, a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in an environmental case listed Laurence Tribe as counsel of record. This week, a substitute brief filed in the same case omitted the renowned Harvard Law School professor’s name but is substantively the same. The unusual change was made at…

Feb 12, 2011 1:19 AM CST

Pa. Supreme Court Upholds Its Own Suspension of Allegedly ‘Nasty, Rude, Erratic, Strange’ Judge

Rejecting a Pennsylvania judge’s argument that the state’s highest court lacked the power to suspend her with pay prior to a hearing on the merits of its case against her, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday denied a request to return Allentown District Judge Maryesther Merlo to the bench, the Morning…

Feb 11, 2011 7:24 PM CST

The Judge Who Tried My Case Also Acted as Prosecutor, Convicted Burglar Says on Appeal

Ordinarily, when a defendant shows up for trial and there’s no prosecutor in court, the trial is rescheduled. But when that happened in a New Jersey municipal court last year, the judge went ahead and tried a burglary case against two brothers without a prosecutor. He also allegedly denied one…

Feb 10, 2011 8:26 PM CST

Judge Rushed Murder Case Summation to Get to St. Maarten for Pina Coladas, Alan Dershowitz Argues

It isn’t just in Nevada that a judge’s vacation plans reportedly may have trumped the defendant’s right to an unhurried trial. Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz blasted Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Hanophy in an argument before a New York state appeals court today, contending that his client’s defense lawyer at…

Feb 10, 2011 1:15 AM CST

As Experts Disagree About Evidence in Shaken-Baby Cases, Some Verdicts Face New Questions

It is now conventional wisdom that shaking a baby can leave the child with devastating, sometimes-fatal injuries. But some experts say the testimony on which criminal courts rely in convicting those responsible for such child abuse may not be as reliable as was once thought, according to the New York…

Feb 7, 2011 10:07 PM CST

Wash. High Court Refuses Prosecutors’ Motion to Toss Defeated Justice from Cases

The Washington Supreme Court has rejected a request by prosecutors who said defeated Justice Richard Sanders should not have received a temporary appointment to wrap up work on cases heard while he was on the court. Prosecutors from five counties had argued that the Constitution only allows sitting or retired…

Feb 7, 2011 11:30 AM CST

BigLaw Partners Who Wrote the Times Experience the Frustration of Heavy Editing

The late columnist Molly Ivins recalled the heavy pen of New York Times editors in her book, Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She? Ivins had written about one fellow with “a beergut that belongs in the Smithsonian”; the edited version of the article substituted “a man with a protuberant…

Feb 4, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Spitball-Equivalent Incident Gets Boy, 14, Expelled From High School and Criminally Charged

Bored, a 14-year-old Virginia high school student admittedly did a dumb thing in the cafeteria during lunch period. He blew small plastic pellets at fellow students through a plastic pen tube, striking three. “They flinched. They looked annoyed,” Andrew Mikel II told the Washington Post. Now the Spotsylvania High School…

Feb 2, 2011 1:42 AM CST

Asbestos Law Firm Seeks Chapter 11 Shield from $4.2M, or Maybe $35M, Claim of Partner’s Widow

Faced with a $4.2 million claim by a deceased name partner’s widow, a Florida-based asbestos law firm has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy seeking respite. Kelley & Ferraro filed in Miami this week, as Lynn Kelley was pursuing a Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas case against the firm in…

Jan 28, 2011 11:20 PM CST

Lawyer Trades $1,100 Monthly Porsche Bill for $700-Per-Month BMW, But Loses Bid for Alimony Cut

Mark Frost has been through some hard times since the breakup of his New Jersey law firm, so he sought a reduction in the $9,500 per month alimony he is required to pay his ex-wife. Apparently seeking to bolster his case, he voluntarily traded in his $1,100-per-month Porsche for a…

Jan 28, 2011 7:01 PM CST

Judge Posner Confesses He Was Unable to Master the Hated Bluebook While at Harvard Law School

Judge Richard Posner hasn’t mastered the 511 pages that make up the latest edition of The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation. The Chicago-based federal appeals judge hasn’t even read it in detail. “I have dipped into it, much as one might dip one’s toes in a pail of freezing…

Jan 27, 2011 11:30 AM CST

Doc Film Viewers Hiss at Onscreen DA, Shown as Villain in Abused Woman’s 26-Year Murder Sentence

Viewers at the premiere of Crime after Crime hissed when the Los Angeles County District Attorney appeared onscreen at the Sundance Film Festival this week. That’s because Steve Cooley is portrayed as the villain in the story of an abused woman who served 26 years in prison for the murder…

Jan 26, 2011 1:08 AM CST

Rahm Emanuel Back on Ballot for Chicago Mayor’s Race; Ill. Supreme Court Stays Appellate Ruling

Developing: After a brief setback yesterday, when an Illinois appellate court ruled that he could not run for Chicago mayor this year because he doesn’t meet residency requirements, Rahm Emanuel is back on the ballot. The Illinois Supreme Court today stayed the appellate court’s order yesterday that Emanuel cannot be…

Jan 25, 2011 7:09 PM CST

Sued for Malpractice, Defense Lawyer Can Attack Client’s Alibi That He Was Elsewhere During Crime

Convicted of armed robbery, Jeffrey Marrero won an appeal after serving a year and eight months in jail and has not been retried. But now he is suing his former attorney, Howard Feintuch, for malpractice, contending that he would never have been convicted in the first place if defense counsel…

Jan 25, 2011 6:24 PM CST