Rothstein Rothstein Rothstein!

Everyone was a buzz yesterday over Scott Rothstein testifying before Judge Hurley in West Palm Beach.  Paula McMahon covered it well.  Here are some highlights:

• With a white goatee and closely cut hair that was grayer than the last time he was seen publicly some three-and-a-half years ago, Rothstein, 51, took the witness stand handcuffed and shackled, wearing a bright blue, collared T-shirt and jeans.
  Rothstein — who was subpoenaed by defense attorney Valentin Rodriguez Jr. to testify in the wire fraud trial of Christina Kitterman, a former attorney who worked at the Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler law firm — appeared in court much earlier than expected because of security concerns.

• Additionally, Rothstein testified he had a sexual relationship with Kitterman.
  “We were two friends who fooled around from time to time, Rothstein testified, alleging Kitterman “pulled me into a bathroom stall to make out with me” at Runway 84 in Fort Lauderdale.
  “We were friends, there's no polite way to say this — we were friends with benefits,” he said. “I loved her and cared about her and I believe she loved and cared about me.”
  “I am NOT happy about being here,” Rothstein said, saying he wished he didn't have to testify about someone he cares about.
• “What ended up happening ... My ego and, at that particular time, my desire for power and money and some of my partners' desire for power and money” led to Rothstein starting his fraud to try to keep his failing law firm afloat, he testified.
  “We grew before we should have grown,” Rothstein told the jury. “I refused to fail and I let this Ponzi scheme explode.”
  “At that time, I had an ego that was out of control,” he continued.
  
• “My wife was indicted for things that she did and also things that I told her to do.”
  He said he told her, during a phone conversation after he briefly fled to Morocco in late 2009, to hide some expensive watches from the government.
  “At a later point in time, before the government took everything, I had had conversations with her [Kim] about making certain that we did not end up on the street ... I didn't tell her what to take, other than the watches.”
• Was Rothstein upset about the length of the sentence imposed by Cohn, Kitterman's lawyer Valentin Rodriguez Jr. asked.
  “That would be an understatement, yes sir,” Rothstein replied.
  Prosecutors filed a court document on June 8, 2011, saying Rothstein should qualify for a sentence reduction for his cooperation. The final decision would lie with Cohn.
  No further action has been taken on the request, Rothstein said, because his cooperation is not complete yet.
  
  
• A second hitch, he testified, is: “I understand there's been an issue pertaining to my failure to tell” the truth to federal authorities about the fact he knew and was involved in Kim Rothstein's efforts to criminally hide some of their assets.
  He still hopes he will get a sentence reduction because he hopes prosecutors and the judge will accept he only lied about hiding jewelry with his wife Kim and that it was a mistake he made under duress, he said.
  He said he hopes prosecutors and the judge will eventually grant him a sentence reduction and agree “that I don't deserve to die in prison for what I've done.”

President Obama officially nominates Beth Bloom and Darrin Gayles

Here's the press release:

“Throughout their careers, these distinguished men and women have demonstrated a steadfast commitment to public service,” said President Obama. “I am confident they will serve the American people with distinction from the District Court bench.”
Judge Beth Bloom:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Judge Beth Bloom has served as a Circuit Judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida since 2010.  From 1995 to 2010, she was a County Judge in the same Circuit and served as the Associate Administrative Judge of the Criminal Division in 2010.  From 1988 to 1995, Judge Bloom worked at Floyd Pearson Richman Greer Weil Brumbaugh & Russomanno, P.A., where she handled a broad range of civil litigation.  While in private practice, she also served as a Traffic Magistrate Judge from 1992 to 1993.  Judge Bloom received her J.D. cum laude in 1988 from the University of Miami School of Law, her B.S. in 1984 from the University of Florida, and her A.A. in 1982 from Broward Community College.
***
Judge Darrin P. Gayles:  Nominee for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
Judge Darrin P. Gayles has served as a Circuit Judge in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida since 2011.  From 2004 to 2011, he was a County Judge in the same Circuit.  From 1999 to 2004, Judge Gayles served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and from 1997 to 1999, he served as an Assistant District Counsel at the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Judge Gayles began his legal career as an Assistant State Attorney in the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office from 1993 to 1997.  Judge Gayles received his J.D. in 1993 from George Washington University Law School and his B.A. in 1990 from Howard University. 

Congrats!

Justice Alito speaks in WPB

Curt Anderson of the AP covered it here:

"It's fine if we are not all that popular," Alito told an audience of more than 1,100 lawyers and business people. "There is a reason why the Constitution gives federal judges life tenure. We are supposed to do our jobs without worrying whether our decisions are pleasing to anybody."

Alito spoke to a joint meeting of the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches and the Palm Beach County Bar Association, drawing the largest audience ever for such an event, organizers said. His staff did not permit the speech to be videotaped or audio recorded, and Alito noted that the justices remain somewhat behind the times in terms of using such common technologies as email.

The court also does not permit oral arguments to be televised. All the arguments are released on audio by the end of the week they occur, and on rare occasions, a recording is released the same day.

