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Norwood v. Vance: Law Professor's Failure to Understand Appellate Procedure Leads to Bad Law

Procedural law breaks hearts.  The facts are the facts.  You can spin - not change - them.  Even the substantive law isn't especially malleable.  If you lose on the facts or substantive law, why can you do?  Curse the law, sure.  There is no need for tears or guilt.  Procedural law is different.If you make a procedural error, it doesn't matter if the facts or substantive law are on your side.  You can't go to court.  Procedural errors haunt.  Norwood v. Vance will give many ghosts.In Norwood v. Vance (here), a prisoner-litigant in a Section 1983 case won at trial.  The issue was to what extent a prisoner had the right to outdoor exercise.  Norwood, like every other prisoner, was not allowed outdoor exercise for over two years.  It wasn't because Norwood had done anything wrong...continue to full post

Full post as published by Crime & Federalism on July 28, 2009 (boomark / email).