Litigation

Senate Deal on Judges Breaks Logjam

Posted on December 21, 2010
The long Senate stall is over, and a reported deal is expected to result in confirmation of at least 19 non-controversial nominees to the federal bench while four highly controversial nominations expire. Already 12 judicial nominees have been confirmed since last Thursday (see Gavel Grab)...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 20, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: In the latest installment of a series about the workings of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts, the New York Times published a lengthy article that was headlined, “Justices Offer Receptive Ear to Business Interests...

Handicapping the High Court on Health Care

Posted on December 20, 2010
Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of President Obama’s health care law may be years off, but for those who are following the issue, a number of commentaries already are available. Over the weekend the New York Times published an article entitled, “The Supreme Court and Obama’s Health Care Law...

Senate Confirms More Judge Nominees

Posted on December 20, 2010
The Senate has confirmed two appeals court judges nominated by President Obama as it continues work in a lame-duck session. Raymond Lohier, an assistant U.S. attorney in New York, was confirmed for the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and North Carolina Judge Albert Diaz was confirmed for the Fourth U...

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Concern Voiced for IA Judicial Independence

Posted on December 20, 2010
Some legal experts are warning that judicial independence would be compromised if lawmakers launch an effort to impeach four remaining Iowa Supreme Court justices. Last week, news reports surfaced (see Gavel Grab) that three state House Republicans were preparing legislation that could result in impeachment for Justices Mark Cady, David Wiggins, Daryl Hecht and Brent [...

Bid to Void IA Ouster Vote is Withdrawn

Posted on December 20, 2010
A trio of lawyers has retreated from an effort to void the ouster vote on Election Day of three Iowa Supreme Court justices. The lawyers withdrew Monday their request for a temporary injunction to void the election outcome, according to a Quad City Times article...

Health Care Judge?s Holdings Called ?Mistaken?

Posted on December 17, 2010
Federal District Judge Henry Hudson, who found unconstitutional a key part of the new federal health care law this week, has drawn criticism for holding an ownership interest in a Republican consulting firm, Campaign Solutions Inc. In the Washington Post’s PostPartisan blog, Ruth Marcus tackled the headline topic of “Judges, ideology, and partisanship...

Move to Impeach Remaining IA Justices?

Posted on December 17, 2010
A move may be afoot in Iowa’s legislature to impeach four remaining state Supreme Court justices who participated in a unanimous high court ruling that legalized same-sex marriages. The other three Iowa justices will step down Dec. 31 because Iowans voted on Election Day to remove them, in response to an ouster campaign launched by [...

Senate Confirms Four Judicial Nominees

Posted on December 17, 2010
Breaking a protracted deadlock, the Senate has confirmed four of President Obama’s nominees for federal district courts and could vote on more in the remaining hours of the lame-duck session. Thirty-four more judicial nominations, eight of them for circuit courts of appeals, still were pending before the Senate after Thursday’s confirmation of these nominees:  John [...

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 16, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has agreed to give freshmen lawmakers a lesson about the Constitution, after Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., invited him to do so, according to ABC News’ The Note...

FL Court is Latest Health Care Law Battleground

Posted on December 16, 2010
Judge C. Roger Vinson today became the fourth federal district judge to formally examine the constitutionality of the new U.S. health care reform law, hearing arguments in Florida on behalf of 20 states challenging the plan. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican, led the states’ lawsuit, which contends the health care law unconstitutionally requires [...

A New Tempest for NJ High Court

Posted on December 16, 2010
A New Jersey Supreme Court reappointment flap in the spring has spawned a new tempest, laced with extraordinary exchanges and heated tempers and now labeled a “national disgrace” by the New York Times editorial board. A sitting justice has pledged to abstain from further decisions on grounds the makeup of the court is unconstitutional...

IA Lawsuit Challenges Judicial Ouster Vote

Posted on December 16, 2010
A trio of lawyers is asking a judge to void the ouster vote on Election Day of three Iowa Supreme Court justices. Their challenge appears to face an uphill fight. The lawyers challenge the historic ouster vote on grounds the Iowa constitution requires judges to seek retention on a different ballot from the election for [...

NY Times Hits GOP ?Obstruction? on Judges

Posted on December 15, 2010
Senate Republicans “are persisting in playing an obstructionist game,” says an angry New York Times editorial that advocates action on pending federal judicial nominees. Under the headline “Advise and Obstruct,” the editorial takes the Republicans to task: “The Senate?s power to advise and consent on federal judicial nominations was intended as a check against sorely [...

U.S. to Appeal Health Care Ruling to 4th Circuit

Posted on December 15, 2010
The U.S. Justice Department plans to appeal to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals a federal judge’s ruling that declared unconstitutional a key section of the new U.S. health care reform law. Virginia’s attorney general had brought the lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of President Obama’s signature domestic legislation, and had wanted any appeal of [...

