Litigation

AL Chief Justice: ?There is Nothing Else to Cut?

Posted on March 09, 2011
Hundreds of layoffs are coming in Alabama’s court system as a result of the governor’s new budget proposal, Alabama Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb (photo at right) warned. As many as 500 people will be laid off starting Oct. 1, as a result of a 10 percent budget cut for the Unified Court System, she [...

Rep. Paul Favors Right to Vote U.S. Judges off Bench

Posted on March 08, 2011
Rep. Ron Paul, a Texas Republican, told an Iowa audience that Americans should have the same right to dump federal judges that Iowans exercised in November when they ousted three state Supreme Court justices. “At the federal level, I think we ought to have the same rights you do in Iowa,” he told an audience [...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 08, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: The Senate confirmed Monday three federal judges, according to an article in The Hill. They were Sue Myerscough and James Shadid for the Central District of Illinois and Anthony Battaglia for the Southern District of California...

For Detainees, Indefinite Detention System Created

Posted on March 08, 2011
In addition to re-starting military trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, President Obama has formally set up a system of indefinite detention for prisoners held there. The president signed Monday an executive order recognizing that some detainees at the military prison will remain there over many years...

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Expansion of FL Supreme Court Proposed

Posted on March 08, 2011
Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, a Republican, has proposed expanding the state Supreme Court from seven to 10 justices, divided between two panels focusing on civil and on criminal cases. That and other court overhaul proposals that he announced played to widely mixed reviews, according to a St...

Ethics Attack on High Court Judges ?Dangerous??

Posted on March 08, 2011
Critics have gone far in recent months to challenge the ethics and impartiality of several conservative Supreme Court justices. Now a political journal tries to give context to the charges. The attacks on Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and to a lesser extent Samuel Alito “represent the most concerted attack on a bloc of justices [...

Military Trials at Gitmo to Resume

Posted on March 07, 2011
President Obama gave a green light Monday to resuming military trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, at the same time he repeated his backing for trying terror suspects in U.S. federal courts. Obama said he ordered lifting of an order that had suspended filing of new charges in military tribunals at Guantanamo, according to a [...

Justice Thomas Gets Heat Over Speech

Posted on March 07, 2011
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ recent remarks before the Federalist Society are prompting criticism in some quarters, including recent commentaries by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich and law professor Jonathan Turley. According to Reich’s commentary, at his Christian Science Monitor blog, Justice Thomas accused his critics of politicizing the Supreme Court and “undermining” its [...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 07, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Lawyers for former Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. of Luzerne County, Pa. appealed his conviction on seven of 12 criminal counts of corruption in the “cash for kids” scandal, according to a Wilkes-Barre Citizens Voice article...

Bills to Alter Merit Selection Advance in AZ

Posted on March 07, 2011
Two measures that would alter the way judges are chosen under Arizona’s system of merit selection have advanced from legislative committees. One of the bills would ask voters to decide whether to require Senate confirmation of judges. It  would revise judicial nominating commission membership and would eliminate retention elections, according to a summary provided by [...

Lawmaker: Bar U.S. Courts From Ruling on Gay Marriage

Posted on March 07, 2011
A bill introduced in the House of Representatives would strip federal courts of authority to hear cases involving same-sex marriage. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., introduced the measure in response to the Obama administration’s recent decision to no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act in court (see Gavel Grab), according to an article in [...

Friday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 05, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: Several Republican members of Congress are seeking a Justice Department investigation of possible “threats” against conservative justices of the Supreme Court, saying rallies by Common Cause seem to “incite violence and encourage racial slurs,” Fox News reported...

U.S. Judges Speak Out on Nominations Logjam

Posted on March 05, 2011
Federal judges across the country are decrying  a backlog of judicial nominations and spotlighting the impact of vacancies on the delivery of justice. These judges’ remarks were reported by CNN in an article headlined, “Judicial nominee logjam creates ‘crisis’ in some federal courts”: Federal Judge Roslyn Silver in Arizona: “We have a crisis, we have [...

Two Years after Caperton, ?Promise?Unfulfilled?

Posted on March 05, 2011
The Supreme Court’s landmark Caperton v. Massey decision two years ago sparked nationwide attention and calls for states to reform their disqualification rules, but overall progress has been minor. That’s the conclusion of a report by the Brennan Center for Justice, a Justice at Stake Partner, entitled, “Two Years after Caperton, Small Steps Forward, Many [...

Gingrich Pivotal in IA Ouster Campaign

Posted on March 05, 2011
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich helped secure $200,000 in start-up money for the successful campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices over the court’s controversial same-sex marriage ruling. The potential Republican presidential candidate “played a key behind-the-scenes role” in getting the money, according to a Los Angeles Times article...

