How Appealing



Friday, February 5, 2021

Flashback to 2003: Eighteen years ago tomorrow, Anne Gearan (then) of The Associated Press had an article headlined “Internet Sites Eye on High Court Updates” (and that link actually works, in case you missed the article at the time).

My blog’s original coverage of that AP report from February 2003 can be accessed here. This blog had been in existence for less than a year when that article was originally published.

Posted at 9:33 PM by Howard Bashman



“The Risks to the ACA of a Standing Decision in California v. Texas Are Overstated; If the Supreme Court opts to dismiss the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act on standing grounds, this will not leave the ACA particularly vulnerable to future challenge”: Jonathan H. Adler has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”

Posted at 8:06 PM by Howard Bashman



“NY GOPer Claudia Tenney declared victor in last lingering House race”: Carl Campanile and Bernadette Hogan of The New York Post have an article that begins, “Republican Claudia Tenney will be declared the winner of her nail-biting rematch against upstate Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi following a marathon three-month recount. It was the only 2020 congressional race in the country that hadn’t been decided.”

Posted at 8:00 PM by Howard Bashman



“House of Delegates backs abolishing death penalty, signaling end of capital punishment”: Frank Green of The Richmond Times-Dispatch has this report.

Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella of The Washington Post report that “Virginia legislature votes to legalize marijuana, abolish the death penalty.”

And in commentary, online at Slate, Jeremy Stahl has a jurisprudence essay titled “With Death Penalty Abolition, Virginia Is Becoming a Test Lab for Progressive Reform; Virginia’s move will mark the first time in U.S. history that a majority of states ban executions.”

Posted at 7:53 PM by Howard Bashman



“Biden Won’t Restore Bar Association’s Role in Vetting Judges; The decision not to give the American Bar Association names of potential nominees for evaluation came after progressives criticized the group for undercutting a push for diversity”: Charlie Savage of The New York Times has this report.

And in related news, Jennifer Bendery of HuffPost reports that “Biden Tosses Out Trump’s Last-Minute Judicial Nominations; The newly installed president prefers to fill those lifetime federal judgeships with his own picks, thank you very much.”

Posted at 7:45 PM by Howard Bashman



“Students Punished for ‘Vulgar’ Social Media Posts Are Fighting Back; A lawsuit against the University of Tennessee questions when schools can discipline students because of their online speech”: Anemona Hartocollis of The New York Times has this report.

Posted at 7:42 PM by Howard Bashman



“Workers in L.A.’s courts are dying of COVID-19 as in-person hearings, trials continue”: Matt Hamilton of The Los Angeles Times has this report.

Posted at 7:38 PM by Howard Bashman



“Pa. voters will get the last word in struggle between Wolf and lawmakers. Here’s what you need to know.” Cynthia Fernandez of Spotlight PA has a report that begins, “This spring, Pennsylvania voters will be asked to weigh in on one of the most contentious battles between Gov. Tom Wolf and the GOP-controlled legislature. The state House on Friday gave final approval to a proposed constitutional amendment that would give state lawmakers the power to unilaterally end disaster declarations. Currently, such a decision belongs to the governor.”

Posted at 1:08 PM by Howard Bashman



“New York Immigrant Advocacy Group’s Open Records Case Revived”: Brian Flood of Bloomberg Law has a report that begins, “An organization that provides legal assistance to immigrants in New York can move forward with its suit seeking access to non-precedential opinions of the Board of Immigration Appeals, after a divided Second Circuit held Friday that federal courts can order government agencies to make certain records available to the general public under the Freedom of Information Act.”

You can access today’s ruling of a divided three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit at this link.

Posted at 12:54 PM by Howard Bashman