The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
"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.
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
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.
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.
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.
...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.
11:45am update- All courthouse locations in the district will be closed tomorrow (Wednesday). Miami and Fort Pierce will also be closed on Thursday.
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.