"We are an old-fashioned institution, and in my opinion that is a good thing. We are not exactly on the cutting edge of technology," Alito said.

Do the readers out there agree that it's a good thing not to be on the cutting edge of technology?

Here's a picture from a helpful reader:

In other news, Dean Alex Acosta (a former Alito clerk) has made the short list of 3 for the UF Dean slot.  Good luck Alex!

Wrong Rosenbaum

So, Judge Robin Rosenbaum's confirmation hearing for the 11th Circuit is coming up, and John Pacenti has a nice, informative piece covering it. But the DBR has posted a picture of Richard Rosenbaum (unrelated) with the article.

These things happen, and of course it isn't the reporter's fault, but Pacenti (a good reporter) must be apoplectic:

Update-- Judge Martinez has your quote of the day with his comment at the DBR:

JOSE_MARTINEZ@FLSD.USCOURTS.GOV
Feb 03, 2014
That is not a very good picture of Judge Rosenbaum. She is much more attractive and does not have a mustache.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

That's the headline from yesterday's Superbowl.  There were two highlights in my book.  This ad:



And Frank Caliendo's bit was also fantastic.

Better yet, Howard Stern's birthday bash was a blast.

More blue slip shenanigans

It seemed like President Obama had worked out a deal with the Georgia Senators to move 6 judges forward, but not so fast.  From Robin McDonald's report:

More than a month after President Obama nominated six candidates to federal judicial posts in Georgia, the state's two Republican senators have yet to return "blue slips" signaling their approval to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, a committee aide said.
As a result, the judiciary committee—which began holding hearings Jan. 8 on nominees from other states whose names the president submitted at the same time as the Georgia nominees—has not yet scheduled confirmation hearings for two nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit and four nominees to the Northern District of Georgia trial court bench, according to the aide.
On Tuesday, the judiciary committee was holding confirmation hearings for six Arizona nominees to fill judicial posts that have been designated by the U.S. Administrative Office of Courts as emergency vacancies. Two of Georgia's district court seats have been designated as emergency vacancies.
U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson have not signaled their approval of the list of Georgia judicial nominees even though the slate of six names was part of a compromise deal that the White House struck with them late last year.
On Tuesday, Isakson spokeswoman Lauren Culbertson said, "Senator Isakson believes that it is appropriate to allow the chairman and the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee to review the background investigation paperwork of the six nominees before he returns all six blue slips." Aides to Chambliss declined to comment Tuesday on the lack of action.
That package deal presumably was to have lifted a longtime hold the senators had placed on the president's nomination of Atlanta attorney Jill Pryor, a partner at Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore, to the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was first nominated in February 2012 and renominated last year despite the senators' opposition.

Oy.  Meantime, the Black Caucus isn't happy about the lack of diversity for nominees in Alabama:

Nationally, 106 of the 874 federal judges are black, including those on senior status.
In Alabama, the letter said, “Sixty-four judges have served on Alabama’s district court bench since districts were first established in 1824. Of this number, only three have been African-American.”
There are district court vacancies in Montgomery and Huntsville as well as a vacancy on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. Caucus members said Obama should nominate black candidates to fill the district court vacancies, which would make the federal bench in Alabama 21.4 percent black.
The letter’s focus on Alabama was especially noteworthy for Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“Our record of black judicial appointments in Alabama is particularly appalling, given that African-Americans make up 26 percent of the population,” Sewell said Wednesday.
The state’s only black federal judge, Abdul Kallon of Birmingham, is considered a likely candidate for Obama to nominate to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which would create a third district court vacancy.

BREAKING -- Robin Rosenberg being vetted for Ft. Pierce slot

This was the seat that was slated for William Thomas, but now the White House is vetting Robin Rosenberg.  She was one of the three finalists for this seat back in 2012.  One of the comments about Judge Rosenberg back then was:

Rosenberg is a Princeton grad and Duke Law grad. She clerked for the late S.D. Fla. District Judge James C. Paine and worked at DOJ in the Civil Rights Division. She was General Counsel at Slim Fast before the company sold and a partner at H&K. She's received strong evaluations in the bar poll in PBC since taking the bench 6 years ago. She is highly qualified to serve on the federal bench and within driving distance to Fort Pierce. Kudos to the JNC.

This piece, by Grier Pressly, gives a little more background:

