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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 10/day

Last Entry: May 17, 2013 at 05:00:00

Friday morning news and notes

Posted on May 17, 2013
1. The former Hialeah mayor and his wife have been indicted on tax evasion charges. Via Jay Weaver:In 2010, while peeling back the layers of Hialeah?s ?shadow banking?? industry, federal prosecutors pressed the city?s mayor about allegations that he had collected exorbitant cash interest payments on more than $1 million in loans he made to friends and acquaintances...

Kosher Prisons

Posted on May 15, 2013
Curt Anderson is covering the kosher meal dispute in Florida jails. Here's the latest twist and turn from the 11th Circuit:Despite Florida's recent change of policy, a federal appeals court Tuesday reinstated a lawsuit filed by a Jewish prison inmate who claimed his rights were violated by the state Department of Corrections' previous refusal to serve kosher meals...

AUSA Mike Garofola's profile on ABC.com for the Bachelorette

Posted on May 15, 2013
Well, you all remember that local AUSA Mike Garofola is going to be appearing on the Bachelorette. Now, his profile is on ABC.com. Here's the picture:Below is the questionnaire that he filled out for the show, and here are the highlights posted on the site:What do you hope to get out of participating in this television show?I hope to find the woman I am going to marry and have a blast doing it while friends watch it unfold on television...

Tuesday News & Notes

Posted on May 14, 2013
1. Which group is more diverse? The U.S. Supreme Court or the lawyers who argue before it? The Supreme Court by a long shot. From the AP:In roughly 75 hours of arguments at the Supreme Court since October, only one African-American lawyer appeared before the justices, and for just over 11 minutes...

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11th Circuit conference criticized

Posted on May 13, 2013
Seems like every judicial conference is under attack these days. From Jaime Dupree of the AJC:Even as automatic budget cuts force various federal agencies to cut spending, a group of federal judges from the Atlanta-based Eleventh Circuit went ahead with their 2013 Judicial Conference last week, spending several days - and maybe several hundred thousand dollars - at a golf resort and spa in Savannah, Georgia...

Gen. William Suter

Posted on May 09, 2013
The Clerk of the U.S. Supreme Court addressed the Federal Bar Association yesterday at the Hyatt. It was a very entertaining speech. Lots of good stories about the Court. But Suter was also substantive. For example, he predicted that the exclusionary rule would be abolished in the near term...

U.S. Supreme Court Clerk William Suter to speak to the Federal Bar today

Posted on May 08, 2013
They call him "The General" and he'll be at the Hyatt at noon. He's retiring at the end of this Term after 20 years at the High Court.Should be an entertaining talk.

11th Circuit

Posted on May 07, 2013
The judges are back from the 11th Circuit conference, which was in Savannah, Georgia last week.Apparently the agenda included a re-enactment of a slavery trial that occurred in Savannah and also a speech by a Thomas Jefferson impersonator.Meantime, there are still two openings on the 11th Circuit and apparently no progress being made in moving those nominations forward...

How pro-business is this Supreme Court

Posted on May 06, 2013
Apparently, the most pro-business Supreme Court ever... From the NY Times:But the business docket reflects something truly distinctive about the court led by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. While the current court?s decisions, over all, are only slightly more conservative than those from the courts led by Chief Justices Warren E...

Cuban spy to give up citizenship and remain in Cuba

Posted on May 03, 2013
Curt Anderson has all of the details:One of the convicted spies known as the "Cuban Five" will be able to permanently remain in Cuba in exchange for renouncing his U.S. citizenship, a federal judge ruled Friday after U.S. officials dropped their initial opposition...

Above the Law ranks law schools

Posted on May 02, 2013
It's a very interesting read and analysis:The basic premise underlying the ATL approach to ranking schools: the economics of the legal job market are so out of balance that it is proper to consider some legal jobs as more equal than others. In other words, a position as an associate with a large firm is a ?better? employment outcome than becoming a temp doc reviewer or even an associate with a small local firm...

Nominees for Florida Circuit Court

Posted on May 02, 2013
The blog generally doesn't cover state court appointments (that's Rumpole's domain), but that latest Circuit Court seat has some interesting applicants from the federal family. The Governor will decide from the following five, three of which have federal court ties:Jason BlochDonald J...

Tuesday News & Notes

Posted on April 30, 2013
1. Justice Breyer has been released from the hospital following shoulder surgery after his biking accident. (via AP)2. Justice O'Connor regrets Bush v. Gore:?It took the case and decided it at a time when it was still a big election issue,? Justice O?Connor told the Chicago Tribune editorial board on Friday...

Maybe it's time to stop riding the bike

Posted on April 29, 2013
Justice Breyer had a horrible biking accident this weekend, requiring reconstructive shoulder surgery. It was his third bad biking accident. From CNN:In 1993, he had a nasty accident when a car stuck him in Harvard Square while he was on his two-wheeler...

Friday news and notes

Posted on April 26, 2013
1. Judge Ryskamp sentenced an elderly woman to "5 seconds of probation"; she was charged with tax evasion in the Swiss bank crackdown where she inherited $43 million. She was represented by Roy Black and Jackie Perczek. Via the Palm Beach Post: A 79-year-old Palm Beach woman on Thursday didn?t just avoid a prison term for evading taxes on $43 million in foreign accounts...

