Appellate Practice

Study Says Supreme Court Is More Pro-Business Now Than 25 Years Ago

The U.S. Supreme Court is more pro-business now than it was 25 years ago, according to a study by the Constitutional Accountability Center. Taking issue with comments by Justice Stephen Breyer in an interview earlier this month that the court treats business the same as it has for decades, the…

Oct 26, 2010 4:54 PM CDT

S.C. Supreme Court Weighs 1802 Gaming Law’s Application to 2006 Poker Bust

A lawyer for South Carolina told the state supreme court this week that an old 1802 state gaming law doesn’t bar Friday night poker games and penny ante games of bridge. But senior assistant attorney general Sonny Jones argued that the law does apply to five men busted for playing…

Oct 21, 2010 10:30 AM CDT

Supreme Court Debates Word Choice in Three Recent Arguments

In three oral arguments last week, the U.S. Supreme Court debated the meaning of words in legislation and a past opinion. The justices’ constitutional decisions often get the most attention, the Washington Post notes. “But their work more often is deciphering the muddy language of legislative compromise or even the…

Oct 18, 2010 4:24 PM CDT

Review: Hilary Swank Shines as Sis Who Got JD to Free Sib, But Movie of True Tale Lacks Fire

Hilary Swank shines and Juliette Lewis is thrilling in a much-anticipated movie about a high-school dropout who went to college and earned a juris doctor degree in a successful effort to overturn her brother’s wrongful murder conviction. But the new film is otherwise duller than it should have been, writes…

Oct 15, 2010 1:07 PM CDT

$156K Fee Award in $245M Case ‘On the Stingy Side’ But Upheld By 2nd Circuit

A $245 million federal securities class action settlement never would have been achieved but for its work in bringing the initial federal cases on which it was based, a Pennsylvania law firm contends. Even if that’s true, however, Chimicles & Tikellis is stuck with an attorney’s fee award of just…

Oct 15, 2010 10:00 AM CDT

DOJ Seeks Stay of Judge’s Ban on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Rule—But Wants to End Policy, Too

A lawyer for the group that successfully challenged the U.S. military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gay and lesbian troops tells the Associated Press that the Obama administration plans to appeal and ask for a stay of the ruling later today. And an unidentified government source confirmed the news…

Oct 14, 2010 8:15 PM CDT

Alito Is a ‘One-Justice Delta Force,’ CBS News Reporter Says

The legal reporter for CBS has concluded that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. is the Supreme Court’s “rock star” and Justice Antonin Scalia “needs to drop it.” Writing at the CBS News Crossroads blog, legal correspondent Jan Crawford says Alito has emerged as the court’s “most insightful and strategic questioner,”…

Oct 7, 2010 1:02 PM CDT

‘Fire and Brimstone’ Lawyer Bettered Her Opponent in Funeral Protest Case, Observers Say

In her first U.S. Supreme Court appearance, gay-protesting lawyer Margie Phelps managed to tone down the “fire and brimstone.” Phelps “commanded both the facts and the law” as she argued that the First Amendment protects members of the Westboro Baptist Church who protest at military funerals, according to McClatchy Newspapers.…

Oct 7, 2010 12:39 PM CDT

Israeli Attorney Is 1st Foreign Law School Grad to Become Wis. Lawyer, Under New Rule

An Israeli attorney who earned her law degree from Bar Ilan University Law School in her home country is the first graduate of a foreign law school to win admission to the Wisconsin bar under a new rule that no longer requires graduation from an American Bar Association-accredited institution. Deborah…

Oct 6, 2010 12:00 AM CDT

After Judge & Prosecutor Clash, His Removal Is Sought On 455 of Her Cases

A 56-year-old Florida jurist can’t fully tell his side of the story, due to ethical rules about commenting on pending cases. But, as Broward Circuit Judge Carlos Rodriguez apparently sees it, he was just doing his job when he told a 27-year-old female prosecutor to take a seat at the…

Oct 5, 2010 5:41 PM CDT

Supreme Court Docket Has a 9th Circuit ‘Flavor’

A third of the Supreme Court’s current docket is made up of appeals from the oft-reversed 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in San Francisco. The docket has a “substantial 9th Circuit and California flavor,” the Daily Journal reports, in a story reprinted by How Appealing. University of Pittsburgh…

Oct 5, 2010 2:56 PM CDT

Kagan Starts Work, But Exits for 2nd Case; Proposal Would Allow Substitute Jurist on Top Court

In her first day on the bench on the nation’s highest court today, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan was an active, polite questioner. But she exited as the court was about to hear the second case of the day, because it was one of 25 appeals from which she has…

Oct 4, 2010 9:31 PM CDT

‘Die Hard’ Director Gets 12 Months for Lying to Feds in Hollywood PI Wiretap Case

John McTiernan, who directed Die Hard and The Hunt for Red October, among other well-known movies, has been sentenced to 12 months for his peripheral role in a celebrity wiretap case that also brought down a private investigator and a California lawyer. McTiernan, 59, who is apparently appealing, was also…

Oct 4, 2010 7:41 PM CDT

Alito Warns of ‘Observer Effect’ if Courtroom Cameras Are Allowed

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. opposes televised Supreme Court arguments, and he explained why on Thursday: Lawyers would play to the cameras. Alito said in a speech at Drake in De Moines that cameras would have “a noticeable observer effect,” at least in cases attracting national interest, the Des Moines…

Oct 1, 2010 1:51 PM CDT

Law Prof’s Tweet Cited in Brief by Second Amendment Lawyer

On Thursday, University of California, Los Angeles law professor Adam Winkler was tweeting about his favorite Tony Curtis movie and an undocumented immigrant housekeeper hired by a California gubernatorial candidate. But Winkler is getting more high-profile notice for an Aug. 16 tweet because it was cited in a brief filed…

Oct 1, 2010 10:30 AM CDT