Sunday, October 16, 2022

BOP is really bad

 Imagine if a criminal defendant or his lawyer refused to follow court orders or the law.  They'd be put in jail before you could say not guilty.

But BOP does its own thing and really doesn't care much for the judiciary or the legislature.  In fact, it still refuses to follow the First Step Act

From Walter Pavlo in Forbes:

The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is under new leadership but it is still suffering from decades of mismanagement. BOP Director Colette Peters began work on August 2nd of this year taking over for the Michael Carvajal. The U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on July 26 chaired by Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) who grilled outgoing BOP Director Carvajal about the failings throughout the agency. While the hearing was focused on the corruption and abuses at USP Atlanta, it was a condemnation of an agency in crisis.

Director Peters testified on September 29, 2022 in from the Senate Judiciary Committee. Unlike Carvajal’s previous, contentious testimonies before the same committee during his tenure, Peters’ was marked by cordiality and encouragement to implement the First Step Act legislation, uncover corruption among staff and provide transparency to an agency that U.S. Senator Ron Johnson had previously described as one where “People have not been held accountable.”

The First Step Act (FSA) was signed into law in December 2018. It is considered one of the most influential pieces of legislation directed at the BOP to not only encourage prisoners to participate in meaningful programs meant to rehabilitate, but to reduce the number of people in prison who pose little or no danger to society. Senator Dick Durbin was frustrated in Peters’ testimony stating that the full effects of FSA had not been implemented nearly 4 years after it being signed into law. Peters assured the Senators that an auto-calculator was completed in August 2022 that provided FSA credits to prisoners which had the effect of reducing many sentences. However, that auto-calculator was not in place at the time of the hearing, or at least it was not communicated to prisoners or the public.

According to dozens of prisoners I interviewed for this piece, calculations were not communicated to them nor reflected on BOP.gov, which tracks release dates for federal prisoners. Anticipating this computer program’s rollout that would reduce many prisoner release dates, prisoners and their families eagerly awaited the news of when they would be going home. As the weeks passed after after August, prisoners still had no news. It was not until the week of October 3rd that FSA credits started to be applied. As one prisoner told me, “I was expecting a year of credits and I got 4 months. I have no idea what happened.”

What happened is that the calculator still has errors in it. Prisoners who were transferred to a halfway house after receiving an interim calculation of their sentence, were called in and told they would be returning to prison after the new calculation took away their year. Colitha Bush, had only been in a halfway house for a few weeks when the director of her Houston facility called her and said, “I hope you’re sitting down,” Bush told me in an interview that the director told her that it had received a new sentence calculation from the BOP and she was now not due to be released until April 2024. Colitha said, “I couldn’t believe that they were going to send me back to prison after I took all those classes and did what the First Step Act required.” The following day, Colitha went into the halfway house and was informed that the BOP had corrected her date, and she could stay home. “I was relieved but the last 24 hours was pure hell thinking that I was going back,” Bush said. Bush was not the only person to receive a revised date, some of the prisoners whose sentences were commuted by President Joe Biden had their dates recalculated to state a date in the future. One of those whose sentenced was commuted but had her date recalculated said that she was concerned enough to make a few calls to make sure it was not true. Her date was corrected also.

 

Thursday, October 13, 2022

New Hurricane Policy for SDFLA (SECOND UPDATE)

 The physical courthouses will close when public schools are closed, so that remains the same.  But Chief Judge Altonaga has tweaked the policy so that court employees are now expected to tele-work even if the courthouse is closed, unless they are without power or wifi.  

Here's the order.

On the other hand, the Chief did declare December 23 as a court holiday

**UPDATED -- one helpful tipster points out that many court staff wanted the change to the hurricane policy so that they would get paid when there was a storm since they were working from home even if they weren't coming into the courthouse. 

***SECOND UPDATE -- Well, this is interesting.  I have received a number of responses to the above update and have been told that court employees ARE paid even when the storm closes the courthouse (since they are employees and get a salary).  So, the responses say, this "excuse" is not accurate and not what the employees requested.

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Judge Ho and friends cancel Yale for law clerks

Judge James Ho (CA5) and another 11 judges -- including Judge Branch from the 11th Circuit -- have said they won't hire law clerks from Yale because they feel Yale has a cancel culture.  

