Afternoon Briefs: Some of Justice Scalia's papers are now public; House lifts ERA deadline
Justice Antonin Scalia.
Some of Justice Scalia’s papers are now publicly available
The legal and academic papers of the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia are now available for public viewing, at the Harvard Law School Library. The collection includes photos, postcards and notes, too. The library plans to release the collection in stages, and most of what’s available now was created before 1986, when Scalia was appointed to the Supreme Court. He also was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and documents from specific cases will not be shared until after other judges or justices involved are dead. (Harvard Law Today)
House votes to remove deadline for ERA passage
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to lift the 1982 deadline for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. A similar measure has been introduced in the Senate. Only 35 states had ratified the amendment by the deadline, three short of the number needed. Three more states have ratified the amendment since 2017. A Jan. 6 legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice said the amendment was dead, even if Congress changed the deadline. On Monday, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said there is too much controversy about the latecomers and the five states that rescinded ratification. She prefers starting the whole process anew. (The Washington Post)
Last federal judge appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson retires
U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein of Brooklyn has retired at age 98. Weinstein was the last federal judge in the country appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson. (The New York Daily News via How Appealing)
Transgender inmate wins quest for gender confirmation surgery in 9th Circuit
A transgender inmate is entitled to gender confirmation surgery after a federal appeals court declined to reconsider a panel decision finding an Eighth Amendment violation. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco denied a rehearing en banc in the case of Adree Edmo. Ten judges would have granted the rehearing. (The San Francisco Chronicle and Bloomberg Law via How Appealing, the 9th Circuit’s Feb. 10 opinion)
