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
Sunday, October 22, 2017
First round of Magistrate interviews this week.
The first round of interviews for the two magistrate slots (one in WPB and one in Miami) are this week. After the committee narrows the field, the judges will then conduct their interviews. The process, however, is very secretive. For example, there is no public list of who received interviews. The district court process has been much more open with requests for applicants, etc. It's a time of change in the District -- in the next 6 months, we should have a new U.S. Attorney, two new magistrates, and possibly 5 new judges. If one of those 5 judges is Michael Caruso, we will also need a new Federal Defender. Thanks to everyone for the tips that keep coming in... it's very helpful. It's also important for the public to be able to see how people are chosen for these positions.
Thursday, October 19, 2017
Why are there so few oral arguments?
The National Law Journal is covering the story of the vanishing oral argument. It's not just trials that are going away, but appellate advocacy is dying as well. For example, the 11th Circuit hears oral argument in less than 20% of its cases. That's just AWFUL. From the NLJ:
Martin chaired the appellate academy's task force and initiative on oral argument. Hoping to spark a discussion with the Judicial Conference of the United States, the judiciary's policymaking arm, he sent copies of the academy's report this summer to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and to the chief judges of the U.S. federal appeals courts.
The academy has become concerned about the decline in the number of cases, particularly in the federal courts, that are scheduled for oral argument and the shrinking time allotted for their argument. The task force examined oral argument practices in the federal circuits and conducted a statistical analysis to evaluate the frequency of arguments and the types of cases being argued.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34(b) begins with "oral argument must be allowed in every case," subject to certain exceptions. But the task force's statistics showed that oral argument in many circuits instead are either not being allowed or are otherwise not being scheduled. The overall average percentages of oral arguments in the circuit courts, excluding the Federal Circuit, ranged from the mid-teens (Third, Fourth, Sixth and Eleventh) to the low 30s (First, Second and Tenth) and to 45 percent (Seventh) and 55 percent (D.C. Circuit). The lowest was the Fourth Circuit, which heard oral argument in only 11 percent of its cases.
Monday, October 16, 2017
"Finally, there is good ol’ common sense."
"Finally, there is good ol’ common sense." That's the 11th Circuit's newest judge, Kevin Newsom, who is quickly making a name for himself as a folksy, fun writer. From the intro to this opinion:
It is hornbook law that rights of all kinds—even constitutional ones—can be waived. For instance, a criminal defendant might for one reason or another elect to waive his Fourth Amendment freedom from unreasonable searches, his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, or his Sixth Amendment right to the assistance of counsel. In the same way, a civil litigant can waive his Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial or his right, rooted in the Fourteenth Amendment, to be free from overbroad assertions of personal jurisdiction. So too, a sovereign State may choose to waive its Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit.
This case also concerns waiver—but not of some fundamental constitutional guarantee. Rather, this case is about … the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, affectionately (and hereinafter) known as “ERISA.” In particular, this interlocutory appeal requires us to determine whether a defendant is capable of expressly waiving the six-year statute of repose contained in ERISA Section 413(1), 29 U.S.C. § 1113(1)—or whether instead, the protection provided by Section 1113(1) is so essential, so fundamental, that it (seemingly almost alone among personal rights) is inherently indefeasible and unwaivable.
We won’t bury the lede. In response to the district court’s certified question, we answer yes—Section 1113(1)’s statute of repose is subject to express waiver.
Complete list of District Court Applicants
In case you missed Friday's post, here is a complete list of the 45 applicants for the 5 open District Court seats in the Southern District of Florida (which will all be in the "Northern Division" -- i.e., Broward, Palm Beach, and Ft. Pierce):
1. Altman, Roy 2. Angueira, Roberto 3. Arzola, Antonio 4. Blumstein, Mark 5. Bonner, Robert 6. Brown, Richard 7. Butchko, Beatrice 8. Caruso, Michael 9. Colbath, Jeffrey 10. Cooperstein, Theodore 11. Cortinas, Angel 12. Davis, Michael 13. Day, Timothy 14. Greenberg, Benjamin 15. Haimes, David 16. Harwin, Michael 17. Haury, William 18. Hemming, Norman 19. 20. Keever-Agrama, Dina 21. Klingensmith, Mark 22. Koenig, Timothy 23. Lopez, Peter 24. Manalich, Ramiro 25. Marzen, Chad 26. McCawley, Sigrid 27. Meek, Leslie 28. Morris, Tinesha 29. Muniz, Michael Prescott, Orlando 31. Rebull, Thomas 32. Ruiz, Rodolfo 33. Sanchez-Llorens, Migna 34. Sasser, Meenu 35. Sherwin, Michael 36. Singhal, Raag 37. Smith, Rodney 38. Thornton, John 39. Trawick, Daryl 40. Villafana, Ann Maria 41. Visconti, Melissa 42. Ward, Kimberly
43. Roby, Willliam 44. Williams, Dwayne 45 Wood, Marina Garcia
Friday, October 13, 2017
Status of U.S. Attorney, Magistrate Judge, and U.S. District Judge (UPDATED)
Lots of tips are coming in regarding the open positions in the Southern District of Florida. From the tips I have received, here is what we know:
-- There was a new round of interviews in D.C. for U.S. Attorney. It appears that the 3 new finalists are:
-- We have heard that the following have applied for the open Magistrate Judge seat in Miami. This is not a complete list. If you know of others, please send me a completely confidential tip. The list of known applicants:
-- UPDATED— here is the complete list for the 5 open District Court seats:
-- There was a new round of interviews in D.C. for U.S. Attorney. It appears that the 3 new finalists are:
Jose ("Pepe") Diaz
Ariana Fajardo-Orshan
Lilly-Ann Sanchez
-- We have heard that the following have applied for the open Magistrate Judge seat in Miami. This is not a complete list. If you know of others, please send me a completely confidential tip. The list of known applicants:
Jackie Arango
Barry Blum
Penny Birch
Celeste Higgins
Lynn Kirkpatrick
Lauren Louis
Ani Martinez
Stephanie Moon
Gera Peoples
Corey Steinberg
Erica Zaron
-- UPDATED— here is the complete list for the 5 open District Court seats:
1.
Altman, Roy
2.
Angueira, Roberto
3.
Arzola, Antonio
4.
Blumstein, Mark
5.
Bonner, Robert
6.
Brown, Richard
7.
Butchko, Beatrice
8.
Caruso, Michael
9.
Colbath, Jeffrey
10.
Cooperstein, Theodore
11.
Cortinas, Angel
12.
Davis, Michael
13.
Day, Timothy
14.
Greenberg, Benjamin
15.
Haimes, David
16.
Harwin, Michael
17.
Haury, William
18.
Hemming, Norman
19.
Kastrenakes, John
20.
Keever-Agrama, Dina
21.
Klingensmith, Mark
22.
Koenig, Timothy
23.
Lopez, Peter
24.
Manalich, Ramiro
25.
Marzen, Chad
26.
McCawley, Sigred
27.
Meek, Leslie
28.
Morris, Tinesha
29.
Muniz, Michael
30.
Prescott, Orlando
31.
Rebull, Thomas
32.
Ruiz, Rodolfo
33.
Sanchez-Llorens, Migna
34.
Sasser, Meenu
35.
Sherwin, Michael
36.
Singhal, Raag
37.
Smith, Rodney
38.
Thornton, John
39.
Trawick, Daryl
40.
Villafana, Ann Maria
41.
Visconti, Melissa
42.
Ward, Kimberly
43.
Roby, Willliam
44.
Williams, Dwayne
45
Wood, Marina Garcia
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