News & Notes

News & Notes

1. The Supreme Court is still open for business, and it was issuing opinions and cert grants this morning.

2. Is Chief Justice Roberts moving towards the center? This BuzzFeed article suggests that he is.

3. The 11th Circuit tossed this lawsuit by a Dolphins' coach against the NFL and Ted Wells.

4. Justice Ginsburg says #MeToo.

Justice Alex Acosta?

Justice Alex Acosta?

Politico has an interesting article this morning that Labor Secretary Alex Acosta may be in line for a federal judgeship. The questions is whether it would be on the 11th Circuit or the Supreme Court:

Business representatives now see these ambitions as possibly driving Acosta’s risk-averse approach to the DOL, even as several of his executive branch counterparts are moving to aggressively disrupt other agencies. A stalled Senate confirmation process for department leadership posts below Acosta has also contributed to the pace.

Whether the White House actually has Acosta on its radar to fill a potential Supreme Court or appellate vacancy is unclear. But Bloomberg Law interviews with those who know the secretary and a review of his public comments dating back to the 1990s demonstrate Acosta’s undeniable passion for the judicial system. What’s more, he is close friends with Leonard Leo, the Federalist Society vice president credited for orchestrating the selections of the last three Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices.

Acosta is “certainly somebody who has a lot of credentials that you would look for in appointing judges,” Ronald Cass, a past chair of two Federalist Society practice groups and former member of the American Bar Association committee that screens judicial appointments, told Bloomberg Law. “He’s got a broad academic background, a broad legal background, he’s somebody who is clearly bright and thoughtful.”

Acosta would make an excellent Judge. I hope this story has legs.

News & Notes

News & Notes

1. Marc Caputo is saying that its Judge Ariana Fajardo's job to lose for U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of Florida:

A Miami family-law judge has taken a major step closer to being the next U.S. Attorney in South Florida now that her leading rival for the post has taken a job with a top Florida lobbying firm with close ties to President Donald Trump.

The behind-the-scenes contest for the job as top prosecutor in the district that encompasses Trump’s so-called “Winter White House” of Mar-a-Lago has raged for about a year and appeared to come down to Miami-Dade Judge Ariana Fajardo Orshan and former state Rep. José Félix Díaz, a former contestant on Trump’s show, “The Apprentice.”
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Fajardo, backed by both Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Rick Scott, was considered for the post after the Trump administration, Rubio and the Justice Department deadlocked on other choices for the post. Soon after her name surfaced, insiders considered her the front-runner for the job.

“With Díaz out, it unclogs the drain,” said one source familiar with the White House’s decision-making over the U.S. attorney post.

Said another: “As long as Judge Fajardo passes her background checks, she should be the next U.S. attorney in South Florida.”

2. Mickey Munday was convicted today. And immediately remanded. No more Cocaine Cowboy interviews... (prior coverage here).

Judge Altonaga orders plaintiff to “certif[y] the pleading has been reviewed and approved by a teacher of the English language — such certification is to be included in the notice of filing the second amended complaint.”

Judge Altonaga orders plaintiff to “certif[y] the pleading has been reviewed and approved by a teacher of the English language — such certification is to be included in the notice of filing the second amended complaint.” (See order here).

OOOOF!

From Judge Altonaga's order:

The Court notes Plaintiff’s proposed Second Amended Complaint is replete with grammatical errors, including improper punctuation, misspelling of words, incorrect conjugation of verbs, and lack of apostrophes when required for possessive adjectives; sentence fragments; and nonsensical sentences. The proposed Second Amended Complaint is also an eyesore, with its formatting errors and spaces.

This caught the eye of Above The Law, which first reported on Judge Altonaga's order here.

That blog reports that the case was voluntarily dismissed shortly thereafter.

“This ruling sentences this highly intelligent, deeply lonely, and distressed ____ to a lifetime of physical and psychological harm, confined to a tiny concrete cell without family, friends, or freedom,”

“This ruling sentences this highly intelligent, deeply lonely, and distressed ____ to a lifetime of physical and psychological harm, confined to a tiny concrete cell without family, friends, or freedom.”

That was not a quote about some criminal defense lawyer's client.  The missing word was orca and the quote was by Jared Goodman, director of animal law at the PETA Foundation, after the 11th Circuit ruled against PETA in its quest to release Lolita.

From Reuters:

By a 3-0 vote, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Miami rejected claims by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and others that keeping Lolita in captivity violated the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The evidence, construed in the light most favorable to PETA, does not support the conclusion that the conditions of her captivity pose a threat of serious harm to Lolita,” the court said.

Friday’s decision upheld a lower court ruling. The lawsuit began in July 2015, two months after the National Marine Fisheries Service recognized whales such as Lolita as an endangered species.

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The appeals court ruled nine days after Bob Barker, the former host of “The Price Is Right” game show and animal rights advocate, called for Lolita’s release in a video posted on PETA’s Twitter account.

Here's the opinion.