Litigation

Editorial: WI Recusal Rule ?Helps Money Talk?

Posted on February 08, 2010
Wisconsin’s new recusal rule, stating that a litigant’s campaign spending will not automatically require a judge to withdraw from hearing a case, continues to draw strong criticism in state newspaper editorials. The Sheboygan Press has published an editorial headlined, “Courts make it easier for money to do the talking...

Bopp Discusses Citizens United Fallout

Posted on February 05, 2010
Building on the success of the Citizens United case, what will critics of campaign finance regulation  target next? Lawyer James Bopp Jr., a major player (see Gavel Grab) in framing the litigation that led to last month’s landmark Citizens United decision, seems to give some hints in a commentary for AOL News...

Dispute Goes on Over AZ Public Financing Law

Posted on February 05, 2010
A federal district judge recently declared unconstitutional a portion of Arizona’s public financing system for statewide and legislative offices, but it remains in place at least temporarily due to an appeals court order. In January, U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver ruled it was  unconstitutional to furnish additional taxpayer dollars to publicly-funded candidates if their privately-funded opponent [...

S.C. Judicial Elections Proceed Despite Challenge

Posted on February 05, 2010
Despite a legal challenge under way to South Carolina’s system for picking judges, the state’s legislature proceeded with a number of judicial elections this week. The state Supreme Court has been asked to decide whether the existing system threatens judicial independence...

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Will Obama Face Two Supreme Court Openings?

Posted on February 05, 2010
President Obama could get an opportunity to fill as many as two vacancies on the Supreme Court if Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg announce retirement this spring for age and health reasons, according to an ABC News report. The network said lawyers for Obama are “working behind the scenes” to prepare for that [...

Friday Media Summary

Posted on February 05, 2010
CITIZENS UNITED NY Times: What Price Politics? Editorial – 2/5/2010 NY Daily News: All corporate speech is created equal, and it should all be free Joshua Greenman – 2/5/2010 AOL News: Debate: Election Laws Should Protect First Amendment James Bopp Jr...

Citizens United Impact on Courts is Feared

Posted on February 04, 2010
The potential impact of Citizens United on fair and impartial courts is getting greater attention in states where judges are elected, and new voices are sounding alarms. In Ohio, the Akron Beacon Journal declared in an editorial that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling “adds to the urgency of placing a constitutional amendment on the November ballot, otherwise [...

Who?s Winning the Terror Trial Debate?

Posted on February 04, 2010
Is there momentum building in Congress behind a bid to bar a trial in civilian courts for the accused 9/11 conspirators? It’s too soon to tell. But in two fervent commentaries, authors bemoan an apparent decision by the Obama administration to retreat from a planned trial in New York City’s civilian courts and an effort in [...

Justice Thomas Defends Campaign Finance Ruling

Posted on February 04, 2010
Justice Clarence Thomas is typically a quiet presence at oral arguments, yet he spoke out strongly in defense of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in remarks before students at a Florida law school. Answering questions in an appearance at Stetson University College of Law, according to an article in the New York Times, Justice Thomas [...

Panel Approves Two Controversial Nominees

Posted on February 04, 2010
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved two controversial nominations for federal judgeships by party line votes Thursday. For the second time, the panel sent President Obama’s nominations of former Wisconsin Justice Louis L. Butler Jr. and U.S...

Thursday Media Summary

Posted on February 04, 2010
CITIZENS UNITED NY Times: Justice Defends Ruling on Finance Adam Liptak – 2/3/2010 Huffington Post: Understanding the Citizens United Ruling Ira Glasser – 2/3/2010 Wall Street Journal/Capital Journal: The Bigger Meaning: High Court Lets Companies Lobby Employees, Suppliers Peter A...

O?Connor Fears Impact of ?Citizens United?

Posted on January 29, 2010
In a rare national TV interview, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor voiced concern that the recent Citizens United decision of the Supreme Court could lead to greatly increased political spending by corporations, special interests and unions...

Obama v. Alito: Commotion, or Curtain Raiser?

Posted on January 29, 2010
Is President Obama’s in-person criticism of those with whom he disagrees on the Supreme Court, and the head-shaking response of one of them, a passing commotion–or is it something more? You decide. Gavel Grab earlier chronicled the president’s criticism of the court’s Citizens United decision, and Justice Samuel Alito’s head-shaking and possibly mouthing of the words “not true,” [...

Will KSM Trial Be Moved from New York?

Posted on January 29, 2010
UPDATE: Apparently the Obama administration has given up on plans for a New York City trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-defendants, the Washington Post reported Friday. The Obama administration has begun considering a shift out of Manhattan for the planned trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, in the wake of the “apparent [...

Two Appellate Nominations Clear Senate Panel

Posted on January 29, 2010
  Judges James Wynn and Albert Diaz, nominated to sit on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, won overwhelming approval in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Their nominations are headed to the floor of the full Senate. The panel voted 18-1 in favor of Judge Wynn’s confirmation and unanimously in favor of Judge Diaz’ confirmation, according to [...

Read Justice Alito?s Lips?

