Appellate Advocacy Blog Weekly Roundup May 5 2017
As we do every Friday, the Appellate Advocacy Blog presents a few tidbits of news and Twitter posts from the past week concerning appellate advocacy. As always, if you see something during the week that you think we should be sure to include, feel free to send Dan a quick email atDReal@Creighton.edu or a message on Twitter (@Daniel_L_Real).
U.S. Supreme Court Rulings:
Bank of America v. City of Miami and Wells Fargo & Co. v. City of Miami:
A divided Court ruling on Monday that the City of Miami counts as an aggrieved “person” entitled to standing to file suit claiming harm from discriminatory lending practices of banks. Chief Justice Roberts joined liberal justices Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan in the majority; Thomas dissented, joined by Kennedy and Alito; Gorsuch did not participate.
Links:
National Law Journal Article reviewing the decision
Reuters Article reviewing the decision
Work Remaining for SCOTUS This Term:
Although the Supreme Court has completed hearing oral argument in cases for this term, much work remains to be done. More than half of the cases on this term’s docket remain pending, and the Court has the task of finalizing them before the end of term in late June. That includes resolution of a number of noteworthy cases involving immigration, trademark arguments that impact the Washington Redskins trademark, cases against federal law enforcement officials, and religious liberty.
Developments in Appeal of Travel Ban Case:
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is scheduled to hear arguments next week challenging the latest version of the Trump administration’s travel ban. When that case is heard, however, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III will be recused because his son-in-law, the acting Solicitor General, is a lead lawyer for the administration. Wilkinson was nominated to the bench by President Reagan and confirmed in 1984, and he is one of the most prominent conservative federal appeals judges in the country. His recusal appears to further tip the balance of the panel that will hear the appeal toward a more liberal balance, widening the margin of judges appointed by Democratic presidents over Republican presidents.
BuzzFeed article.
UCLA Clinic Wins SCOTUS Case:
The Daily Bruin ran a great article this week covering a recent victory before the United States Supreme Court for UCLA law professor Stuart Banner and Supreme Court Clinic students. The case, Nelson v. Colorado, involved issues related to court fees. In Colorado, defendants convicted of crimes are required to pay restitution and fees, and they are not entitled to have those expenditures returned if their convictions are overturned on appeal. Instead, Colorado law provides that they must bring a separate proceeding and “prove” their innocence. Banner and his students successfully argued that the Colorado procedures were unconstitutional.
Practice Tips:
The Bar Association of the Fifth Federal Circuit is consistently a great source for useful practice tips. This week, the BAFF Twitter Account reminded followers that the Fifth Circuit website offers a vast array of practitioner guides and samples to make appellate practice in that court easier. Just see the links under “Forms, Fees & Guides” to start exploring.
Of Interest:
This week, the New York Times ran an article covering a book, “Hemingway Didn’t Say That: The Truth Behind Familiar Quotations,” in which Garson O’Toole (a pseudonym for former teacher and Johns Hopkins researcher Gregory F. Sullivan). The book compiles some of the most popular posts from the popular website Quote Investigator, where O’Toole has traced the origins of numerous well-known sayings and identified misattribution of many famous quotes.
Appellate practitioners — and appellatetwitter members, in particular — love a good quote. Better be sure the attribution is correct!