Yale news covers the story here:

“I don’t want to cancel Yale,” Ho told Reuters. “I want Yale to stop cancelling people like me.”

According to employment lists obtained by the News for the Yale Law classes of 2019, 2021 and 2022, no Yale Law graduates from any of these classes reported first clerkships with Ho or Branch. The most recent Yale Law graduate hired by Ho graduated in 2017. 

Aggrey Odera LAW ’23 pointed out that the boycott was ironic, since those who participate in and embrace alleged “cancel culture” would not likely want to work for a judge such as Ho. This boycott would only shut out the voices of conservative Yale Law students, Odera told the News.

“I find it funny — and counterintuitive if his ends actually are conservative — that a conservative judge would deny clerkship opportunities to conservative Yale Law students … as a means of punishing the school,” Odera wrote in an email to the News.

In his speech, Ho referenced previous events that have taken place within the Law School, one of which followed the backlash surrounding a controversial email — seen as racially insensitive to many — inviting students to an event co-hosted by the Federalist Society. 

Dean of Yale Law School Heather Gerken responded to that incident with an email defending free speech while emphasizing a desire to create an inclusive environment for students.

“The vigorous exchange of ideas is the lifeblood of this Law School,” Gerken wrote in an email to students following the incident. “Protecting free speech is a core value of any academic institution; so too is cultivating an environment of respect and inclusion. These two values are mutually reinforcing and sit at the heart of an intellectual community like ours.”

Branch — also a Trump appointee — is the first federal judge to publicly join Ho’s boycott, raising concern “about the lack of free speech on law school campuses, Yale in particular.”

In other cancel culture news, I was informed by a number of sources that the AO had banned this blog so that the judiciary could not access it. After a few quick calls, this was all sorted out.  Our judges can again take a peak at breaking district news when they get bored on the bench.  All good!

Saturday, October 08, 2022

Many cheat, but only prosecutors get away with it

That's the title of my latest piece in The Hill, which you can access here.  

Here's how it starts out:

Cheating to gain an advantage against your opponent is as old as competition itself. 

 

In the last few weeks alone, we have seen cheating scandals in chess, poker, and even fishing. 

 

Magnus Carlsen, the world’s top chess player, has accused Hans Neimann, a 19-year old rising star in the chess world, of cheating. Neimann admitted to previously cheating in online tournaments, after which Carlsen said: “I believe that Neimann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.” Neimann offered to play Carlsen naked in an attempt to refute the allegations. The website Chess.com conducted an investigation of Neimann’s online play and has concluded that he cheated in more than 100 games, including in matches where prize money was at stake. He has been banned from playing on the website. 

 

Just last week, poker had its own cheating scandal — Robbi Jade Lew was accused of cheating when she called Garrett Adelstein and bet $269,000 even though her hand was a lame jack high. Lew returned the money but has denied cheating. She has challenged him to a heads-up game. The casino where the match took place is taking the allegations seriously — it has hired a law firm to conduct an investigation, which may include a polygraph test and a third-party cybersecurity firm. 

 

Poker and chess, fine. But fishing? Yes, even fishing. At the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in Cleveland, Jacob Runyan is accused of inserting weights into fish so he could win a $30,000 prize. He was disqualified, and an investigation has been initiated over his past three tournaments, which he and his partner won.


 We’ve also seen cheating in ice-skating, baseball, and even paralympic basketball where the winning team faked IQ tests so that they would qualify to compete. Jaw dropping, right? 

 

But when those folks cheat, there is a real investigation and they are punished (and of course, their victims do not end up in jail). 

 

Not so when prosecutors cheat: No one really investigates; they are almost never punished, and their victims can spend years in prison. 

Please let me know your thoughts. 

Friday, October 07, 2022

Remembering Judge Dave Lee Brannon

By Michael Caruso


Yesterday, the Palm Beach-Federal Bar Association hosted a judicial reception that honored and presented the portrait of the late Magistrate Judge Dave Lee Brannon. As most of David's readers know, Judge Brannon had a remarkable career. As a very young man, he served in the United States Coast Guard after graduating from the Academy. During his years in the Coast Guard, his favorite assignment was aboard the USCGC Glacier, an icebreaker that took him to both the North and South Poles. While in the Coast Guard, he attended law school at the University of Miami. His last Coast Guard assignment was with the Seventh Coast Guard District Legal Office and Intelligence Branch in Miami, Florida. He then joined the Southern District of Florida Federal Public Defender's Office in 1986 and served as Supervisor of the West Palm Beach office before being appointed to the bench.

