Litigation

Thursday Gavel Grab Briefs

By Peter Hardin

In other dispatches about fair and impartial courts:

• Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, introduced a bill to let retired Supreme Court justices return to the high court to hear cases when sitting justices have recused themselves, according to a Wall Street Journal article and a NPR report.
• Federal District Judge Vaughn R. Walker, whose profile was elevated when he declared California’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, announced he will retire in February, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
• “There is much work to be done to fight extremists who want to insert their narrow, special interest into the one branch of government that should be free from politics,? former Republican Lt. Gov. Joy Corning of Iowa said in announcing a group, Justice Not Politics, to defend merit selection in the state. Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson also is helping lead the effort, according to an Iowa Independent article.

Full post as published by The Gavel on September 30, 2010 (boomark / email).