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court-o-rama.org

About the courts.
By Anne Skove, Esq.

Post Frequency: 12/day

Last Entry: March 25, 2011 at 00:00:00

How Much for that Justice in the Window?

Posted on March 22, 2008
The one with the black robe and gavel? Could be millions, says James Sample of Justice at Stake, who calls for publicly-funded judicial campaigns. Better for the system, says Sample, than having the dirty moneyed mitts of the Chamber of Commerce, lawyers, and business donors on the coat-tails (or robe-tails) of sitting state court justices...

Blog of the Week(end): Simple Justice

Posted on March 22, 2008
Simple Justice's subhead is "a New York Criminal Defense Blog." We're pretty far outside the NY box, and we're not criminal defense lawyers. That just proves there's something there for everyone. SJ is interesting. So many blogs and blawgs are not...

98% Success: Mediation in Delmarva

Posted on March 21, 2008
First, a fun (if somewhat obvious) fact: the Delmarva peninsula takes its name not from your great aunt Delmarva, but from DElaware, MARyland, and VirginiA, the three states (OK, two states and a commonwealth) of which it consists. Here's another fun fact about the area: in Worcester County, Maryland, a one-person mediation office (scroll down the link for info) has taken over 360 misdemeanor referrals in a three-year period...

Fallout Down Under

Posted on March 21, 2008
What happens when a family court process is delayed? Children grow older. Parents go bankrupt. Valuations grow stale. Divorcing parents in Australia's family court can wait as long as 2 1/2 years for finality. Mediation, introduced as a helpful measure, is also time-consuming...

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New Look

Posted on March 21, 2008
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System has a big, shiny new Web site! Bells, whistles, kazoos, you name it, it's there. Slick new intro, easy-to-read categories, large type, and navigation so simple even a tired mom on a Friday night can do it! p...

If Minnesota Courts Were On Idol

Posted on March 20, 2008
These past two weeks have been Fab Four time for American Idol wannabes. If the Minnesota courts were in the race, what would their song choice be? (And we'll let them be Dylan fans; he was, after all, born in Duluth): Changing of the Guards: Chief Justice Russell Anderson is retiring...

Spring Break or Spring Broke? Budget Cuts Gone Wild in Florida

Posted on March 20, 2008
While certain demographics head south for spring break, Florida courts are bracing for massive budget cuts over the next few years. Over the next budget year, cuts will result in the firing of 971 court employees. That's just the beginning! Recall, too, that Florida recently moved from local to state funding...

Update: Baristas Win Super Grande Award

Posted on March 20, 2008
We recently noted the employment case against Starbucks. Guess who won? Let's just say that they're going to laugh at nickel you drop into the tip jar. See Court Awards Starbucks Baristas $86 Million in Tip-Pooling Case, Greg Moran, San Diego Union-Tribune (March 20, 2008)...

Our Mr. Brooks: SCOTUS Rules on La. Batson Case

Posted on March 19, 2008
If we learned anything in our decade of court-helping, it is that nothing that happens in Louisiana surprises us. Something bubbles beneath the swampiness there, mingling with the Napoleonic Code, the parish system, Cajunisms, and Mardi Gras madness to create a legal landscape unlike any other...

Million Amici March: Does Heller Have Too Many Friends?

Posted on March 18, 2008
We've ignored D.C. v. Heller thus far, because others are doing such a great job, and anyway we were too enthralled by sunshine, Mormons, and mediators to notice. But the long list of amicus briefs amazes us, from a court perspective. Petitioner's supporters include Erwin Chemerinsky, former DOJ officials, criminal justice professors, district attorneys, the NAACP Legal defense and Educational Fund, the ABA, several states, linguistics and English professors, and certain members of Congress...

Open Sesame: How Much Access is Enough?

Posted on March 18, 2008
Open records are like gossip...wonderful, unless they're about us. The move of court and other public records from dusty courthouse file room to clean and easy Internet has caused such a ruckus in recent years, pitting privacy fundamentalists (who can find a right to privacy in a bowl of Alpha-Bits) against sunshine Nazis (for whom even TMZ is never TMI)...

Pro Se Wins One for Himself

Posted on March 18, 2008
They say even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in awhile. So maybe it's not a huge surprise that a pro se defendant won his own murder case after all. How did he do it? Three days, no witnesses, and deliberations lasted less than an hour! Some judges would kill (well, not literally) for that kind of efficiency...

Science v. Law: Looking for a Few Solid Truths

Posted on March 18, 2008
Truths are hard to come by, so we'll offer a few: The thing a toddler wants to share, you probably don't want Greg Kinnear has never been in a bad movie Goetta is tastier than you'd expect Unfortunately, you'll have to take our word. These truths won't be tested in court any time soon...

Wanted: A Few Good Mediators

Posted on March 17, 2008
Scholarships to the Third National Minority Professionals in Alternative Dispute Resolution Training Institute are being made available by the Supreme Court of Ohio. Training focuses on basic mediator skills, truancy mediation, employment discrimination mediation, and understanding conflicts that arise form the impact of poverty...

SCOTUS Watcher: Cool Competition Edges out Huggable Populism

Posted on March 16, 2008
Ralph Nader never tires of losing, but lawyers for his Public Citizen outfit do. According to a recent piece by Jeffrey Rosen examining pro-business leanings of the Supreme Court, Nader claims that some Public Citizen lawyers got so tired of fighting the power that they left...