At the Federal Public Defender's office, Judge Brannon had a well-earned reputation for his intelligence, kindness, and graciousness—as a colleague and a judge. Those qualities, among others, were celebrated yesterday by his family, friends, and former colleagues.

First, Chief Judge Altonaga offered introductory remarks that focused on Judge Brannon's service to his country in his different capacities. Judge Middlebrooks then spoke and revealed to the audience his warm affection for Juge Brannon in addition to reading the moving tribute to the judge that the Eleventh Circuit adopted after his passing. 

Judge Brannon's career law clerk, Jessica Rodriguez, then delivered a heartfelt tribute that focused on his mentorship of her and his other clerks—both in law and life. During her remarks, to demonstrate Judge Brannon's generosity and kindness, she played an audio clip of the judge helping her young son learn Japanese. 

Finally, Judge Brannon's wife, Dr. Pamela Brannon, spoke. She shared with us several stories about how they met, a date at the Dade County Fair, an awkward dinner with friends, and a meeting with Justice O'Connor. These stories demonstrated their strong and loving bond as well as Judge Brannon's humanity. 

Dr. Brannon ended her remarks by sharing a quote she found in Judge Brannon's highlighted copy of The Count of Monte Cristo. Of course. After all, the novel revolves around a sailor who was falsely accused, arrested, and imprisoned without trial. 

The quote is worth reproducing here: "the friends that we have lost do not repose in the bosom of the earth, but are buried deep in our hearts, and it has been thus ordained that we may always be accompanied by them."

Truth. Rest in Peace Dave.

Same Courthouse, Different Purpose

By John R. Byrne

"Feel Good" Friday story about Angel Sanchez, who went from prison to graduating in the top ten percent of UM law school. Judge Williams and Judge Miguel de la O helped along the way, giving him internships in their chambers.

Sanchez was recently sworn in to the DC bar at the Richard E. Gerstein justice building, the courthouse where he had been sentenced to 30 years in prison (admission to Florida has to wait because of the clemency process). Worth a read.

Wednesday, October 05, 2022

Yom Kippur news and notes

1. Trump goes to SCOTUS.

2. A vibrant press is important.  This article came out on Monday asking why an 11th Circuit case had been pending for 7 years.  And shortly thereafter, the 11th issued its opinion.

3. KBJ is active to start our her tenure on SCOTUS. Check her out here:

 

4. RIP Laurence Silberman

Tuesday, October 04, 2022

The Onion files a brief

By John R. Byrne

Ever wonder what it'd be like if the staff at The Onion tried its hand at writing a brief? We basically got that yesterday. The online newspaper filed an Amicus brief yesterday with the Supreme Court asking the Court to take up the case of Novak v. City of Parma, Ohio, 33 F.4th 296 (6th Cir. 2022). In short, in 2016 Novak created a Facebook page parodying the Parma Police Department. Novak was arrested, spent five days in jail, and was actually prosecuted, ultimately securing an acquittal. He later sued the City and several police officers for violating the First Amendment. The district court granted summary judgment to the defendants and the Sixth Circuit affirmed. 

The Onion is now asking the Court to take the case, seeing the ruling as a threat to its "business model." The Onion also fires a (tongue in cheek) shot across the bow at the federal judiciary, which "is staffed entirely by total Latin dorks" who "sweetly whisper 'stare decisis' into their spouses’ ears." Some court watchers say sanctions could be coming. I hope not.

Sunday, October 02, 2022

October Term 2022 and diversity in the courts

 It's here.

And --thankfully -- we have a much more diverse Court.


In addition to the diversity on SCOTUS, we are making inroads in courts around the country, including here at home.  Congrats to Penny Augustin-Birch, who was sworn in as our newest magistrate judge.





Meantime, I apologize for the sporadic blogging.  It's been a year of trials for me, starting with one here in Miami before Judge Martinez, then in Denver before a different Judge Martinez, and after that, one in Fort Myers of all places.  The jury in that case went out on the Friday before Hurricane Ian turned towards SW Florida.  The jury indicated it was hung, and the parties expected that we would be back for further deliberations last week.  And of course, we couldn't.  Tragically, Fort Myers was devastated and the courthouse is closed indefinitely.  A mistrial was declared.  Here's an article about it.

