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:

 

Justice Jackson tells the Alabama solicitor general that the Framers of the 14th Amendment did NOT intend it to be “race neutral or race blind,” so taking race into account to protect minority voting rights is perfectly constitutional. Progressive originalism at work. pic.twitter.com/aCXAq2CnJu

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjs_DC) October 4, 2022

4. RIP Laurence Silberman. 

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.

October Term 2022 and diversity in the courts

 It's here.

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

And then there were four. (Photo from before yesterday's investiture of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, by the Supreme Court of the United States.) pic.twitter.com/sQWy4jzp0s

— Amy Howe (@AHoweBlogger) October 1, 2022

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.

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. 

 

It's a hurricane day...

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

Today at SCOTUS: The justices meet privately for their annual "long conference" to review cert petitions that have rolled in over the summer. They'll also likely discuss the status of the Dobbs leak investigation and whether to continue live audio of oral arguments this term.

— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) September 28, 2022

The Dolphins are 3-0 and play tomorrow night.

What else is cooking?

Stay safe out there.

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. 

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.

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?