IA Editorial: Judge Selection Process ?On Trial?

Posted on December 15, 2010
Just how “grievous” was the blow suffered by Iowa’s courts when voters chose to dump three state Supreme Court justices? In examining the aftermath of November’s retention elections, a Des Moines Register editorial says the state’s merit-based process for picking judges is under heavy assault...

Task Force to Study MI Judicial Selection

Posted on December 15, 2010
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will serve as honorary chairwoman for a task force set up to examine the way Michigan selects state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges, and to propose reforms. Michigan Chief Justice Marilyn Kelly and Senior Judge James Ryan of the Sixth U...

Questions Linger about Judge?s Stock Holdings

Posted on December 14, 2010
Federal Judge Henry Hudson is in the news for his controversial ruling tossing out part of President Obama’s health care reform law (see Gavel Grab). But he continues to be dogged too by questions raised about his stock holdings, valued between $15,000 and $50,000, in a Republican consulting firm that worked against health care reform...

Kagan Finds ?Steep Learning Curve? on Court

Posted on December 14, 2010
www.youtube.com/watch?v=riwueXhBqms Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan likes to read court briefs on a Kindle, and she has found a “steep learning curve” since taking the bench. Justice Kagan gave her first interview since donning a justice’s robes to C-SPAN, according to an Associated Press article...

Coming Soon: Public Interviews for IA Candidates

Posted on December 14, 2010
It won’t make for compelling TV, but Iowa plans to make public via Internet live-stream the interviews of state Supreme Court candidates that will take place soon. For the first time, the nominating commission that screens candidates for the state’s top court will open these interviews to the public in January, according to a Des [...

Health Care Ruling Limited in Scope?

Posted on December 14, 2010
Two themes emerged in early media analysis of a court ruling that struck down part of the new health care reform law: That Federal District Judge Henry Hudson’s ruling was limited in its scope; and that some supporters of the law denounced “judicial activism...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on December 13, 2010
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer doesn’t plan to bow out of attendance at the president’s annual State of the Union address, he said on “Fox News Sunday,” according to a Washington Post article...

Open to Public: Candidate Interviews in KS

Posted on December 13, 2010
To increase public confidence in judicial selection, a panel that screens candidates for two top Kansas courts will open its candidate interviews to the public. “The decision to open the interviews recognizes that a more transparent process of appellate judicial selection is important,” the Associated Press quoted nominating commission Chairwoman Anne Burke as saying...

ABA Chief: IA Merit System ?Not Ideal?

Posted on November 24, 2010
American Bar Association President Stephen N. Zack suggests stripping special interest money of its influence and extending judicial terms as ways to address the problems illustrated by Iowa’s most recent retention election. On Election Day, voters ousted three Iowa Supreme Court justices in a backlash over a high court ruling that permitted same-sex marriages in [...

OK Chamber Seeks Delay in Selecting Justice

Posted on November 24, 2010
On Election Day, voters changed the makeup of an Oklahoma panel that nominates candidates for higher state courts. Now the state Chamber of Commerce has asked for a delay in selecting a new state justice, until the panel is restructured. The state Chamber supported State Question 752...

Judicial ?Appearances Matter,? PA Editorial Warns

Posted on November 24, 2010
Following up on an investigative article, a Philadelphia Inquirer editorial states that “appearances matter” when it comes to judges taking gifts from people who appear before them in court. Reacting to the article about Chief Justice Ronald Castille, the editorial calls on the state Supreme Court to toughen rules that let most judges accept gifts [...

Editorial Scolds Senate Over Judicial Backlog

Posted on November 23, 2010
A North Carolina newspaper is mincing no words in scolding the U.S. senate for inaction on certain judicial nominations. A Charlotte Observer editorial says Judge Albert Diaz (photo at  right) was approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee for a seat on the Fourth U...

Debate Over Terror Trials is Polarized

Posted on November 23, 2010
If you thought the trial of terror defendant Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was almost wrapped up by  a jury verdict in New York, then you’re not keeping track of the ensuing, and polarized, debate. “Try Ahmed Ghailani at Gitmo” is the headline of a commentary by Mark Thiessen in the Washington Post...

On Citizens United, and a ?Constitutional Court?

Posted on November 23, 2010
For months, pundits have analyzed the impact on the elections of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. Now a different analysis suggests that what Citizens United tells us about the court may be even more important. A New York Times editorial, under the headline “Our Constitutional Court,” says the court has become increasingly more absorbed [...

Ethics of Justice?s Gift-Taking Questioned in PA

Posted on November 23, 2010
Pennsylvania’s chief justice enjoyed a hotel room and dinners for himself and his wife in New York City during a  December meeting of the Pennsylvania Society, thanks to the largesse of a Philadelphia law firm picking up the $1,900 tab. In addition, Chief Justice Ronald D...

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