Mistrial Declared in PA Corruption Case

Posted on March 05, 2011
A judge concluded that the defense in the corruption trial of Pennsylvania state Sen. Jane Orie submitted forged evidence, and he angrily declared a mistrial. Orie is accused of using  state resources for the political campaigns of herself and her sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin...

WI Budget Proposal Hits Public Financing Act

Posted on March 03, 2011
UPDATE: Justice at Stake has just issued a statement urging lawmakers to restore funding for Wisconsin’s public financing system in state appellate court elections. Click here to read statement.  A sweeping budget proposal by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would reduce public financing for state Supreme Court contests, and the provision is drawing fire...

High Court Weighs Whether Ashcroft Can be Sued

Posted on March 03, 2011
The Supreme Court was asked Wednesday to allow former former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft to be sued for allegedly misusing federal law to detain a terrorism suspect — who never was charged with a crime — on false pretenses. The justices “appeared skeptical” of the lawsuit attempt, according to a Wall Street Journal article...

Nominee Liu: Alito Slam Showed ?Poor Judgment?

Posted on March 03, 2011
Law professor Goodwin Liu, one of President Obama’s most controversial judicial nominees, has apologized for a verbal fusillade he unleashed upon Samuel Alito during the would-be Supreme Court justice’s nomination hearing. ?I think the language that I used was unduly harsh, it was provocative and it was unnecessary,? said Liu, who teaches at the University of [...

High Spending Sparks Calls for IL Election Reform

Posted on March 02, 2011
With special interests spending skyrocketing sums to influence judicial elections, reform advocates are calling for changes to the way state Supreme Court justices are chosen in Illinois. An article entitled “High court, high cost” in Illinois Issues, a public affairs periodical, quotes from the Justice at Stake Campaign for data about soaring spending on judicial [...

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 02, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: While some have suggested that Iowa justices ought to campaign actively in retention elections, “[t]hat would be a corruption of the constitutional amendment Iowa voters approved 48 years ago that did away with electing judges,” a Des Moines Register editorial said...

Court Rejects Limits on Military Funeral Protests

Posted on March 02, 2011
Even hateful, hurtful speech is protected by the Constitution, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in the case of an extremist church in Kansas that has carried out anti-gay protests at military funerals. “Speech is powerful,? Chief Justice John G...

Sotomayor, Kagan Changing High Court Dynamic?

Posted on March 02, 2011
Are Supreme Court justices talking more during the high court’s oral arguments? A Washington Post article suggests that is the case, reporting that “[t]he The Supreme Court is talking more and listening less, with new arrivals Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan proving to be aggressive additions to what was already an assertive court...

New Ethics Standards for Supreme Court Proposed

Posted on March 01, 2011
Two Congressional Democrats have announced legislation that would apply to Supreme Court justices the same  ethics rules that currently govern other federal judges. ?Every week it seems, we have a new reason for this Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, to take seriously the growing problem of potential conflicts of interest on that court, especially as [...

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on March 01, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: “With three new justices, some say rest of court [is] safe,” declared a headline for an Associated Press report about the Iowa Supreme Court. The article did not predict whether critics will press an effort to oust four more senior justices who participated in a controversial [...

New Campaign, Recusal Rules Proposed in TN

Posted on March 01, 2011
The Tennessee Bar Association, citing the “explosion of contested, big money campaigns for judicial office,” has proposed new ethics rules for judges. The proposed rules would reduce restrictions on judges participating in politics, while setting stricter guidelines for disqualification of judges when a perceived or real conflict of interest exists, according to an article in [...

Judge to Senate: ?You?re Injuring the?Judiciary?

Posted on February 28, 2011
Litigants can’t get their cases heard in a timely fashion, and fewer people are willing to be nominated for judgeships due to  a slower Senate confirmation rate for the federal bench, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said Monday. ?I say to both Republicans and Democrats: You?re injuring the federal judiciary,? Judge Lamberth said...

Monday Gavel Grab Briefs

Posted on February 28, 2011
In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts: The Utah House on Monday rejected legislative attempts to delay a shift of Utah justice courts to retention elections, according to an article in Gavel to Gavel, a publication of the National Center for State Courts...

JAS Partner Condemns ?Jukebox Justice?

Posted on February 28, 2011
There’s a stinging new condemnation of special interest spending on judicial elections, penned by a partner of Justice at Stake. Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development, examines judicial election spending that he says can lead to perceptions of “jukebox justice...

OK Bill Eyes Altering Merit Selection

Posted on February 25, 2011
While a bill to replace merit selection of the Kansas Court of Appeals has drawn attention (see Gavel Grab), a like-minded measure has advanced in Oklahoma. The state Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a bill to ask voters whether to abolish the Judicial Nominating Commission and whether the state Senate should confirm judicial appointments made by [...

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