Federal Judges Agree to Sunshine

Posted on March 15, 2008
We love the federal courts for their uniformity. Unlike state courts, the feds stand still long enough to be counted and studied. (FJC people are laughing right now, but trust us -- each individual state court is its own crazy quilt!) Now, we can love federal courts for their openness as well...

Blog of the Week(end): JudgesOnMerit

Posted on March 15, 2008
From our inbox: "Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts and PMCAction are proud to announce the launch of JudgesOnMerit, our new blog committed to implementing a Merit Selection system for choosing appellate judges in Pennsylvania." Court-O-Rama neither favors nor disfavors merit selection of judges...

Ritter Doctors Cleared by Jury

Posted on March 14, 2008
The family of the late John Ritter was not able to show that doctors who treated him made faulty diagnoses or failed to act to save him from a fatal heart condition. Nine out of 12 jurors voted to clear the doctors on trial. One explained that the panel decided other doctors would have acted similarly under the same circumstances, with the same sad result...

Cameras and Pay Raises: A Solution for the Federal Judiciary

Posted on March 14, 2008
This week the SCOTUS approached Congress to try to remedy low federal judicial salaries and oppose starring in their own reality show. Article III judges do get perks that most people don't, such as lifetime appointment, no concrete qualifications, and fabulous benefits...

True or False? Urban Legal Legends Exposed!

Posted on March 13, 2008
Pop quiz time! True or false: Prince Leonard of Hutt River Province bestowed his title on himself, created his own currency, and conducts a booming tourist business in his very own country (which he co-rules with his wife, Princess Shirley) after seceding from Australia Crazy tort cases illustrate what's wrong with the world Web site operators are immune from prosecution by dint of the Internet Privacy Act In California (where else?) you must have a hunting license before setting a mousetrap Defendants who can demonstrate that they've subsisted on a diet of snack cakes may invoke the Twinkie defense and get away with murder This is why we love Snopes!

What The Law Owes Diversity

Posted on March 13, 2008
It's been said that if the Amish weren't so darn cute, Wisconsin v. Yoder might have turned out differently. (Picture a non-adorable Jerry Rubin in place of bonneted country children!) Likewise, if Mormons were cuter, perhaps they would have left a different imprint on our legal system...

Not-So-Grande! Baristas Say They're Not Getting the Tips

Posted on March 12, 2008
First, a confession. There is probably a Starbucks on the nearby campus, but we spend much time getting caffeinated and chewing up the wi-fi at Brutopia, where the chess-playing barista has more tats and piercings than a pirate. Yet, he has never made us walk the plank for not tipping...

Oyez, Aloud

Posted on March 11, 2008
Does it rhyme with oy veh, oil of olay, cafe au lait, okay, oh yes, or fez? Ever wonder how to pronounce "oyez?" There's a wonderful recording available from (where else?) Oyez!

Birthday Wishes

Posted on March 11, 2008
Today Justice Scalia makes Senator John McCain look like a youngster! The tuxedo-wearing, originalist Justice turns 72. No doubt he's spending it gesturing to young whipper-snappers. He's a veritable late-spring chicken on the SCOTUS. Justice Kennedy is just a few months younger, Justice Ginsburg is a few years older, evil twin Justices Souter and Breyer are a few years younger, and next month Justice Stevens celebrates #88! Happy Birthday!

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow: Georgia Supremes Rule on Dreads

Posted on March 10, 2008
It's an ongoing battle reminiscent of Catholic schoolchildren and administrators who play cat and mouse with the rules. Here's how it works: the administration makes a rule; their subjects try to find a way around it. No long hair? OK, what about shaved heads? Ties required? Bring on that 80s fixture, the skinny piano tie! Sometimes the loophole hunt is just for kicks...

Well, Recuuuuuuse Me!

Posted on March 09, 2008
Chief Justice Roberts's recusal caused an even split on the High Court recently, sending SCOTUS watchers into a frenzy. (It certainly doesn't take much!) CJ Roberts recused himself in Warner-Lambert, making the case a 4-4 tie. Earlier this term, J. Kennedy recused himself in two public school cases, one of which had the same cat's game result...

Weird, or Just Lots of Pictures? Ranking the World's Strangest Pleadings

Posted on March 07, 2008
Slate's Bonnie Goldstein calls it The Weirdest Legal Pleading Ever. We beg to differ, 'cause we've been around some. Frivolous filings by redemptionists top our list. Next, see the hilarious collection of Unforgettable Pleadings, Legal Antics (January 28, 2008)...

Big, Bigger, Biggest: Fairfax County's New Courthouse

Posted on March 07, 2008
Number of people who enter the Fairfax County court each week: 20,000 Number of new square feet in expanded courthouse: 316,000 Number of new courtrooms: 14 Age of old juvenile courthouse: 208 Number of traffic cases handled each day in Fairfax: 2,000 Total cost: $120 million See Courthouse Expansion Opens Monday, Tom Jackman, Washington Post (February 21, 2008)...

Old Courthouse, New Use

Posted on March 07, 2008
Daniel Webster spoke there, Bartolomeo Vanzetti was tried there, and it's served as the center of town for hundreds of years. Now, the historic and symmetrical Plymouth County courthouse needs a new mission. Visitors' center? Museum? Office space? It could turn into all three...

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