Litigation

States Responding to Citizens United: An Update

Posted on March 05, 2010
Some state lawmakers are scrambling to draft new legislation in response to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, while the attorney general in another state is standing firm until there’s a court challenge. An updated round-up of state legislative activity comes from an article in Arizona Capitol Times, to which Gavel Grab was alerted by Election [...

Retreat to be Recommended on 9/11 Trial?

Posted on March 05, 2010
White House advisers are moving toward a recommendation that the accused 9/11 terror attack plotters be tried before a military tribunal. If President Obama received and accepted such a recommendation, it would mark a major retreat. The Washington Post broke the story and was followed by other news media, including the Associated Press...

Friday Media Summary

Posted on March 05, 2010
JUSTICE AT STAKE American Courthouse: Another AHA! Moment Dan Pero – 3/4/2010 NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS Washington Post: Obama advisers set to recommend military tribunals for alleged 9/11 plotters Anne E. Kornblut and Peter Finn – 3/5/2010 FOX News: In Reversal, Obama Advisers to Recommend Military Tribunals for 9/11 Plotters 3/5/2010 Washington Post: Targeting Justice Department lawyers for work in terrorism cases is misdirected Editorial – [...

Political Deal-Making over Gitmo and Detainees?

Posted on March 04, 2010
The contours of ongoing talks between the White House and Sen. Lindsey Graham, over legislation to set guidelines for handling terror detainees, are reported by an intriguing New York Times article. The topic, and the talks, are controversial. The South Carolina Republican is discussing a measure of Republican support for shutting down the Guantanamo Bay military [...

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WV House Approves Public Financing Pilot

Posted on March 04, 2010
A pilot program for public financing of state Supreme Court elections in West Virginia won approval from the state House of Delegates on a 67-30 vote. Proposed by Gov. Joe Manchin, the pilot plan is aimed at cleaning up elections where special interests can pump big sums into judicial campaigns too easily, the Herald-Dispatch reported...

O?Connor Backs Merit Selection in MD

Posted on March 04, 2010
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, on the road to push for an end to state judicial elections, endorsed in Maryland a bill to replace election of circuit judges with their appointment, followed by retention elections. “The independence of the judiciary is something that we all ought to care about,” Justice O’Connor said in Annapolis, [...

Thursday Media Summary

Posted on March 04, 2010
NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS FOX News: Exclusive: Unknown DOJ Lawyers Identified Mike Levine – 3/3/2010 ABC News/Political Punch: Justice Department on So-called “Al Qaeda Seven”: We Will Not Participate in An Attempt to Drag People’s Names Through the Mud Jake Tapper – 3/3/2010 LA Times: Additional Justice Department appointees with past detainee work identified Richard A...

Did Bill Moyers Go Too Far?

Posted on March 03, 2010
A recent Bill Moyers program, “Justice for Sale,” attracted intense interest, including here at Gavel Grab and at www.justiceatstake.org. In an impassioned commentary about Citizens United, Moyers said, ?There?s now a crooked sign hanging on every courthouse in America reading ?Justice for Sale...

Justices Criticize OH Reform Plan

Posted on March 03, 2010
Ohio Chief Justice Thomas Moyer’s proposal for the state’s governor to appoint state Supreme Court justices is getting flak, including from some of Moyer’s colleagues. Justice Moyer and allies have floated the idea of replacing the competitive election of state Supreme Court justices with an appointment and retention (up-or-down vote) system, aimed at reducing the influence [...

No Decision Now in Uighur Case

Posted on March 01, 2010
The Supreme Court has sent back to a lower court a case asking whether a judge can order release into the United States of detainees wrongly held at Guantanamo. The case had been set for oral argument March 23. Other countries have offered to accept the detainees involved in the case...

Illegal-Entry Cases Prompt Growing Criticism

Posted on March 01, 2010
Federal Judge Sam Sparks  (photo below) has already created a stir in Texas by urging federal prosecutors to keep illegal-entry cases out of his courtroom (see Gavel Grab.) Now the National Law Journal is looking at his plea in a national context and reporting that extensive criticism is building over the prosecution in federal courts [...

?Citizens United:? Companies Can Funnel Money Secretly

Posted on March 01, 2010
While the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision upheld requirements for disclosure of corporate political spending, it also left corporations a significant loophole for escaping disclosure. That analysis is presented in a New York Times article headlined, “Decision Could Allow Anonymous Political Contributions by Businesses...

IA Editorial: Defending Judicial Independence

Posted on March 01, 2010
It’s all about undermining independent courts, the Des Moines Register warns in an editorial about an unsuccessful bid for election of state Supreme Court justices, and about linked efforts that are unfolding. In the legislature (state capitol photo at right), there was an unsuccessful effort to pave the way for a constitutional amendment for direct election [...

Challenge to MO Ballot Measure is Rejected

Posted on March 01, 2010
A proposed ballot measure for direct election of judges in Missouri got a go-ahead in court after a judge ruled a challenge to it was invalid. Lobbyist James Harris, who heads a group called ShowMe Better Courts, was quoted by the St. Louis Post Dispatch as saying signatures will be collected in order to get the [...

ABA President on ?Preserving Lady Justice?s Blindfold?

Posted on March 01, 2010
“Let’s Leave Politics Out of It” is the apt headline for a commentary by American Bar Association President Carolyn B. Lamm that spells out the ABA’s principles in the context of recent events. In ABA Journal, Lamm refers to President Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court...

