Federal Judiciary

Quick Hits

Posted on July 08, 2009
Sorry about the slow blogging this week. It's summer and I'm swamped... What up with that?Okay, to the news:1. General Noriega has filed a cert petition.2. Paris Hilton starts trial tomorrow in front of Judge Moreno. Steven Binhak and Michael Weinstein represent her...

Paris, oh Paris

Posted on July 08, 2009
The Paris Hilton trial starts tomorrow. Our prior coverage is here. I imagine it's going to be a circus (as far as circuses go in federal court; remember no tweeting or blogging!) in the Chief Judge's courtroom tomorrow. I'm hoping to get an exclusive blog interview with Paris...

Obama nominates Beverly Martin to Eleventh Circuit

Posted on July 06, 2009
President Obama has nominated District Judge Beverly Martin to fill Lanier Anderson's seat on the Eleventh Circuit. She's been a district judge in the Northern District of Georgia since 2000 and before that was the U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia for three years...

SDFLA turns 4

Posted on July 04, 2009
Four years ago on Fourth of July weekend I started this blog with no expectations and no idea if the blog would last a month, let alone four years. Since then, there have been 1,275 posts (there is a post almost every business day) and almost 500,000 hits (it took us a while, but the blog now averages around 600 hits a day)...

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Sealed Mutual Benefits stuff starts to leak

Posted on July 03, 2009
Jay Weaver has the lengthy front page story here. Our prior coverage is here. The bombshell from the article is that Paul Huck Jr. was one of the reasons a number of documents were sealed and a number of judges recused (including Judge Huck). Of course Huck Jr...

Alex Kozinski and Porn

Posted on July 02, 2009
We've posted about the whole dust-up with Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski and his personal website featuring sexually explicit photos and videos.Well, the Third Circuit's judicial council, tasked with investigating the case, wrote a 41 page opinion admonishing Kozinski, but clearing him of any wrongdoing...

Wardrobe Malfunction

Posted on July 01, 2009
Here.You may be wondering what this has to do with the SDFLA. The answer is nothing.

New UM Dean starts with a bang

Posted on July 01, 2009
Apparently, incoming 1Ls are being asked to defer a year because UM accepted too many students. Here's the incoming Dean's memo to the incoming 1Ls, courtesy of AboveTheLaw:UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI LAW SCHOOL -- MEMO -- DEFERRAL OPTIONS Every year our Admissions Office uses our past experience with acceptance rates to decide how many students to admit...

Interviews (and times) made public

Posted on July 01, 2009
After the list has been floating around the past couple of days, the JNC finally posted it here. You can see the times of the public interviews. I wonder if anyone will show up.Some interesting notes:The order of the interviews is random. (Which is the best slot? Robin Rosenbaum is first up and Ana Martinez is last...

Judge list out

Posted on June 30, 2009
The applicants who will be interviewed for federal judge in the Southern District are: Jerald Bagley, Gerald B. Cope, Jr., Mary Barzee Flores, Darrin P. Gayles, Judith M. Korchin, Robert W. Lee, Peter R. Lopez, Patricia E. Lowry, Ana Maria Martinez, Caroline Heck Miller, Robin S...

U.S. Attorney list

Posted on June 30, 2009
The JNC has cut the list for US Attorney in Miami to: David M. Buckner, Wifredo Ferrer, Richard D. Gregorie, Ilona Maxine Holmes, Curtis B. Miner, Thomas J. Mulvihill, Lilly Ann Sanchez, Mark P. Schnapp, William Richard Scruggs, Jeffrey H. Sloman, James H...

Disrespectful?

Posted on June 29, 2009
I've always cringed a little when I hear a male lawyer address a female judge as "ma'am" (instead of "judge" or "your honor") during an argument. Now Senator Boxer has caused a bit of a stir with this exchange:So, I will put it to you all:Is it disrespectful to address a judge as "ma'am" instead of "judge" or "your honor"? YesNo pollcode...

Breaking! Interviews have been determined for judge and US Attorney

Posted on June 29, 2009
I will post the entire list shortly. (I'm getting a haircut right now!)--David Oscar Markuswww.markuslaw.com305-379-6667

They write letters

Posted on June 29, 2009
(Okay, so we stole the title from our brother blogger, South Florida Lawyer). While everyone is talking about Ricci and Madoff, the story that interests me is Justice Souter's last day on the bench. Here's the letter from the Chief Justice, signed by all of the Justices, wishing Souter well...

Time for the weekend

Posted on June 26, 2009
Before you leave for the weekend, you should know:So Jeff Goldblum didn't die (neither did Harrison Ford).UBS clients are starting to plead."Justice Antonin Scalia [is] the Confrontation Clause?s most devoted defender on the Court." (via ScotusBlog).