At the end of this month, my partner Margot and I will be headed off to SDNY for a lengthy trial out there, so blogging will be a little rough when I'm away, but I will do my best.  Wish us luck!  

And if you'd like to write a guest post, just email me.

Friday, September 30, 2022

Cannon, Special Master, 11th Circuit, oh my

 It's hard to keep up with all of the Trump goings-on.

Cannon rules for Trump.

Cannon gets reversed by CA11.

Cannon appoints Special Master per Trump's request.

Special Master rules against Trump.

Cannon overrules Special Master.

Read the latest order here, where Judge Cannon says that the Special Master was wrong to force Trump to verify certain items and also tells the Special Master that he's moving too fast. 

 

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

It's a hurricane day...

 ...and it's the long conference in the Supreme Court.


The Dolphins are 3-0 and play tomorrow night.

What else is cooking?

Stay safe out there.

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Hurricane Ian update

11:45am update- All courthouse locations in the district will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday).  Miami and Fort Pierce will also be closed on Thursday. 

Monday, September 26, 2022

Money in College Sports


By John R. Byrne

    Tough loss for the Canes on Saturday but it may not hurt recruiting that much if the Name, Image, and Likeness money keeps flowing. Last Thursday Judge Singhal, who played baseball at Rice, moderated a panel at UM law school exploring the legal dynamics of this NIL era. In short: it's complicated. Some states have NIL laws, others don't, and at least one state (Alabama) passed a law and then repealed it. Meanwhile, SCOTUS--with Justice Kavanaugh leading the charge--seems ready to endorse a pay-for-play model. It's the wild west right now (a QB recruit is allegedly getting 8 million to play for Tennessee). Will be interesting to see how this shakes out over the next few years.

Friday, September 23, 2022

Hispanic Heritage Event at the Wilkie D.

 

By John R. Byrne

The "Jefes" were out in force yesterday at the SDFL's Hispanic Heritage event. Judge Ruiz led a panel discussion with Chief Judge Altonaga, Chief Magistrate Judge Torres, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, and Chief Judge Ivan Fernandez of the Third District Court of Appeal. There was also a cool intro video where other Hispanic chief judges from other districts talked about their heritage and offered advice. 

At the reception, the district put up poster boards of all the district's Hispanic judges. Was impressive to see how many we have (and have had). Didn't know Judge Nesbitt had a Hispanic background. Going to be hard to top this one. Maybe Justice Sotomayor, who has some Miami connections, next year?



Wednesday, September 21, 2022

11th Circuit sides with DOJ over Trump

Here's the per curiam opinion, which reverses Judge Cannon and grants the requested stay.

The panel was Rosembaum, Grant, Brasher.

It starts this way:

Following the execution of a search warrant at the residence of Plaintiff-Appellee, former President Donald J.Trump, Plaintiff moved for the appointment of a special master to review the doc­uments that Defendant-Appellant United States of America seized. The district court granted that motion in substantial part. Now, the United States moves for a partial stay of the district court's or­der as it relates to the roughly one-hundred documents bearing classification markings. We decide only the narrow question pre­sented: whether the United States has established that it is entitled to a stay of the district court's order, to the extent that it(l)requires the government to submit for the special master's review the doc­uments with classification markings and (2) enjoins the United States from using that subset of documents in a criminal investiga­tion. We conclude that it has.

We stress the limited nature of our review: this matter comes to us on a motion for a partial stay pending appeal. We can­ not (and do not) decide the merits of this case. We decide only the traditional equitable considerations, including whether the United States has shown a substantial likelihood of prevailing on the mer­ its, the harm each party might suffer from a stay, and where the public interest lies.

For the reasons we explain below, we grant the United States's motion for a partial stay pending appeal.


All Trump, all the time

Our current U.S. Attorney, Tony Gonzalez, appeared before the special master in New York, along with a number of other DOJ lawyers.  When is the last time a U.S. Attorney appeared in a different district?  Interesting.  

In any event, the special master appeared pretty skeptical about Trump's claims... saying at one point you can't have your cake and eat it.  Here's some coverage from the Hill:

In a Tuesday conference, Dearie appeared unsatisfied with the response, indicating that further explanation would be necessary only if criminal charges were filed.