Obama Signs Patriot Act Extension

Posted on March 01, 2010
President Obama signed into law a measure to extend key provisions of the USA Patriot Act for one year, the Associated Press reported. The measure is the nation’s main counterterrorism law. The extension signed by Obama did not contain new privacy protections that had been advocated by some congressional Democrats; Senate Democrats had to retreat [...

Monday Media Summary

Posted on March 01, 2010
NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS Reuters: Obama aides push back on venue for terrorism trials Jeremy Pelofsky – 2/26/2010 American Prospect/Tapped: Gates And Holder To Congress: Opposition To Trials “Unprecedented.” Adam Serwer – 2/25/2010 National Review Online/The Corner: Mass Murder Civilians and Get Gold-Plated Due Process Andrew McCarthy – 2/26/2010 Huffington Post: Abuse of Language Threatens American Freedoms James Zogby – 2/27/2010 Allentown Morning Call: Lawmakers strongly against [...

Sunday Media Summary

Posted on March 01, 2010
CITIZENS UNITED The New Republic: Roberts versus Roberts Jeffrey Rosen – 2/17/2010 Salon: Discussing Citizens United with Larry Lessig Glenn Greenwald – 2/17/2010 NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS The New Republic: "A War Is A War. A War Is Not A Crime, And You Don't Bring Your Enemies To A Courthouse...

Judges May Testify in Threat Case

Posted on February 26, 2010
Three federal appeals judges may take the witness stand when Harold “Hal” Turner is tried again on charges of encouraging listeners to murder three jurists. U.S. prosecutors are working to strengthen their case against the Web radio talk show host, and they have won permission for the judges to testify, according to a National Law Journal [...

Retired Judge: DC Suited for Terror Trial

Posted on February 26, 2010
A  retired federal judge from Washington, D.C., urges unequivocally that the nation’s capital be considered for the trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. “I submit that the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is the most appropriate alternative forum for this trial...

Death Penalty Set Aside in Texas Case

Posted on February 26, 2010
The case had unfolded like a novel. But now the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has added a new chapter, and a reprieve, for a defendant who protested that the judge in his murder trial had been sleeping with the prosecutor (see Gavel Grab), and they admitted it...

House Votes to Extend Patriot Act Provisions

Posted on February 26, 2010
The House of Representatives has passed 315 to 97 a bill to extend for a year key provisions of the USA Patriot Act, the nation’s main counterterrorism law, the Associated Press reported. The bill, already approved  by the Senate, goes to President Obama for his signature...

Will Cameras Capture Prop. 8 Trial Closing Arguments?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Is  a re-run ahead for a proposal to broadcast part of the same-sex marriage trial in California? As the trial winds toward a close, the U.S. District Court in San Francisco has posted online a rules change that could permit telecasting of closing arguments, according to a San Francisco Chronicle article...

Friday Media Summary

Posted on February 26, 2010
CITIZENS UNITED NY Times/Opinionator: Missing the Tea Party LINDA GREENHOUSE – 2/25/2010 American Constitution Society: ACS Panel Discussion – Citizens United v. FEC: The Decision, Its Implications, and the Road Ahead 2/24/2010 NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS Washington Post/AP: Holder, Gates: Congress should not restrict trials Pete Yost – 2/25/2010 Business Week: Holder, Gates Urge House Not to Tie Their Hands on Terror Cases Jeff Bliss – [...

Maryland to Recognize Gay Marriages

Posted on February 25, 2010
Douglas Gansler, the Maryland attorney general, said  Maryland will recognize same-sex unions when gay couples have married elsewhere. He also said  state agencies should begin affording gay married couples the rights of heterosexual married couples, according to a Washington Post article...

Another Extension Ahead for Patriot Act?

Posted on February 25, 2010
Congress appears poised once again to punt on renewing key sections of the USA Patriot Act. When Senate Democrats could not muster the 60 votes needed to advance new privacy protections to the counterterrorism law, they retreated,  and the Senate passed a one-year extension of three key provisions that were set to expire, according to the [...

Constitutional Amendment Proposed in Senate

Posted on February 25, 2010
Sen. Chris Dodd introduced a proposed constitutional amendment to effectively nullify the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, but the odds for passing any constitutional amendment are not great. Not since 1992 has the Constitution been amended, according to a Hartford Courant article...

In Tennessee, An Overloaded Immigration Court

Posted on February 25, 2010
There is no let-up in the parade of reports about overburdened immigration courts facing huge caseloads and long docket delays. The latest comes from The Tennesseean. It reports that since one of two Memphis-based immigration judges was reassigned recently to Virginia, the remaining judge hears cases in a Memphis courtroom–while other cases are heard by [...

Berkeley Law Prof Nominated for Appeals Court

Posted on February 25, 2010
One of President Obama’s most interesting judicial confirmation battles to date may be about to unfold. Obama has nominated Goodwin Liu (photo at right) for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Liu teaches constitutional law at the University of California at Berkeley and clerked for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg...

Thursday Media Summary

Posted on February 25, 2010
NATIONAL SECURITY/COURTS National Review: A Mistake, Not a Model Andrew C. McCarthy – 2/24/2010 Wall Street Journal: Mr. Holder’s Triumph (subscription required) 2/25/2010 Bloomberg: Congress Must Fund Trial of 9/11 Terror Suspects, Official Says Jeff Bliss – 2/24/2010 Huffington Post: Beyond Politics, Beyond Guantanamo: 9/11 Trials Should Not be Construed as a Partisan Issue Ginny Sloan – 2/24/2010 Miami Herald: Judge OKs detention of [...

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