Appellate Practice

Asked to order Democrats to pick new US Senate candidate, top Kansas court sends case to trial judge

The Kansas Supreme Court agreed to hear on an emergency basis a lawyer’s case seeking a writ of mandamus to get his name off the November ballot as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. It ruled last week that Chad Taylor had filed appropriate paperwork invoking a state statutory mandate…

Sep 24, 2014 9:55 AM CDT

Pick me! Lawyers tell SCOTUS why their gay-marriage cases are cert-worthy

Some of the nation’s top lawyers are jostling for the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court as it considers whether to grant cert in a gay-marriage case. The lawyers made out their arguments in a half-dozen briefs recently filed with the court, the New York Times reports. According to the…

Sep 23, 2014 1:26 PM CDT

Rape conviction overturned because defendant suffered from sexsomnia

Originally convicted of rape and sentenced to two years, a 26-year-old man was acquitted by a Swedish appeals court earlier this month because he was not conscious at the time of the April incident. Backed by a doctor specializing in sleep disorders and his former partner, who told of a…

Sep 22, 2014 3:26 PM CDT

Judge scolds BP for squeezing extra lines into brief

Updated: BP is on notice that a federal judge will be closely scrutinizing its briefs for excess words in litigation over the Gulf oil spill. In an order (PDF) on Monday, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier said BP evidently abused a 35-page limit by slightly squeezing the spacing between the…

Sep 18, 2014 9:50 AM CDT

9th Circuit OKs one late habeas filing, nixes another, says both inmates abandoned by same lawyer

Updated: For the second time in one week, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has issued a ruling in an inmate’s case seeking to have an untimely habeas petition heard. Both times, the inmate blamed the delayed filing on an appellate lawyer who they say didn’t do…

Sep 17, 2014 5:20 PM CDT

New conviction-integrity unit in DC is said to be first created by a federal prosecutor

Joining a trend that has sparked the creation of conviction-integrity units in a number of state prosecutor’s offices, the District of Columbia is establishing what is billed as the first such unit in a federal prosecutor’s office. “As prosecutors, our goal is not to win convictions, but to do justice,”…

Sep 12, 2014 2:15 PM CDT

NYC will pay $41M to five men who served time in Central Park jogger case, but admits no liability

A federal magistrate judge in New York has OK’d a settlement in which New York City will pay $41 million to five men who were wrongfully convicted and served time for a brutal 1989 rape and beating in Central Park. However, the city admits no liability for the conviction and…

Sep 5, 2014 12:50 PM CDT

With ‘eye-popping speed,’ 7th Circuit strikes 2 states’ same-sex marriage bans 9 days after argument

Acting with what USA Today describes as “eye-popping speed,” a Chicago-based federal appeals court on Thursday struck same-sex marriage bans in two states only nine days after hearing oral arguments. Joining with federal appeals courts that have declared bans on same-sex marriage in Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia to be unconstitutional…

Sep 4, 2014 4:30 PM CDT

Some SCOTUS amicus briefs cite unsupported ‘facts’ and studies published only on the Internet

U.S. Supreme Court opinions are increasingly citing facts presented in amicus briefs. But some of those so-called facts are supported only by blog posts and emails, and some have no support at all, the New York Times reports in a Sidebar column. Some of the studies cited in amicus briefs…

Sep 2, 2014 12:36 PM CDT

Federal gun ban applies even if domestic violence victim isn’t injured, state appeals court says

A federal gun-possession ban for those with state-law misdemeanor domestic violence convictions will be applied broadly in California, a state appeals court has ruled. Petitioner Scott R. James, who had applied to be a reserve deputy sheriff and wanted to buy a gun, sought a writ of mandate arguing that…

Aug 28, 2014 4:10 PM CDT

‘Seismic’ 9th Cir. rulings nix FedEx claim its drivers aren’t employees, could cost company millions

In a significant victory for FedEx drivers who contend they have been misclassified as independent contractors, a federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed a finding in multidistrict litigation in Indiana and held that nearly 2,700 plaintiffs in California and Oregon are in fact employees. In separate decisions concerning the California…

Aug 27, 2014 9:55 PM CDT

Judge nixes convicted murderer’s request for death penalty

Sentenced to 95 years for shooting a man outside an Indiana bar, including a 30-year enhancement for being a habitual offender, Walter Leach has asked for the death penalty. But an La Porte Circuit Court judge turned down the 61-year-old’s request, saying that Leach hasn’t exhausted his administrative avenues for…

Aug 27, 2014 7:55 PM CDT

9th Circuit revives pro se habeas petition, says trial court erred in applying ‘prison mailbox’ rule

A federal judge in California dismissed a prison inmate’s pro se habeas petition on statute-of-limitations grounds. But the district court erred in doing so because it didn’t properly apply the “prison mailbox” rule, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, reviving the habeas petition of Eduardo Hernandez. The rule, which says…

Aug 25, 2014 8:05 PM CDT

After vote, Connecticut Bar Association will not help defend state gun control law in court

The Connecticut Bar Association will not help defend the state’s controversial gun control law in court. According to the Harford Courant, the organization conducted a referendum Wednesday for its members to determine whether the bar association would join in the defense of the law, which bans high-capacity magazines as well…

Aug 22, 2014 3:45 PM CDT

Tom Goldstein’s amicus brief is filed on behalf of no one, and doesn’t take sides

The lawyer who founded SCOTUSblog is trying a new tack in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. Supreme Court litigator Tom Goldstein of Goldstein & Russell has filed a brief that doesn’t take sides and isn’t written on behalf of a client, Law.com reports. “I’ve never heard…

Aug 22, 2014 10:45 AM CDT