He said if Trump’s lawyers will not actually assert that the records have been declassified and the Justice Department instead makes an acceptable case that they remain classified, then “as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.”

James Trusty, a lawyer for Trump, said the legal team was “not in a position” to say whether the documents were declassified without first reviewing them, to which Dearie responded, “You did bring a lawsuit.”

Trump’s lawyers have failed to assert in court that Trump declassified the documents even as they seek to cast doubt on whether the documents are still classified.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it,” Dearie said.

Dearie also seemed to cast doubt on whether Trump’s legal team would be able to review all the classified documents, noting that some of the records are restricted to those with a need to know.

Trump also filed his brief in the 11th Circuit.  Here ya go.

 

 


Monday, September 19, 2022

Dolphins!

What a game!  It just shows that you're never out of it and to keep fighting.

On that note, DOJ is in the 11th Circuit fighting to get a stay of Judge Cannon's order.  Its brief is here.  Trump has to respond by Wednesday.

And Philip Esformes is still fighting, also now in the 11th Circuit.  His oral argument was Friday.  Although the panel expressed dismay at the prosecutor's handling of the case, it also expressed doubt about doing anything about it.  Unfortunately, it cited my old case -- United States v. Shaygan.  From Law360:

During oral arguments in Miami, Esformes' counsel, James C. Martin of Reed Smith LLP, insisted that reversal is warranted because the trial court should have disqualified the prosecution team for misconduct, including invading attorney-client and work product privilege in a raid on one of Esformes' facilities and in secret recordings of his conversations.

But U.S. Circuit Judge William H. Pryor Jr. said the argument "seems to be foreclosed by a long line of precedent."

The Eleventh Circuit's chief judge said the appeals court has held that disqualification is not required for intrusion into attorney-client privilege absent a showing of actual prejudice, but in his initial brief, Esformes presented an argument of "structural error," based on prosecutors allegedly injecting their self-interests into the proceedings over his pretrial motion for dismissal or disqualification.

"You haven't really made a case for actual prejudice. You have to make the argument for the first time in the blue brief," Judge Pryor added, referring to the required color for the cover sheet of an appellant's initial brief.

Martin argued that the threat of prejudice has also been held to be sufficient grounds for dismissal. He pointed to a friend of the court brief that several former U.S. attorneys general, including Edwin Meese, John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzalez, filed in support of Esformes, which Martin said stated that such a threat "sticks to the case" and "taints the entire prosecution."

U.S. Circuit Judge Jill Pryor said that argument would seem to undermine the need to show actual prejudice in any case involving a privilege intrusion.

What's different here, Martin responded, is the level of intrusion.

"It's unprecedented," he said.

Judge William Pryor expressed agreement about that but noted the district court made a finding there was no prejudice and repeated that he did not see where Esformes' side had made an argument about that.

The chief judge also expressed doubts about Martin's argument that prosecutors improperly injected their personal interests by being represented individually by outside counsel and raising arguments about their career prospects during the disqualification motion proceedings.

"Of course they have a right to counsel, don't they?" he asked.

The judge cited the Eleventh Circuit's 2011 decision in USA v. Shaygan , in which the court found a district court violated two prosecutors' constitutional due process rights by sanctioning them without providing notice of charges of misconduct and an opportunity to be heard.


Friday, September 16, 2022

Judge Cannon issues two new orders, both in favor of Trump

1.  She appointed District Judge Raymond Dearie to be the Special Master.

2.  She denied DOJ's motion for partial stay.

DOJ will now head to the 11th Circuit.

Politico covers the orders here:

While Cannon’s timeline appears to extend Dearie’s review well past the November midterm elections, she did instruct him “to prioritize review of the approximately 100 documents marked as classified (and papers physically attached thereto),” meaning it’s possible prosecutors could regain access to some or all of those materials before they get another look at the other records seized in the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of the Trump’s Florida estate.


Last week, the Justice Department appealed Cannon’s order to appoint a special master and indicated it would seek relief from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals if she did not agree to delay aspects of her ruling by Thursday night. .