Where in the world is the Federal JNC?

Posted on April 25, 2013
Apparently the Florida Federal JNC has not been constituted yet, leaving Judge Seitz's opening just sitting there -- with no ability to even apply. Meantime, Judge William Thomas' nomination to the District bench hasn't moved forward yet. What's going on?

Don't rush to judgment

Posted on April 24, 2013
See, e.g., the Ricin case. From the NY Times:Criminal charges were dropped Tuesday against a Mississippi man accused of mailing poisoned letters to President Obama and two other officialsOne day after the F.B.I. said it could find no evidence that the man, Paul Kevin Curtis, was behind the plot, a federal judge released him from jail and federal authorities shifted focus to another person of interest in the case...

Is Miriam Conrad now the most hated lawyer in the United States?

Posted on April 23, 2013
Conrad, the well-respected FPD in Boston, now represents the Boston Marathon bomber. From Business Insider:The lawyer leading his defense, Miriam Conrad, is a Harvard Law grad who's represented unpopular defendants including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid, the Wall Street Journal reports...

What's the strangest thing you've ever been offered as a fee?

Posted on April 22, 2013
Paula McMahon has this very entertaining article in the Sun-Sentinel about fees paid to criminal defense lawyers:Furs, guns, jewelry, a whole lot of boats and fancy cars, a hotel, an army tank, a ranch in Wyoming, a herd of cattle in Venezuela, a tray of lasagna, two Yorkie dogs and a lifetime supply of live bait...

Thursday news and notes

Posted on April 18, 2013
1. Victory for Lewis Tein and its lawyer Paul Calli. No perjury finding by Judge Dresnick. Bottom line is that people shouldn't rush to judgment. 2. Tom Goldstein has gotten press creds for reporter Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSBlog...

Reality Steve cites to the SDFLA Blog

Posted on April 17, 2013
Well, now the blog has officially made it. Yes, links from Above the Law and How Appealing are nice, but now we've been cited to on Reality Steve:Let me first confirm two more contestants for you. The first guy was really the only bit of info I?ve tweeted out in the last two weeks...

Obama nominates Judge Bill Pryor to Sentencing Commission

Posted on April 16, 2013
From the Montgomery Advertiser:President Barack Obama nominated former Alabama attorney general and current U.S. circuit judge Bill Pryor to be a commissioner on the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the White House announced Monday evening.Pryor, who served as attorney general from 1997 to 2004, serves on the U...

Michael Caruso stepping up

Posted on April 15, 2013
The blog previously covered how sequestration was forcing the federal defenders to be furloughed every Friday for the rest of the year, resulting in a 20% pay cut. Really horrible. The Sun-Sentinel has picked up the story and discusses how the bosses at the FPD's office are really stepping up:They say good bosses never ask employees to do something they wouldn't do themselves ? even in a federal budget crisis...

Congrats to Chief Judge Moreno

Posted on April 12, 2013
The Notre Dame Law Association has awarded Chief Judge Federico Moreno with its St. Thomas More award: The Notre Dame Law Association will award the St. Thomas More Award to the Hon. Federico A. Moreno (A.B. ?74) on April 12, 2013.Judge Moreno was born in 1952 in Venezuela, and received his A...

Thursday news & notes

Posted on April 11, 2013
1. While one prosecutor is appearing on The Bachelorette, another is writing op-eds for the Wall Street Journal saying that the feds should have the right to search everything, including your computer and phone, are the border. I'll leave it to you all to decide which is worse...

Tuesday news & notes

Posted on April 09, 2013
1. John Pacenti covers the Kaley case going to the Supreme Court:On the 50th anniversary of its landmark Gideon ruling giving all criminal defendants access to a lawyer, the U.S. Supreme Court accepted a South Florida case asking whether defendants are entitled to hire the counsel of their choice when federal prosecutors freeze their assets before trial...

Breaking -- Alicia Valle is your new Magistrate

Posted on April 09, 2013
Congrats to all around nice person and long time spokeswoman at the U.S. Attorney's Office Alicia Valle, who will be a great judge. I found this bio of her online:Alicia Olivera Valle has been the Special Counsel to the United States Attorney, Southern District of Florida, since May 2005...

Friday wrap-up

Posted on April 05, 2013
Well, the blog was dominated this week with The Bachelorette post, drawing links from Reality Steve, Above the Law and others. Interestingly, a number of people emailed me criticizing me for posting it. The guy is going on national television in prime time, so I'm not sure how posting about it on this blog is harmful to him or anyone else...

"He's smart, witty, compassionate, good-looking, nice."

Posted on April 05, 2013
That's Chief Judge Federico Moreno about his former law clerk and current Bachelorette contestant Mike Garofola. Rafael Olmeda from The Sun-Sentinel has more in this article:A graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Fordham Law School, Garofola worked at the firm of Davis Polk and Wardwell for two years before becoming a clerk with U...

Local AUSA Mike Garofalo to be on The Bachelorette

Posted on April 03, 2013

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