Litigation

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

By Peter Hardin

In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts:

• The office of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Tucson shooting spree, urged President Obama to appoint three judges to fill vacancies in the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

• Gov. Terry Branstad made an unusual selection in picking lawyer William R. Gustoff for the state Judicial Nominating Commission; Gustoff is suing the commission on behalf of several citizens, according to a Des Moines Register article.

• The Justice Department has filed its appeal of a Florida judge’s ruling that declared the federal health care overhaul unconstitutional, and has asked for expedited handling of the appeal by the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Politico reported.

• Wal-Mart Watch, a union-funded group that advocates for workers of Wal-Mart Stores, is seeking disqualification by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in a case involving a gender-bias lawsuit against the company. The judge’s son Eugene has represented the company in other cases, according to a Bloomberg article.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).