The ruling is another setback for federal prosecutors, who have expressed alarm at the extraordinarily sensitive records they found in boxes intermingled with Trump’s personal items in his Mar-a-Lago storage room, as well as some recovered from his office. The Justice Department has warned that Cannon’s Sept. 5 order — which enjoined the department from furthering its criminal review of the documents seized by FBI agents — had also disrupted a parallel risk assessment of those documents by the intelligence community. Though Cannon allowed that review to continue, the Justice Department emphasized that her order had sown confusion within the executive branch.

In one nod to the Justice Department, Cannon ordered Trump to shoulder the full cost of Dearie’s review, as well as that for any staff or associates he hires.

Thursday, September 15, 2022

Congrats to Markenzy Lapointe

President Biden just nominated him to be the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida.

He's a really good guy and well liked by just about everyone.

Folks will discuss the timing because of the on-going litigation regarding the Mar-a-Lago search.  Currently all of the pleadings are being signed by Tony Gonzalez, who was the first assistant prosecutor under Ariana Fajardo Orshan, the previous U.S. Attorney who was selected by Trump.  Once Lapointe is confirmed, he will be the local prosecutor in charge of the case.  But, of course, the case is being overseen by the DOJ folks in D.C.

In any event, Lapointe isn't a political guy.  He's right down the middle and is going to do what's right.

Be Kind, It's Science!

By Michael Caruso I wanted to offer a brief supplement to Kate And David's wonderful DBR piece posted below. We've all seen the "Practice Random Acts of Kindness" bumper sticker. Why do we have to be reminded to be kind, and why is kindness in such short supply? An expert has "found that kindness can be a real hard sell. People desire kindness yet often feel inconvenienced by the thought of being kind."

New findings published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, however, demonstrate the power of even small acts of kindness. Researchers found that people who perform a random act of kindness tend to underestimate how much the recipient will appreciate it. And they believe that miscalculation could hold many of us back from doing nice things for others more often.

Not only are small acts of kindness meaningful to the recipients, but they also are beneficial to the givers. Other studies suggest that affiliative behavior may be an important component of coping with stress and indicate that engaging in prosocial behavior might be an effective strategy for reducing the impact of stress on emotional functioning. Sounds like a win-win. 

We should all remember that "a little good goes an unexpectedly long way."

 





Wednesday, September 14, 2022

"Ladies and gentlemen, the government's case is a grotesque distortion of the truth."

 That's how Marc Mukasay started his opening in the SDNY's Nikola trial.  Nikola's founder Trevor Milton is on trial and accused of defrauding investors. I love following good lawyers in trial and Mukasey lights it up in opening.  Check out this twitter feed of what he did:

 

Monday, September 12, 2022

"Judges: Be Kind and Remember Your Roots"

 That's the title of a column that my middle daughter, Kate Markus, and I wrote in the Daily Business Review.  Here's the intro:

As a high school student, I deal with seemingly arbitrary scheduling decisions from teachers all the time. Especially in this age of technology, teachers can add assignments randomly throughout the day and night by sending a message to our phones, and they love to add assignments with crazy short deadlines on the day after a big event like Halloween, only to take weeks to grade them.

The same thing happens to lawyers with electronic notices. In the old days, most judges worked with the litigants to find a time that worked with everyone’s schedule for a hearing or a trial. But now, there are instances when lawyers are summarily notified by email that something has been scheduled, sometimes with only a day’s notice. And then the waiting game starts for the order.

As challenging as the scheduling may be for us high school students, the stakes are significantly higher for litigants subject to the dictates of judges who are not always sympathetic to personal family situations including the birth of children.

This happened just recently, when a lawyer asked for an upcoming civil trial to be continued due to the pending birth of his long-awaited daughter, who had been conceived after fertility treatments following a series of difficulties. A Miami-Dade judge refused to continue the case, even though it had not previously been continued and all the lawyers agreed to the continuance. The judge told the lawyer he would be sanctioned if he asked again for a continuance. Only after the story of his ruling broke in the news did the judge relent and grant the continuance.

My own birth story is another example. My dad (and co-author) was scheduled for a complicated and lengthy multi-defendant trial in Savannah, Georgia. The judge set the trial for you guessed itthe very day my mom was scheduled to deliver me. When my dad asked the judge to push the start date back just a few days so that he could be there for my birth, the judge refused, actually telling my dad he could fly down for “half a day” to attend the birth and then fly back for court the following day. My parents solved this problem by moving up the date of my delivery so that my dad could be there for my birth before leaving town for six weeks.