Litigation

Judge Sold Exxon Stock Before Ruling

Posted on June 25, 2010
The federal judge who blocked the Obama administration?s deepwater drilling moratorium has stated he sold his shares in Exxon Mobil less than five hours before making his ruling. District Judge Martin Feldman said in a letter Friday, attached to disclosure forms he released, that he sold shares of Exxon Mobil  “at the opening of the [...

House Passes Campaign-Spending Disclosure Bill

Posted on June 24, 2010
The House of Representatives passed 219 to 206 on Thursday a bill with more stringent requirements for special interest groups, unions and corporations to disclose their political spending. The Senate will consider the bill next. Democratic leaders shaped the bill to soften the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in January, and they [...

Court Upholds Releasing Names in Petition-Privacy Case

Posted on June 24, 2010
There is no automatic right for people who sign petitions seeking a public vote on a hot issue to keep their names secret, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in a case from Washington state. In an 8-1 decision, the high court ruled that releasing the names of signers of ballot petitions does not generally violate [...

Ethics Complaints Fly in Ohio Court Contest

Posted on June 24, 2010
The ethics complaints are flying around the campaigns for chief justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court. The election is set for November. Chief Justice Eric Brown (photo at left), a Democrat recently named by Gov. Ted Strickland, was accused by the Ohio GOP of personally soliciting money for his campaign, in alleged violation of a judicial [...

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Momentum Building to End Secret ?Holds??

Posted on June 24, 2010
An effort to end the practice of secret “holds” by U.S. senators is “gaining steam,” a National Public Radio report says. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is on board, and Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, has collected 67 signers on a letter addressed to Senate leaders, promising not to use the maneuver and to [...

Groups Ask Judge to Disclose Energy Interests

Posted on June 24, 2010
Environmental groups are asking in court for a federal judge, who lifted the Obama administration?s moratorium on new deepwater drilling, to declare whether he still owns interests in energy and drilling service companies. A Politico article said a motion was filed Wednesday by Defenders of Wildlife, the Sierra Club, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice, [...

Moratorium-Lifting Judge Held Oil Stocks

Posted on June 23, 2010
A federal judge who struck down the Obama administration’s moratorium on new deepwater drilling, Martin Feldman, has held interests in offshore drilling companies, according to disclosure forms from 2008. A Huffington Post article said Judge Feldman held energy stocks in Transocean and Halliburton, and in two of BP’s largest US shareholders...

Nominee?s Political Donations Draw Questions

Posted on June 23, 2010
Federal district nominee John “Jack” McConnell of Rhode Island has attracted plenty of Republican opposition, and now his foes are zeroing in on large contributions of nearly $700,00 by his family to Democratic candidates and causes. McConnell’s donations “dwarf contributions made by other Obama court appointees, leading Republicans to question whether big-time donors could create [...

Kagan Endorsed by Most Former Solicitors General

Posted on June 23, 2010
Conservatives Theodore Olson and Ken Starr are among a group of former solicitors general named by Democratic and Republican presidents who have endorsed Elena Kagan, one of their successors, for the U.S. Supreme Court. The lawyers touted Kagan’s broad experience and record for accomplishment, according to an Associated Press article...

Some Senators Push to End Secret ?Holds?

Posted on June 23, 2010
The Senate has confirmed magistrate Judge Audrey Fleissig of Missouri to the federal bench on a 90-0 vote, without even a whiff of opposition. But that vote came after a four-month wait due to delays orchestrated secretly by Republicans. Because some senators are greatly frustrated by a practice allowing any senator to bottle up bills [...

JAS, Partners Urge Action on Judicial Backlog

Posted on June 22, 2010
The Justice at Stake Campaign and two partner groups urged the White House and Senate leaders today to join together and reduce a growing backlog of judicial nominations. “The process of nominating and confirming federal judges has been politicized by both parties, damaging the integrity of our justice system,” said a joint letter by Justice [...

On Petition-Privacy Case, and Fear in a Democracy

Posted on June 22, 2010
The Supreme Court is expected to rule soon in a potential blockbuster case over whether to keep secret the names of people who signed a ballot petition seeking repeal of Washington state?s domestic partnership law. Dahlia Lithwick, in a compelling Slate column, goes further to ask a related, profound question about fear in a democracy: [...

PA Merit Selection: ?What Are We Waiting For??

Posted on June 22, 2010
Another newspaper says it is high time for Pennsylvanians to vote on adopting merit selection to choose appellate judges. “Last year’s appellate court elections provided all the evidence anyone should need to realize that merit selection would be a far-better way to pick jurists for the three highest courts in Pennsylvania,” a Reading Eagle editorial [...

Anti-Terrorism Ruling ?Went too Far?

Posted on June 22, 2010
Some editorial boards sharply criticized the Supreme Court’s upholding a law that bans “material support” to foreign terrorist groups, even when the aid was meant to help them avoid violence. “By preserving an extremely vague prohibition on aiding and associating with terrorist groups, the court reduced the First Amendment rights of American citizens,” a New [...

Supreme Court Upholds Anti-Terrorism Law

Posted on June 21, 2010
A federal law that bans “material support” for foreign terrorist groups is constitutional, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, handing a victory to the Obama administration. With its 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court rejected a First Amendment challenge and upheld the ban on aid to designated groups even when it was intended to give them tools [...