SCALIA.

Posted on June 25, 2009
Rumpole, check out the 2 criminal law opinions this morning. Justice Scalia wrote a 5-4 opinion (Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts) in favor of a criminal defendant on a confrontation clause issue and in another case (Safford v. Redding), joined Justice Souter's opinion in favor of a high school student challenging a strip search on Fourth Amendment grounds...

RIP MJ

Posted on June 25, 2009

To Blackberry...

Posted on June 24, 2009
...or not to Blackberry; that is the question.Other questions of the today:1) Isn't it time for someone to figure out who Rumpole is? (I think he's given us a hint with this picture -- it's taken from Datran, no?)2) Is the government dropping the UBS suit?3) How many more Medicare arrests will there be?4) Can law firms withhold pay for not billing enough hours?5) Why aren't all of us taking longer vacations?6) How bad is the food at the SuperMax?7) Over the top ad? Or just good fun?8) If you got these tattoos, you would lie too, wouldn't you?

It's a special guest appearance by...

Posted on June 23, 2009
Vanessa Blum! In a "special to the Review," she covers the White & Case scandal:Ten years ago, it would have been the stuff of law firm gossip. But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case...

It was the catfish with black pepper...

Posted on June 22, 2009
... that made me crash into the ditch on the way to court for a murder trial. I really wasn't drunk. I swear. Sorry Your Honor.My other weekend reading included:Poor Bernie.In other UM news, Roy Firestone inspired the Marlins. (Or maybe it was Jim Leyritz who depressed the Yanks)...

Dean Alex Acosta

Posted on June 22, 2009

It's a bird, it's a plane, no... it's....

Posted on June 22, 2009
Mary K. Butler, a senior trial attorney with the Public Integrity Section who is now involved in the Mutual Benefits case that has been all secretive...Jon Burstein from the Sun-Sentinel has more:The U.S. Department of Justice has called on a tenacious veteran prosecutor to help handle a grand jury investigation into public corruption in Florida ? a top-secret inquiry related to a Fort Lauderdale business that authorities suspect was a colossal fraud...

Quick hits

Posted on June 18, 2009
1. At the 59th Annual Green Eyeshade awards Jay Weaver won first prize in the category of Courts and the Law Reporting for his medicare series. Carol Rosenberg (also from the Herald) got second prize for her Gitmo coverage. Green Eyeshade? Well, it's the major journalism society...

Down goes Ranck

Posted on June 17, 2009
The Herald reports that Judge Gold dismissed David Ranck's case yesterday. I will post the opinion when I get to the office. (UPDATE -- Here it is) I'm sure Rumpole will have more. In the meantime, here's the Herald's summary:A veteran prosecutor Tuesday lost his free-speech lawsuit against State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, who had suspended him last year for posting on a blog his own internal memo criticizing her handling of a controversial fatal police shooting...

?They were high-fiving each other at the office.?

Posted on June 16, 2009
That's Allan Kaiser talking about the State Attorney's Office after David Ranck's recent arrest for battery on the pizza girl. Long before his arrest (and subsequent firing), Ranck brought a whistle-blower lawsuit in federal court before Judge Gold. The State, represented by Oscar Marrero, has moved to dismiss, and Judge Gold heard argument last Friday...

Scandal at White & Case Miami

Posted on June 16, 2009
AboveTheLaw has all the sordid details (including an interview with the woman, dubbed SexyLexus) about an extramarital affair involving a White & Case associate. On a separate note, here's my sentencing question of the day: Assuming he did it, should the cat-killer get more or less time than Donte Stallworth (driving drunk resulting in death)? (Yes Rumpole, these are both state cases...

Cert denied in Cuban Spy case

Posted on June 15, 2009
I'm glad Rumpole didn't take me up on the double or nothing bet. Still waiting to get paid...

"Noah Gray, a student journalist at Miami Palmetto Senior High, contributed to this report."

Posted on June 14, 2009
It's all cat killer news right now. The Herald has a lengthy cover story about the case. How psyched is Noah Gray, a student who got billing for helping out with the article. Pretty cool.No one really has any details about how they actually broke the case...

Slow blogging

Posted on June 12, 2009
Sorry! We'll hit you back on Monday. --David Oscar Markuswww.markuslaw.com305-379-6667

Joe Biden on Sotomayor

Posted on June 10, 2009
From ABAnews:Vice President Joe Biden?s comments yesterday supporting Judge Sonia Sotomayor?s law enforcement credentials has some critics suggesting he went too far.Speaking yesterday at a White House event to showcase prosecutor and police endorsements for Sotomayor, Biden noted that the Supreme Court nominee has experience as a prosecutor, Politico reports...

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