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Federal Judiciary

Southern District of Florida

News and notes on the Southern District of Florida

Post Frequency: 3.1/day

Last Entry: November 03, 2020 at 07:42:00

Willy Ferrer's investiture today

Posted on July 16, 2010
Chief Judge Moreno swears Willy in at 3pm today at the new courthouse. So, those of you who came to work in casual clothes today or who are planning to sneak out early, you're gonna miss it. Congrats to Willy.

Live blogging Willy Ferrer's swearing-in

Posted on July 16, 2010

"The facts of this case are riddled with extraordinary cruelty and evil."

Posted on July 15, 2010
You know that you aren't going to win an appeal with that as the opening line of the opinion. And that's how Judge Marcus started off his 87-page opinion in USA v. Chuckie Taylor. And here's the conclusion:In sum, we affirm Emmanuel?s convictions and sentence in full...

Barefoot Bandit appears before Judge Dube

Posted on July 14, 2010
It was a really quick hearing -- according to Curt Anderson: The American teenager who police call the "Barefoot Bandit" made his first appearance in a U.S. court since being extradited from the Bahamas.Colton Harris-Moore appeared briefly in federal court in Miami on Wednesday...

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Tuesday News and Notes

Posted on July 13, 2010
It's pretty quiet in the District right now. A couple news items:1. Attorney General Eric Holder and Department of Health and Human Servies Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will be in the SDFLA (at the James L. Knight Center) on Friday July 16 at 9:45 to have the first in a series of day-long regional summits to discuss innovative ways to prevent fraud within the U...

Barefoot Bandit headed to Miami

Posted on July 13, 2010
His real name is Colton Harris-Moore and he was caught in the Bahamas. The kis was born in 1991. From his Wiki page:Harris-Moore became known as the "Barefoot Bandit" or as the "Barefoot Burglar", by reportedly committing his crimes while barefoot...

Crazy Monday...

Posted on July 12, 2010
Sorry for the slow blogging, but I've been running around all day. A Mizzou grad posted 17 things he learned in law school (via ATL), and it's pretty funny. So enjoy until I can get back to the blog:1. Walk, don?t run from the police. See Illinois v...

Judge Gold to take senior status in January

Posted on July 09, 2010
I remember when Judge Gold was sworn in -- I was clerking for Judge Davis at the time. All of the clerks were invited to the ceremony, which back then was held in the old courtyard and catered by Christy's. Judge Gold made a point of introducing himself to all of the clerks; he was very nice...

Pure Gold -- Uncle Luke's column in the New Times

Posted on July 08, 2010
In case you've missed it, Luther Campbell -- an original Miamian -- has been writing a column for the Miami New Times. His last two are worth mentioning: 1. "Elena Kagan helped 2 Live Crew and blacks so confirm her already" and 2. "Al Gore can get freaky now that Tipper's gone"...

Federal Sentencing Guidelines under attack by...

Posted on July 08, 2010
... Lindsay Lohan. She tweeted the following:It is clearly stated in Article 5 of the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights that...., "No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." this was taken from an article by Erik Luna...

SDFLA Blog Turns 5

Posted on July 07, 2010
It's been 5 years since we started the blog. I actually forgot this year to do our annual birthday post. The blog was started on July 4 weekend in 2005. Here's the initial post where I asked that a Floridian get appointed to the Supreme Court...

Has the SDFLA become the new rocket docket?

Posted on July 07, 2010
The Eastern District of Virginia traditionally has been referred to as the "rocket docket" because of the speed in which it disposes of cases. There is even a EDVA blog called The Rocket Docket. Other districts -- like the Eastern District of Texas and the Northern District of California -- have also been saddled with that moniker...

Back to work...

Posted on July 06, 2010
...on a soggy Tuesday.Hope everyone had a nice weekend. Some quick hits to start your week:1. Rumpole is talking about the new drivers license cases.2. SFL doesn't like the Herald's Kindle edition. But he does like the Kindle, as do I. I use it more for books than newspapers...

Happy 4th

Posted on July 02, 2010

Thursday news and notes

Posted on July 01, 2010
1. Elena Kagan had another good day yesterday answering questions. Here's one funny exchange, where Senator Specter one-ups her:2. The Herald reports here that the government actually sent an apology to Sergio Masvidal, who was represented by Joe DeMaria...

?Like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.?

Posted on June 30, 2010
That was Elena Kagan yesterday at her confirmation hearings when asked where she was on Christmas day when a would-be terrorist was trying to blow up a plane over Detroit. (For more great quotes, see AboveTheLaw here). Today is day 3. It's tough to watch the Senators drone on, but Kagan is doing a nice job...