Judge Robin Rosenberg brought her local roots and a uniquely diverse legal career to the bench when she was sworn in as one of our newest circuit judges on January 2, 2007. Government practice at the national and local level. Private practice in a big firm and a small firm. Corporate general counsel and executive leadership. Judge Rosenberg has done it all in a remarkably short period of time.
Born and raised in West Palm Beach, Judge Rosenberg attended the Palm Beach Day School and was a state-ranked junior tennis player before attending Andover for high school. Following her graduation from Princeton University, where she captained the women’s tennis team, Judge Rosenberg headed to Washington, D.C. where she worked for the Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Justice, Princeton’s Office of University Affairs, and as a legislative correspondent to Senator Bill Bradley.
After three years in Washington, Judge Rosenberg decided that a career in law and public service was her calling. In 1989 Judge Rosenberg graduated with a law degree from Duke University’s School of Law and a M.A. degree in public policy from Duke’s Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. Judge Rosenberg’s first job out of law school was an enjoyable one- year clerkship with Judge James Paine of the U.S. District Court in West Palm Beach. Judge Rosenberg returned to Washington in 1990 to go to work for the U.S. Department of Justice.
It was at the Department of Justice that Judge Rosenberg gained her employment law background, serving as a trial attorney for the Employment Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, and met her future husband. Michael McAuliffe was also working as a trial attorney with the Department of Justice (in the Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division) in the early 1990′s.
Newly married in 1993, Judge Rosenberg and Michael moved to Pilsen, Czech Republic to support the Civic Education Project jointly sponsored by Yale University and Central European University. In Pilsen, Judge Rosenberg helped set up the graduate school of public administration at West Bohemia University while Michael helped establish only the country’s fourth law school at the same university.
After spending a rewarding, busy year in the Czech Republic, Judge Rosenberg and Michael returned to West Palm Beach to continue their legal careers and to raise their family.
Judge Rosenberg served as Assistant City Attorney for West Palm Beach for two years before going into private practice in the litigation department at Holland & Knight. Judge Rosenberg’s tenure as Vice President and General Counsel at Slim·Fast Foods Company provided the opportunity of executive experience and managing corporate issues involving virtually every area of the law.
In 2001, Judge Rosenberg and Michael went into practice together. At Rosenberg & McAuliffe, Judge Rosenberg focused her practice on employment litigation while also concentrating on her roles as a certified mediator and arbitrator with ARC Mediation, a business she co-founded. However, the tug to return to public service was too strong to ignore. Judge Rosenberg feels fortunate to have loved every step of her career, a career that she feels has prepared her well for the challenges that serving as a judge will bring. Judge Rosenberg wants the community to know that she is honored to serve as a judge of our circuit.
When Judge Rosenberg is not working, she can be found spending time with her parents and grandmother (who all still reside locally) and doing any number of outdoor activities with her husband and three children – Sydney (11), Madison (8) and Adin (6). Tennis, swimming, jogging, and biking, Judge Rosenberg tries to find time for outdoor activities seven days a week. While Judge Rosenberg enjoys hiking in the mountains with her family during summer vacations in Colorado, she is happy to leave the extreme climbing to Michael who has recently summitted Denali (Alaska) and Aconcagua (Chile).

Luckily, there won't be any confusion on the district bench with Judge Robin Rosenbaum as she is moving up to the Eleventh Circuit.

Congrats to Judge Rosenberg!

The SOTU Bear Hug

That was Justice Ginsburg and President Obama:

How nice.

Meantime, Obama let the Justices know (in a nicer way this time) that he wasn't pleased with the Voting Rights decision.  From the WSJ:



Chastened after his 2010 State of the Union address, when his explicit criticism of a Supreme Court decision sparked a rebuke from several justices, President Barack Obama took a more subtle approach Tuesday regarding a ruling he considers misguided. The reference in Tuesday’s address to Congress was so subtle, in fact, that television camera operators apparently didn’t realize what he was referring to, and failed to cut to attending justices for a reaction shot.
“Last year, part of the Voting Rights Act was weakened,” Mr. Obama said, invoking the passive voice to avoid mention of the entity that did the weakening: the Supreme Court. The high court voted 5-4 along conservative-liberal lines to free states with a history of discrimination from their obligation to obtain federal approval before changing election procedures.
Five justices were in the audience. Two, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Anthony Kennedy, found that the formula for identifying states requiring federal oversight no longer was constitutional. Three dissented from the ruling, Shelby County v. Holder—Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Their facial expressions couldn’t be seen.
“But conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats are working to strengthen it,” Mr. Obama continued, referring to a bill co-sponsored by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R., Wis.), Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D., Mich.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.). The bill would create a new formula for determining which jurisdictions had violated voting rights so egregiously in recent years to justify federal oversight.
Mr. Obama added a comment perhaps inspired by a case now pending before the justices, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, which would lift limits on aggregate campaign contributions a single individual can make, which current law caps at about $125,000 over a two-year cycle.
“It should be the power of our vote, not the size of our bank account, that drives our democracy,” the president said, but again the justices’ reaction was not displayed to television viewers.
Four justices skipped Tuesday’s event. Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas have avoided it for years. Justice Sonia Sotomayor was in California. And Justice Samuel Alito—who visibly mouthed “not so” when President Obama in 2010 criticized the decision called Citizens United, which lifted limits on corporate and political spending—hasn’t been seen in the House chamber since.


Bryan Garner, is an expert on how lawyers write and talk, and he's also the editor of Black's Law Dictionary.  He's added these new terms to the book, which he picked up from ATL founder David Lat.  From Garner's twitter account:


Three neologisms by @DavidLat that I've defined for Black's Law Dictionary (10/e): "bench-slap," "judicial diva," and "litigatrix."