Litigation

WI Panel Looks at Judicial Discipline

Posted on August 09, 2010
A special Wisconsin legislative panel has heard testimony from state Supreme Court justices about possible changes to the process for disciplining judges accused of violating the judicial code of conduct. The panel was looking at issues raised by the recent deadlock of the Supreme Court over an ethics complaint accusing Justice Michael Gableman of dishonesty [...

ME ?Matching? Funds Provision is Challenged

Posted on August 09, 2010
Another state’s “matching” funds provision in a public campaign financing law has come under legal challenge from conservative groups. The Maine Heritage Policy Center and Indiana-based James Madison Center for Free Speech brought the lawsuit challenging a key portion of Maine’s statute in federal district court, according to an Associated Press article...

Reform Call: AL Justice ?Is not Blind?

Posted on August 09, 2010
State Supreme Court elections have cost the most in the nation in Alabama in the past decade, at $40 million. “That’s a lot of special interest influence,” laments a commentary by John Archibald in the Birmingham News: “Justice is not blind in Alabama...

IA Judicial Ouster Effort: ?A Perversion?

Posted on August 09, 2010
Is an emerging effort to unseat three Iowa Supreme Court justices in retention elections a democratic exercise–or a perversion of it? The Des Moines Register editorial board has offered an impassioned answer in an editorial headlined, “Public opinion can’t decide court cases...

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Kagan Sworn in as Supreme Court Justice

Posted on August 07, 2010
Elena Kagan, 50, took the oath of office today to become a Supreme Court justice. Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. administered her oath (photo courtesy of The Associated Press), and Kagan pledged to “administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich,” according to a Los Angeles [...

IA Judicial Ouster Effort Ramps Up

Posted on August 06, 2010
A former candidate for Iowa governor, Republican Bob Vander Plaats, has announced he will lead an effort to oust three state Supreme Court justices in retention (up-or-down) elections this fall. In response, the Des Moines-based American Judicature Society (AJS) cautioned, “Iowa?s courts are among the best in the nation, and they should remain free from [...

Second Lawsuit Challenges WI Campaign Law

Posted on August 06, 2010
Wisconsin Right to Life and its political action committee are  challenging Wisconsin campaign finance law in the second such lawsuit filed in as many weeks. Lawyer James Bopp Jr. is representing the plaintiffs. Bopp said in a statement that state law, including two new Government Accountability Board regulations, imposes requirements that “in effect are a [...

Judge Wynn Confirmed for Appeals Court

Posted on August 06, 2010
Judge James A. Wynn Jr. of North Carolina has won Senate confirmation to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on the eve of a congressional recess. The Senate confirmed Wynn Thursday evening through a procedural called “unanimous consent,” which usually follows intense negotiations behind closed doors, according to a News&Observer article...

Kagan to Take Oath Saturday

Posted on August 06, 2010
The newest Supreme Court justice, Elena Kagan, will be sworn in Saturday by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. The Senate voted Thursday to confirm the solicitor general to the high court. Afterward, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer article,  President Obama praised her elevation as “a sign of progress that I relish not just as [...

Judge Walker Faces Backlash Over Prop 8 Ruling

Posted on August 06, 2010
A sharp backlash has erupted from some conservative quarters against federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker of San Francisco. It includes a call for impeachment and personal attacks over the judge’s alleged homosexuality. Judge Walker ruled this week that California’s Proposition 8 ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional (see Gavel Grab), a ruling that some analysts [...

Kagan Confirmed by 63-37 Senate Vote

Posted on August 05, 2010
The Senate has voted 63 to 37 to confirm Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the U.S. Supreme Court, handing President Barack Obama his second appointee for the nine-member court. The vote Thursday for Kagan, a former Harvard Law School dean who has not served as a judge, fell short of the 68 votes cast last [...

Prop 8 Ruling: A Foundation for Appeals

Posted on August 05, 2010
Federal District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, overturning California’s voter-passed ban on same-sex marriages, said the state “has no interest in differentiating between same-sex and opposite-sex unions.” Excluding gays from marriage “exists as an artifact of a time when the genders were seen as having distinct roles in society and in marriage...

Reaction to Prop 8 Ruling: Justice or ?Judicial Tyranny??

Posted on August 05, 2010
“Judicial tyranny,” or “instant landmark in American legal history?” Federal Judge Vaughn R. Walker’s ruling that California’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the Constitution (see Gavel Grab) drew sharply conflicting reaction...

Judge Overturns CA Gay Marriage Ban

Posted on August 04, 2010
In a historic ruling, federal district Judge Vaughn R. Walker has struck down California’s ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriages. The decision is likely to be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. In advance of the ruling, supporters of the same-sex marriage ban, called Proposition 8, had asked the judge to stay [...

Tribe Urges Activism for Improved Access to Justice

Posted on August 04, 2010
Scholar and Justice Department counselor Laurence Tribe has delivered a strong appeal to state chief justices, urging them to take action to expand access to justice for key groups: the poor, juveniles and the middle class. Addressing the yearly conference of chief justices and state court administrators, Tribe described as “deplorable” the problems that face [...

