Appellate Advocacy Blog Weekly Roundup January 25, 2019

Each week, the Appellate Advocacy Blog Weekly Roundup 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 Real a quick email atDReal@Creighton.edu or a message on Twitter (@Daniel_L_Real).  You can also send emails to Danny Leavitt at Danny@tsalerno-law.com or a message on twitter @Danny_C_Leavitt. 

Supreme Court News and Opinions:

The Supreme Court is out of session for a few weeks, now that the January sitting is over, although this week saw the issuance of some orders and decisions from last week’s conference.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week about how the Court has maintained a relatively “low-key term,” delaying taking up a variety of divisive issues such as immigration, abortion, and sexual orientation and gender identity, while also signaling some interest in other controversial topics like transgender service in the military and the Second Amendment.  CNN had a similar story.

Earlier this week, over the objection of the four more liberal members of the Court, the Justices allowed the Trump Administration’s ban on transgender members serving in the military to go into effect while the issue is litigated in lower courts.  MSNBC had a report.  CNN also reported, noting the impact the Court might have upon the 2020 Presidential election.

On Tuesday, the Court granted cert in a case involving a challenge to New York City’s limits on transporting personal firearms, bringing an opportunity for the Court to provide clarity on its Second Amendment jurisprudence.  With the shifting makeup of the Court now leaning more conservative, there is speculation that the Court will create a test for handgun restrictions that invalidates many local laws.  The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York. More about the case and what the eventual ruling  might  mean for the Second Amendment and gun regulations from the Atlantic and National Review.

Federal Appellate Court News and Opinions:

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently issued a decision in a case that provided some discussion of interest to appellate advocates concerning the procedural distinction between an appeal from a decision granting summary  judgment and a decision denying a motion for reconsideration and the respective standards of review.  The case is SPV-LS, LLC v. Transamerica Life Insurance Company.  Thanks to reader Ben Rand of Harris Beach for the tip about this opinion.  According to Rand (quoting one of the firm’s attorneys): “The court focused procedurally on the appellant’s efforts to conflate [the decision granting summary judgment and the decision denying reconsideration and the respective standards of review], and the Eighth Circuit carefully distinguished between the separate and distinct standards of review. If there were doubts in the Eighth Circuit regarding these concepts and related standards of review, the Eighth Circuit laid them to rest in this decision.”

State Appellate Court News and Opinions:

The Arizona Supreme Court was scheduled this week to hear arguments in a case concerning how far business owners can go in refusing to serve customers because of their sexual orientation.  The case presents the question of whether the owners of a business can refuse to use their talents to design custom wedding invitations and other materials if the couple is of the same gender or whether they are required to serve the couple under a city of Phoenix ordinance barring places of public accommodation from sexual orientation discrimination.  More from Tucson.com. 

Practice Pointers:

Law.com had an article this week feature #AppellateTwitter’s Neal Katyal and discussing how he handles juggling multiple and back-to-back appellate arguments.

Appellate Twitter’s Matthew Stiegler had a blog post this week providing advice to lawyers preparing for their first-ever oral argument.

Appellate Job Postings:

The Constitutional Accountability Center has a posting for an Appellate Counsel position.

The California Office of the Attorney General has a posting for a Solicitor General position.