Merry Christmas from the White House

President Obama pardoned 78 people yesterday and commuted another 153 sentences (via the AP).  It's the big push before the end of the year.  Good for the President!  It will be interesting to see how the drug laws are enforced under the new administration and whether all of this work will be undone.

Here's the full list of pardons/commutations via the Washington Post.

What do judges think when a party uses "sic" to point out mistakes in the other lawyer's motion?

Everyone enjoyed making fun of PE Trump's "unpresidented" tweet this weekend.  Lawyers also like to [sic] their opponents (me included), but I wonder what judges and their clerks think of it.

SCOF and SCOTUS happenings

1.  Gov. Scott appointed Alan Lawson to the Florida Supreme Court.  Via The Miami Herald:

Gov. Rick Scott appointed C. Alan Lawson to be Florida’s next justice of the Supreme Court Friday, choosing a conservative appellate judge to leave the governor’s mark on a moderate court that has been responsible for some of sharpest defeats of his political career.Lawson, who currently serves as the chief judge on the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach fills the seat on the seven-member court that is being vacated by Justice James E.C. Perry, a liberal jurist who is retiring at the end of the month because he has reached the mandatory retirement age. Perry was the the fourth African-American jurist to serve on Florida’s high court. Lawson is white.
***
Lawson attended high school in Tallahassee, went to Tallahassee Community College and Clemson University and earned his law degree from Florida State University.
Before law school he worked at the Florida Department of Corrections as a legislative liaison and was a candidate for the state House of Representatives from Tallahassee in 1986. After he passed the Bar he worked in private practice before becoming an assistant county attorney in Orange County in 1997. He was appointed to the trial court by former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002.
He has worked for additional funding for the court system, particularly for technology.
Lawson’s wife, Julie, is a board member and volunteer for Mi Esperanza, a non-profit corporation that provides micro loans to underprivileged women in Honduras. They have two grown children.

2.  And for the Supreme Court of the United States, it's supposedly down to two candidates, including 11th Circuit's William Pryor.  Via CNN:

It will be some time before Donald Trump announces a nominee to fill the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia, according to transition insiders.

But two names continue to emerge to the top of the president elect's list of potential Supreme Court justices. Judges Diane Sykes and William Pryor are among the top contenders, according to multiple sources familiar with the process.

All in the family

Judge Moreno has named a new special master in the Takata Air Bag litigation.  Former law clerk John Delionado has resigned, and Judge Moreno handed the reigns over to another former clerk, Ryan Stumphauzer.  From the DBR:

U.S. District Judge Federico Moreno named Delionado's replacement hours after the Hunton & Williams attorney filed his resignation on Monday.
"My private practice has taken increasingly more of my time in recent months and I believe that I am no longer able to meet the time requirements that this matter demands," wrote the Miami lawyer, a former federal prosecutor who now defends businesses accused of corruption and fraud. "I have discussed this with Judge Moreno and want to extend to him my deepest appreciation for bestowing this honor upon me."
Stumphauzer also served as a federal prosecutor with a focus on health care fraud. His practice now concentrates on government regulatory enforcement, white-collar crime, internal investigations, whistleblower lawsuits and civil fraud, according to his firm's website.
Delionado and Stumphauzer's resumes have another thing in common: Both lawyers once clerked for Moreno.
Attorneys on the Takata case have two weeks to submit objections to Stumphauzer's appointment. He has assured Moreno that the case would present no conflicts for him. The parties will equally split the special master's $550 hourly fee.

Rapper Brisco in trouble with the Feds

From Paula McMahon:

South Florida rapper Brisco, wanted by the U.S. Secret Service since August, was arrested this week when he made a guest appearance with another musician in Broward County, agents said.

Brisco has performed and recorded with Lil' Wayne, Rick Ross and DJ Khaled. Lil' Wayne signed him to Cash Money Records.

Brisco, whose real name is British Mitchell, 34, is accused of selling counterfeit money to an undercover agent and taking part in a fraud ring that operated in South Florida, authorities said. Mitchell is linked to at least $200,000 worth of illegal activity, investigators said.

Agents testified that Mitchell led law enforcement on two high-speed chases when different agencies tried to arrest him in Broward County and in Miami-Dade County on Aug. 23. One of the chases reached speeds of 90 to 100 mph and both agencies abandoned their pursuits because of the potential danger to the public, investigators said.

Feds indict woman who threatened Sandy Hook parent

From the AP:

A Florida woman has been charged with making death threats against the parent of a child who died in the Sandy Hook school shooting massacre because she thought the attack was a hoax, federal authorities announced Wednesday.
Lucy Richards, 57, of Tampa was arrested Monday after a grand jury indictment on four felony counts of transmitting threats, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.
The threats were made Jan. 10, according to authorities, and included messages that said, "you gonna die, death is coming to you real soon," and "LOOK BEHIND YOU IT IS DEATH."
Another threat said, "there's nothing you can do about it," according to court documents.
The indictment said the threats were made in Palm Beach County to a person identified only by the initials "L.P." Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Schall wouldn't say how the threats were delivered or provide more details, nor would she provide further details about why federal authorities said Richards thought the attack was a hoax.

Judge William Pryor rules in favor of "Gay-Straight Alliance" club at middle school

Interesting in light of his consideration for the Supreme Court.  The opinion, written by Judge Pryor, and joined by Judge Marcus and a visiting judge, is here.  The intro:

This appeal requires us to decide whether a complaint that a school board
violated the Equal Access Act when it denied the application of the Carver Gay-
Straight Alliance to form a student club is ripe and not moot and whether the Act
applies to a public middle school in Florida. After a teacher at Carver Middle
School submitted an application for the approval of the Carver Gay-Straight
Alliance, the superintendent denied the application on the ground that the
application failed to identify an allowed purpose for the club. Instead of submitting
a new application, the Alliance and a student, H.F., filed a complaint that the Board
had violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution and the
Equal Access Act. Under the Act, if a public school “provides secondary education
as determined by State law,” the school must give extracurricular clubs equal
access to school resources. 20 U.S.C. §§ 4071–72. Following a bench trial, the
district court entered a judgment against the constitutional claims, dismissed the
claim under the Act as both not ripe and moot, and ruled, in the alternative, that the
Act does not apply to Carver Middle School. The Alliance and H.F. appeal only
the dismissal of their complaint that the Board violated the Act. Because we conclude that the complaint of the Alliance and H.F. is ripe and not moot and that the Act applies to Carver Middle School, we vacate and remand for further proceedings.

The ACLU issued a press release, stating: “We are of course pleased that the court agreed with our legal position on all of the issues in the appeal,” stated Daniel Tilley, Staff Attorney for LGBTS Rights for the ACLU of Florida. “But the greater victory is for the middle school students across Florida who are protected by the Equal Access Act and must be allowed to create a gay-straight alliance if their school allows student clubs.”

11th Circuit approves posting oral arguments on its website

Finally!

The only other Circuit that hasn't joined us in the 21st century is the 10th.

Congrats to the Free Law Project for making this happen.