Panel Hears Complaint Against Texas Judge

Posted on June 21, 2010
The future of Texas’ top criminal court judge rests in the hands of a disciplinary panel that heard emotional arguments over whether she should be punished or exonderated. Judge Sharon Keller, who presides over the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, was charged with misconduct in her handling of a last-minute death row appeal (see Gavel [...

No Bombshells Yet in Elena Kagan E-Mails

Posted on June 21, 2010
Tens of thousands of pages of her e-mail messages are public now, but it doesn’t appear (at least so far) that they hold any major bombshells for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. Instead, documents from Kagan’s time as a legal adviser in the Clinton White House seem to add to a portrait of a brainy, [...

Study: Merit-Selected Judges are Disciplined Less

Posted on June 18, 2010
A new study by the American Judicature Society looks at discipline rates for judges placed on the bench through merit selection, as opposed to contested elections, and finds the former are disciplined at lower rates. In addition, the AJS study finds that the judges selected by merit methods get the most lenient sanctions if they [...

NRA Deal ?Backfires,? Vote Put Off on Disclosure

Posted on June 18, 2010
After cutting a deal with the National Rifle Association, Democratic House leaders witnessed a backlash over a bill to require greater disclosure by special interests of their funding for campaign advertising. As a result, Democrats retreated and canceled plans for the House to vote Friday on the legislation...

Editorial: High Court ?Bushwhacked? AZ Reform

Posted on June 18, 2010
Another Connecticut newspaper, The Hartford Courant, has decried a Supreme Court emergency order blocking distribution of taxpayer matching dollars to publicly funded political candidates in Arizona. The Courant editorial lamented that “Connecticut-like reform” was “bushwhacked” by the high court in Arizona...

ABA Targets Judicial Pay Raise Issue

Posted on June 18, 2010
The American Bar Association is asking the Supreme Court to decide whether lack of cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) for federal judges violates the Constitution. At issue is a congressional guarantee of undiminished pay for judges and a periodic failure by Congress to fund the COLAs, according to an ABA Journal article...

Judge Confirmed, Makes Indiana History

Posted on June 17, 2010
The Senate voted 95-0 to confirm Judge Tanya Walton Pratt as a federal judge in Indiana, paving the way for her to become the state’s first African-American federal judge. When she takes the oath of office, her confirmation and that of Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson also will mean three of five active judges at the U...

U.S. House Poised to Vote on Disclosure Bill

Posted on June 17, 2010
The House of Representatives is preparing to vote Friday on a controversial bill drafted by Democratic leaders to soften the impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. Democrats will “force” a floor vote Friday despite intense opposition by Republicans and business groups, according to a Politico article...

Editorial: Electing PA Judges is ?Dubious Big Business?

Posted on June 17, 2010
A powerful legislator is bottling up a bill to let Pennsylvania voters weigh adopting merit selection for appellate judges, under circumstances that a leading state newspaper has condemned. A Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial sharply criticizes State Rep...

Judge Hears Closing Arguments in Prop 8 Trial

Posted on June 17, 2010
The history-making trial of a legal challenge to California’s prohibition on same-sex marriage came to a close with the judge showing  skepticism toward the ban’s defenders. “The marital relationship is fundamental to the existence and survival of the race,” argued attorney Charles Cooper on behalf of supporters of the ban, approved by voters as Proposition 8...

Judicial Nominee Advances Despite Chamber Opposition

Posted on June 17, 2010
The Senate Judiciary Committee backed 13-6 on Thursday the nomination of a controversial plaintiffs’ lawyer to a federal judgeship in Rhode Island, despite heightened opposition from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The vote on President Obama’s nomination of John “Jack” McConnell fell primarily along party lines, according to posts by The Blog of Legal Times and [...

69 Law Deans Endorse Kagan

Posted on June 16, 2010
Sixty-nine law school deans have endorsed in a letter the confirmation of Elena Kagan, who once led Harvard Law School, to the Supreme Court. ?Elena Kagan has, over the course of her career, consistently exhibited patience, a willingness to listen and an ability to lead, alongside enormous intelligence,? stated the letter signed by Larry D...

NRA Exemption Added to Disclosure Bill in Congress

Posted on June 16, 2010
A political compromise would exempt the National Rifle Association from legislation in Congress requiring  corporations to identify themselves in political ads they pay for, and to disclose their expenditures to shareholders and the public. The proposed carve-out for the NRA led the U...

?Injustice? Scored in Holding Yemeni Detainee

Posted on June 16, 2010
Any notion that U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay houses only the “worst of the worst” terrorists bent on harming the United States is sharply questioned by a federal judge’s recent ruling and by a Washington Post editorial highlighting it...

Obama?s Drive for Diverse U.S. Bench is Slowed

Posted on June 16, 2010
There’s a bump in the road for President Obama’s record-breaking push to place minorities and women on the federal bench.  The obstacle is a sharply polarized confirmation process in the Senate. “Seven out of 10 Obama court nominees are non-traditional,” that is to say they are not Caucasian men, said political science professor Sheldon Goldman of [...

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