Reviewing the Judges

By John R. Byrne

For a lawyer, serving as a federal law clerk can be one of the most rewarding (and valuable) experiences of his or her legal career. Every lawyer I've met who has clerked in this district has raved about their experience. But it's not always so rosy. A woman named Aliza Shatzman, who clerked in D.C. state court, ending up greatly regretting her clerkship, working for a judge who not only mistreated her but attempted to derail her legal career. She's now helped create a database that will allow clerks to anonymously rate their judges. The Washington Post covers it here. Will be interesting to see how widely used this will be, including in our district.

No Shotguns Allowed

By John R. Byrne

At the end of last week, Judge Moreno sent the plaintiffs in the latest Joe Carollo/City of Miami lawsuit back to the complaint drawing board, dismissing their First Amended Complaint without prejudice. Though Carollo is already proclaiming victory in the media, it’s clear that the order was focused on pleading deficiencies. In short, use your rifle not your shotgun when drafting complaints (and proofread!). Order below. A good one to read before you file a multi-count complaint against multiple defendants in any civil case.

Order (J. Moreno) by John Byrne on Scribd

Monkey business

 Congrats to blogger John Byrne, who was part of the team who heard those two magic words -- not guilty -- before Judge Williams last week.  It was an interesting case involving monkeys... yes, monkeys:

A Cambodian official accused of illegally importing wild, long-tailed macaque monkeys into the United States that were destined for Miami was acquitted Friday of conspiracy and smuggling charges after a two-week federal trial. Masphal Kry, 47, the deputy director of the Department of Wildlife and Biodiversity for the Cambodian Forestry Administration, had been under home confinement in Virginia since his arrest in November 2022 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. 

Now, Kry is back at home with his family in Cambodia. “He should never have been charged, and we are grateful to the jury and the court for seeing that justice was done in this case,” said lead counsel, Mark MacDougall, of Washington, D.C., who worked on Kry’s defense with Coral Gables attorney John Byrne. 

Kry was the only defendant named in an indictment to face trial in Miami. Seven other defendants from Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital, and Hong Kong, including Kry’s boss, the general director of the Cambodian Forestry Administration, are at large.

(via the Miami Herald)

Florida and Disney Bury the Hatchets

By John R. Byrne

Disney and the State of Florida appear to have buried their respective hatchets. As we noted in a post a few months ago, Florida prevailed over Disney in a federal lawsuit arising out of the Northern District of Florida that had accused the State of retaliating against Disney for speaking out against Gov. DeSantis and certain legislation passed by the State. Disney has pressed pause on its appeal of that ruling. And now, in a settlement announced yesterday, Disney and Florida have resolved state court litigation between the parties. The Herald covers it here. 

The media is characterizing the settlement as victory for the State. At the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board Meeting, Miami-based attorney Paul Huck outlined the settlement details for the board. The YouTube clip summarizing the settlement begins at 39:30. But, big picture, the restrictive covenants that the old Reedy Creek Improvement District Board passed at the eleventh hour to saddle the new Governor-appointed board are now null and void. 

Sounds like a normalizing of relations. Here's a quote from Vice Chair of the Central Tourism Oversight Board, Charbel Barakat: “With this settlement, which is complete and significant, we are eager to work with Disney.”

So you want to be a Magistrate Judge?

 Well, the court is soliciting applicants for the two open spots.  A bulk email went out this morning:

The Judicial Conference of the United States has authorized the appointment of two full-time United States Magistrate Judges for the Southern District of Florida at Miami, Florida.  These appointments will succeed incumbents who were confirmed as United States District Judges.  The term of office is eight years.

A full public notice is posted on the Court's website at:  https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/.

Interested persons may contact the Clerk of the District Court for additional information and application form.  The application form is also available on the Court's website  https://www.flsd.uscourts.gov/.  Applications must be submitted only by applicants personally to; FLSD_magistratejudgerecruitment@flsd.uscourts.gov no later than 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 31, 2024.

For many years, the culture in this District was that magistrate judges had little chance at becoming a district judge.  But that has changed.  Two of last three judges came from the magistrate bench. It will be interesting to see if that continues.

It's all about the Benjamins baby

 The Feds just raided Diddy's home in Miami, according to the Miami Herald.

Federal agents raided the Miami area home of rap mogul Sean Combs, better known as Diddy, reports say. Diddy owns a residence at 1 Star Island, which was previously owned by Gloria and Emilio Estefan and Diddy purchased for $35 million in 2021. The raid came weeks after a lawsuit alleged that Diddy was the leader of a criminal enterprise that could qualify as a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization.”

"Reading the Constitution: Why I Chose Pragmatism, Not Textualism."

 That's the title of Justice Breyer's new book, and he's making the rounds promoting it.  This morning he was on Meet The Press.  Here's the NBC report:

Former Justice Stephen Breyer described the 2022 leak of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as “unfortunate” and sidestepped questions about whether justices had been working on a compromise ruling behind the scenes.

In an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press," Breyer didn't say he was upset about the leak while noting that in general he tried to "avoid getting angry" when he was on the bench.

"You try to avoid getting angry or that — you try in the job — you try to remain as calm, reasonable and serious as possible. I think it was unfortunate," he said of the publication of the draft decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case.

Asked directly whether the justices had discussed a potential compromise to limit access to abortion at 15 weeks, Breyer told "Meet the Press" moderator Kristen Welker, "Well, you know as much about that as I do."

“The normal situation is before something is written in the conference, people in some form or other will discuss what they’re thinking of writing, not always and not identical. But there’s usually some discussion,” Breyer said of the process leading up to court decisions.

“I usually hope for compromise,” he added.

 

Guest Post by Mark Royero – McElrath v. Georgia (2024)

Can’t Touch This: SCOTUS Unanimously Decides That Inconsistent Acquittals Bar Retrial.     

            First, thank you to David Oscar Markus and John R. Bryne for allowing me to submit this guest post. This post will cover the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in McElrath v. Georgia, the Court’s latest decision regarding the Double Jeopardy Clause and inconsistent verdicts. This issue was the subject of the 2024 Gibbons National Criminal Procedure Moot Court Competition, where my partner Kaitlin Prece and I represented the University of Miami School of Law. I would also like to thank our dedicated coaches, Adam Stolz and Luis Reyes, for their guidance and support throughout the competition.