Posted on January 28, 2010
When President Obama firmly criticized in his State of the Union speech last week’s campaign finance decision by the Supreme Court, he delivered it to the faces of six justices in the audience. And he got a swift reaction from one of them, Justice Samuel Alito Jr...

Prop. 8 Foes Seen Likely to Win at Trial

Posted on January 28, 2010
Defenders of California’s  ban on gay marriage concluded their trial testimony in a federal courtroom, but closing arguments may not come until March. According to analysts who have monitored the trial, U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker (photo at right) is likely to rule in favor of challengers of the same-sex marriage ban, the Los Angeles [...

New Edition of ?Gavel to Gavel? Report Issued

Posted on January 28, 2010
Gavel to Gavel, the National Center for State Court?s weekly summary of legislation affecting the courts, has released its latest edition, according to William Raftery of NCSC. Stories in this week?s edition include: -Vermont weighs overhauling the state?s judicial structure...

House Panel Votes Impeachment Articles

Posted on January 28, 2010
A federal judge from Louisiana, G. Thomas Porteous Jr., is moving closer to impeachment proceedings by the full House of Representatives. The House Judiciary Committee voted this week to adopt four articles of impeachment against him, according to the Associated Press...

Bloomberg: Move Terror Trial from Manhattan

Posted on January 27, 2010
The Obama administration’s decision to try the accused 9/11 terror mastermind  in civilian court in New York has drawn new pushback. On Wednesday, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (photo at right) told reporters he wanted to see the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed moved from downtown Manhattan...

O?Connor on Courtrooms: ?Where Fairness Trumps Strength?

Posted on January 27, 2010
  Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor (photo at right, courtesy of Kevin Lamarque /Reuters) continues to command quite a media audience. As Gavel Grab reported earlier, O’Connor headlined a symposium Tuesday in Washington and warned that last week’s Citizens United decision  threatened a worsening spending war over state courts...

Ideas, Trends in a Post-?Citizens United? Era

Posted on January 27, 2010
“Democracy” dollars? New court attacks on surviving campaign finance restrictions? As players inside and outside of politics shape responses to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, newspapers documented one legislative proposal and one litigation trend, both tied to a changing world of campaign finance regulation...

Newspaper: Big-Money Elections Diminish Judicial Records

Posted on January 27, 2010
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial again urges  Senate confirmation of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis L. Butler Jr. to a federal court judgeship. (See earlier Gavel Grab posts.) The newspaper asks senators to focus on Butler’s record on the bench, not on Butler’s election defeat when his opponent ran an “unsavory” campaign: “In any case, [...

Conan Embarking on Supreme Pilot?

Posted on January 27, 2010
Conan O’Brien is gone from hosting NBC’s “Tonight Show,” but his old network has agreed to pick up a pilot from his production company, the Associated Press reports. The subject? A Supreme Court justice who departs the bench in order to launch his own practice of law.

Wednesday Media Summary

Posted on January 27, 2010
JUSTICE AT STAKE Transparency International: TI-USA statement to U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC 1/26/2010 CITIZENS UNITED Baltimore Sun: Legislators act to limit corporate political spending Julie Bykowicz – 1/27/2010 Chicago Tribune: How companies became ‘persons’ Clarence Page – 1/26/2010 NY Times: Former Justice O'Connor Sees Ill in Election Finance Ruling Adam Liptak – 1/27/2010 NPR/The Two-Way: O’Connor Warns Campaign Cash May Threaten [...

Citizens United: Fallout for States, Judicial Elections

Posted on January 26, 2010
After the first wave of commentary about the national impact of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, its potential fallout for the states, and for judicial elections in the states,  is getting more attention. The ABA Journal, in an article touching on the potential impact for judicial races, quoted Bert Brandenburg, JAS executive [...

KS Justice to Face Ouster Campaign

Posted on January 26, 2010
Justice Carol Beier of the Kansas Supreme Court (photo at right) faces an ouster campaign based on her writing of abortion rulings on behalf of the court’s majority. Kansans for Life will campaign against the justice’s re-election this fall, its executive director said, according to an article in ABA Journal...

TX Editorial: ?Seriously Consider Merit Selection?

Posted on January 26, 2010
Declaring it is “Time to consider judicial reform,” a Texas newspaper editorial cites both a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2009 and retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s joining a drive to end partisan judicial elections in states...

Prop. 8 Trial at ?Crossroads?

Posted on January 26, 2010
The trial of a lawsuit challenging California’s gay marriage ban is in its third week, “at a crossroads”–as the San Jose Mercury News put it–as defenders of the ban deliver their testimony in a “counteroffensive.” Legal experts watching the case believe the plaintiffs challenging the law, which went into effect after voters approved Proposition 8 on [...

O?Connor: Contributions ?Can Poison the System?

Posted on January 26, 2010
In an event that could hardly have been more timely, the latest Sandra Day O’Connor conference examined the likely impact on courts of two blockbuster Supreme Court cases: Caperton v. Massey and Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. Speaking after separate panels discussed the two cases, O’Connor warned that last week’s Citizens United decision threatened a [...

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