The Times, They Are A Changin

That's the Bob Dylan song that Justice Scalia sang to Justice Ginsburg after the same-sex marriage case was decided. I'm not kidding.

Former AUSA, current Broward state judge resigns

The Sun-Sentinel has all of the details:

Broward Circuit Judge Lynn Rosenthal, who was facing a disciplinary hearing over her conduct following her arrest on a DUI charge last year, has resigned effective Oct. 31.

Her decision was confirmed on the same day the Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC) announced a schedule of hearings in her misconduct case, which are now likely to be canceled.

"She called me and told me she's chosen to resign, effective the end of this month," said Broward Chief Administrative Judge Peter Weinstein. "This gives us enough time to decide who will replace her in her division."

Rosenthal has mostly handled foreclosures since her arrest on May 27, 2014. On that morning, Rosenthal arrived outside the courthouse showing signs of being impaired. She sideswiped a parked patrol car and repeatedly drove into the gate of the judicial parking lot between the courthouse and the Broward Main Jail.

According to police reports, she told investigators that she had taken an accidental overdose of the prescription sleep aid Ambien the night before. A breath test showed she was not under the influence of alcohol, but Rosenthal refused to submit to a blood or urine test that would have indicated whether she was affected by any other drug.

Prosecutors said there was a bottle of Xanax in her car.

During a JQC investigation that followed, Rosenthal admitted that she had recorded a video using her cellphone as she was driving to work. The video, police said, showed her driving erratically on Interstate 595. Rosenthal's husband deleted the video after police had seen it.

The JAABlog broke the story.

Narcos are still cooking

And shipping... here, in coffee (via New Times):

Officers were screening the package when they decided to send it through an x-ray. Something seemed funny, and officers found odd clumps in the coffee grounds. Further testing revealed those clumps were in fact cocaine — 4.1 pounds of it.

The shipment was being sent from Peru to an address in New Jersey.

“We’re extremely proud of our CBP officers and their ability to detect and seize narcotics,” Miami International Airport port director Christopher Maston said in a statement. "They remain dedicated to protecting the American people from dangerous drugs.”

Smugglers often try all sorts of crazy ways to sneak cocaine through customs at the airport. In August, CBP reported it had found 80 pounds of cocaine and heroin hidden in shipments of flowers traveling from Colombia and Ecuador since January 2014. CBP claims it seizes more than 10,000 pounds of drugs daily throughout its operations in the U.S.

Are you guys watching Narcos on Netflix? It's really good.

By the way, if you haven't seen Marc Caputo's daily "Florida Playbook" on Politico, you should check it out. It's fantastic.

SCOTUS changes rules on "line-standers" and tries to improve "link-rot"

Here's the statement by the Court. SCOTUSBlog has more:

The Supreme Court, changing some of its procedures with Monday’s opening of a new Term, announced that lawyers who plan to attend oral argument sessions can no longer hire “line standers” to hold their places. This is now a do-it-yourself opportunity, the Court said in a statement outlining several changes.

Long lines usually form outside the Court building only when a high-profile case is scheduled, with heavy demand for the limited seating in the courtroom. The new policy apparently does not affect public lines. The Court did not explain the new policy for attorneys.

Other changes announced on Monday included making revisions to a published opinion of the Court more visible and a new effort to keep Internet links that appear within Court opinions from disappearing — what the Court indelicately calls “link rot.”

First Monday in October

The Justices are back to work. I wonder if they had Sunday night blues...

Anyway, here's the first order of the Term. Nothing really interesting except that the Court denied cert in an important insider trading case (More on that here).

The USA Today has a good article previewing the Term:

The Supreme Court embarks on a new term Monday that would make Yogi Berra proud: It truly is déjà vu all over again.

The justices will rule on affirmative action for the third time in four years. They will rule on public employee union fees for the third time in five years. They will deliver verdicts on class-action lawsuits and death penalty appeals, as they do virtually every year.

Before the term is out next June, they likely will consider the Affordable Care Act's so-called "contraceptive mandate" for the second time in three years and update what they meant a generation ago in ruling that states could not place an "undue burden" on women seeking abortions.

"It's kind of a term of sequels," says John Elwood, an appellate lawyer who argues frequently before the court. "There are many cases or questions presented from past terms ... that weren't decided the first time, and they're back now to be answered, hopefully, this upcoming term."

Other issues that could reach the court this term or next include President Obama's effort to shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation, challenges to voter-identification laws and other restrictions, and efforts by merchants such as bakers and florists to turn down same-sex weddings.

So far, the cases granted for oral argument this fall point the court led by Chief Justice John Roberts back in a conservative direction after a year heralded by liberals — for the landmark gay marriage and Obamacare rulings as well as others on housing and employment discrimination, judicial fundraising, and the way legislative and congressional districts are drawn.