Editorial: ?Who Bankrolls Alabama?s Judges??

Posted on August 04, 2010
An Alabama editorial board laments inadequate disclosure in the state, where top dollars are spent on judicial campaigns while the public may be kept in the dark about the money sources. The Anniston Star editorial, entitled “Candidates, Judges and Cash,” highlights an impasse over a 15-year-old recusal law that has been left in legal limbo...

MO Plan ?Shield Against Corruption? Survives

Posted on August 04, 2010
The drive for electing judges in Missouri is over, at least for now, and an admirer of Missouri’s merit selection plan says that’s a good thing: “The non-partisan Missouri Plan has long shielded the state from the corrupting influence of money in judicial elections…...

Recusal Urged for Judge Hearing Health-Care Challenge

Posted on August 04, 2010
A federal judge who is hearing a Virginia lawsuit challenging the new federal health-care law ought to step aside due to stock holdings, an advocacy group contends. U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson (photo at right) has reported holding stock between 2003 and 2008 in a communications company that counts among its clients Republican groups [...

Ginsburg: ?Not Retiring Anytime Soon?

Posted on August 04, 2010
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who has been the subject of widespread speculation about possible retirement, told the Associated Press she has no plans to retire anytime soon. The AP article described Justice Ginsburg, who has battled cancer and recently experienced the death of her husband, this way: “Ginsburg appeared to be in good [...

MO Merit Supporters Declare Victory

Posted on August 03, 2010
Critics of Missouri?s nationally recognized merit system for selecting judges have failed to get enough valid signatures to put the issue before voters this fall. Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced in a press release on Tuesday that the initiative petition tied to repealing Missouri’s merit system was not certified for the November ballot...

New Website is Judicial Nominations Resource

Posted on August 03, 2010
An overburdened federal judiciary may come to a “grinding halt” as vacancies on the bench continue to rise, warns Caroline Fredrickson, executive director of the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. In a Huffington Post commentary, Fredrickson deplores nearly 100 federal judicial vacancies, and quotes Sen...

Senate Launches Debate over Kagan

Posted on August 03, 2010
With partisanship on display, the Senate began debating on Tuesday President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan, 50, to the Supreme Court. Five Republican senators have signaled their intention to vote for her confirmation, and their Republican colleagues who oppose Kagan’s confirmation have pledged not to filibuster...

Primary for WA Supreme Court Heats Up

Posted on August 03, 2010
A primary contest for the Washington state Supreme Court has heated up, with a liberal group depicting Justice Jim Johnson (photo at left) as in the pocket of business interests. The Impartial Justice group pumped $42,000 this week into mailers featuring a small cutout picture of the jurist tucked inside the pocket of a business [...

Open High Court Doors, Lawmaker Says

Posted on August 03, 2010
The iconic front doors of the U.S. Supreme Court ought to be open to visitors, not closed, says a California lawmaker who has introduced a resolution to that effect. In May, the Supreme Court cited security reasons in closing the front doors. Visitors who entered there passed under the inscription, “Equal Justice Under Law” (see [...

When the Judiciary is Underfunded

Posted on August 02, 2010
Business is booming in our courts, but the judiciary is facing budget constraints of the type shared by states across the country. These constraints bring significant challenges to delivering justice, incoming American Bar Association president Stephen N...

Vacancies Bring Delayed Justice, Judge Warns

Posted on August 02, 2010
The chief federal judge in Colorado has warned U.S. Senate leaders that vacancies on the bench are impeding public access to justice. Chief U.S. District Judge Wiley Y. Daniel (photo at right) made the assertion in a May letter to leading U.S. senators from both parties, asking for a Senate confirmation vote on a nominee [...

Candidate Eyes Changes to IA Merit Selection

Posted on August 02, 2010
Terry Branstad, the Republican nominee for governor in Iowa, is proposing changes in the way the state chooses its judges. Iowa relies on merit selection of judges through a nominating commission making recommendations of judicial candidates to the governor, and through subsequent retention (up-or-down) elections...

Surprising Allies Challenge WI Disclosure Rule

Posted on August 02, 2010
New rules requiring corporations and labor unions to disclose their political spending in Wisconsin have come under a legal challenge from surprising allies that rarely share ideology. One Wisconsin Now, a liberal group, and Wisconsin Club for Growth, a conservative one, filed a lawsuit challenging a rule passed by the Government Accountability Board (see Gavel [...

Will Elections Break Outside Spending Record?

Posted on August 02, 2010
A flood of campaign money in this fall’s midterm elections, driven by business and conservative groups, could include a stunning $300 million budgeted by a 15 conservative tax-exempt groups. The potential spending was discussed in a Los Angeles Times article, which cited the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision as a key factor–along with growing unhappiness [...

Blow Dealt to FL Public-Finance Provision

Posted on August 02, 2010
A federal appeals court has dealt a blow to another state law for public financing of political candidates, blocking distribution of millions of dollars in ?matching? public funds to a cash-strapped candidate for governor in Florida. A three-judge panel of the Eleventh U...

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