Skilling/Black ripple effects

Posted on June 29, 2010
The 11th Circuit gets to reconsider the cases of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman and ex-HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy. They were convicted of bribery and honest services fraud, which are now subject to attack because of the Skilling decision.

Monday morning (JPS edition)

Posted on June 28, 2010
1. Today is John Paul Stevens' last day on the Court. He has been a Justice for 35 years -- third longest ever on the Court. He took over for Justice Douglas -- interestingly, the longest serving Justice ever. At 90, he's also the second oldest serving Justice, behind Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes...

CJA Lawyers getaway

Posted on June 26, 2010
The District's Criminal Justice Act lawyers had their annual seminar in Naples. Chief Judge Moreno, Judge Cooke, and Judge O'Sullivan attended. So did the U.S. Attorney, Willy Ferrer, and his second-in-command Ben Greenberg. Big shout out to Ferrer and Greenberg for coming -- they were the first USAO dynamic duo to ever accept an invite in the 13 years of doing this seminar...

No Bliski yet

Posted on June 24, 2010
But the High Court did decide the honest services cases and found that the statute only covers bribes and kickbacks. Jeff Skilling and Conrad Black have to go fight about harmless error in the appellate courts now. Interestingly (take note Rumpole), the Court did not strike down the statute as vague...

How much time should Lew Freeman get?

Posted on June 23, 2010
Judge Huck is set to sentence him on Friday.Joe DeMaria filed this sentencing memo on Freeman's behalf on Monday. It's an interesting contrast to the memo filed for Scott Rothstein, especially in tone. Also of note is that Freeman still seems to have the support of the community -- 277 letters were filed on his behalf...

It's official --

Posted on June 22, 2010
-- Jonathan Goodman is now a magistrate judge. The background check is over and JG is good to go. Congrats!But, we're still waiting for the White House to nominate Kathy Williams. What is taking so long? It's just ridiculous. Obama has really failed so far with the federal judiciary...

Satellite U.S. Attorney's office

Posted on June 21, 2010
The Ferraro Law Firm is hiring -- and its hiring federal prosecutors. Jeff Sloman, the former U.S. Attorney, joined the firm, as did Alan Kaiser. Two more well-regarded prosecutors are set to join next month -- Melissa Damian and Russell Koonin. The firm is known for asbestos litigation, and the website says in bold on the first page: "We have helped more than 20,000 people recover over approximately $ 1 billion dollars in asbestos and mesothelioma lawsuits...

NGs for the cops on trial before Judge Middlebrooks

Posted on June 17, 2010
Across the board not guilty verdicts today for the three police officers charged with perjury before Judge Middlebrooks. Richard Sharpstein was at his finest with the following quotes (via the Miami Herald):A triumph for truth, justice and the American way,'' Farraj's defense attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said Thursday...

Beat LA (and Rumpole)

Posted on June 17, 2010
Running around like crazy the last few days, and then I see this straw man put up and knocked down by Rumpole on his blog. I will respond when I have a minute. In the meantime, let me say that I obviously do not agree with Scalia's dissent in Holland, and I have not taken the position that Scalia is friendly to criminal defendants -- what I have said is that Scalia is the best friend that criminal defendants have on the Supreme Court (here's one of the first posts that got the debate started)...

My first call for impeachment

Posted on June 15, 2010

Supreme Court to issue many opinions today

Posted on June 14, 2010
There are 24 pending cases and not much time left -- the Court closes down at the end of June. It has issued a whopping 53 opinions this year... (It's unbelievable how few cases the modern Supreme Court hears).The Court will be issuing a number of opinions today...

Questions to ponder

Posted on June 14, 2010
I know, I know -- you're bored without Lost, American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, 24, and Glee. At least there's Friday Night Lights, and True Blood just came back. And football is just around the corner. While you wait, here are some questions to think about this Monday night:1...

Justice Souter on judging

Posted on June 10, 2010
Judging is a really hard and truly human exercise. Judges definitely are not umpires, according to Justice Souter. Here are his remarks at the Harvard commencement. Here are his closing remarks:So, it is tempting to dismiss the critical rhetoric of lawmaking and activism as simply a rejection of too many of the hopes we profess to share as the American people...

Judge Middlebrooks excludes Judge Altonaga

Posted on June 10, 2010
More fun in the cop perjury trial that I just posted about below. Judge Middlebrooks granted the defense "Motion in Limine to Exclude Federal District Judge Cecilia Altonaga."The government wanted to call Judge Altonaga to demonstrate that the police officers' testimony was material to the suppresion hearing...

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