Chief Justice Roberts on Justice Sandra Day O'Connor

 

Chief Justice John Roberts begins his tribute to Justice O'Connor: "It has been said that the Supreme Court is like a family, a family composed entirely of in-laws." #SCOTUS pic.twitter.com/q4E01hJjdI

— CSPAN (@cspan) December 19, 2023

Mark Meadows' Removal Claim heard in the 11th Circuit (UPDATED with opinion)

Well, I wrote this post about the oral argument, and then the Court decided the case.  That was quick!  Here's the opinion by Chief Judge Pryor, denying Meadows removal claim.  The intro ends this way: "Because federal-officer removal under section 1442(a)(1) does not apply to former federal officers, and even it it did, the events giving rise to this criminal action were not related to Meadows's official duties, we affirm."

Judge Rosenbaum concurs and describes a "nightmare scenario" (not protecting former federal officers from state prosecutions) that "keeps [her] up at night."

Both opinions are worth your read -- two of our best writers on display.  And both were podcast guests, if you want to hear more about their writing styles! :) 

***

The original post about oral argument:

 Politico covered the argument here:

A federal appeals court panel took a skeptical stance Friday toward an effort by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to have a federal court take and potentially dismiss the state charges pending against him for allegedly trying to tamper with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

All three members of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel raised sharp questions about Meadows’ argument that his role as Donald Trump’s chief of staff requires federal courts — rather than the courts in Fulton County, Ga. — to oversee the case in which he, Trump and 17 others were charged in an alleged racketeering conspiracy.

During a 50-minute oral argument session in Atlanta, the appeals judges expressed particular skepticism about Meadows’ effort to claim that his work to help Trump secure a second term even after states had certified his defeat — conduct at the heart of the charges against him in Georgia — were part of his official chief-of-staff duties.

“That just cannot be right,” said Judge Robin Rosenbaum, an appointee of President Barack Obama. She specifically cited “electioneering on behalf of a specific political candidate” and “an alleged effort to unlawfully change the outcome of the election” as examples of what would fall outside a government official’s duties.

 

Peter Park(er?) passes California bar at age...

 ...17.

 Woweee.   

He's now your friendly neighborhood D.A.

More from the ABA:

Park’s father brought up the idea of attending law school when Park was only age 13, the younger Park told the Washington Post. Park’s father had discovered that his son could apply to law school in California without an undergraduate degree if he passed the College Level Examination Program tests.

Park began studying, He passed the CLEP exams while he was still in eighth grade and began applying to law schools.

Park enrolled in the four-year online program at the Northwestern California University School of Law at the same time that he was beginning high school. Park was able to graduate high school in 2021, at the end of 10th grade, by taking the California High School Proficiency Exam. Then he was able to devote full time to his law studies.

After Park passed the bar, his father self-published a book called Fast-Track Attorney: Passing the Bar at Age 17.

Park’s sisters are 16 and 13, and they are enrolled at the Northwestern California University School of Law. Park says the older sister plans to take the bar exam in July, and if she passes, she will surpass his age record.

Park told the San Francisco Chronicle that others could also follow in his footsteps.

City of Miami Loses Again in Ball & Chain Case

By John R. Byrne 

A while back, the blog covered the 60 million dollar verdict entered against City of Miami commissioner Joe Carollo based on his actions related to the Ball & Chain restaurant/bar. But there's also a lawsuit against the City itself for the same conduct. In an order entered Tuesday, the City lost its motion to dismiss. 

Thorough discussion in Judge Altman's opinion on constitutional claims, including Substantive Due Process and Equal Protection. Will be interesting to see if the City continues to fight the case.

City of Miami Order by John Byrne on Scribd

Michael Dreeban joins special counsel in SCOTUS and other moves

 The NY Times has the interesting story here about how the Special Counsel, now led by Michael Dreeban in the Supreme Court, has asked SCOTUS to take Trump's appeal directly and bypass the court of appeals.

In other SCOTUS news, the High Court has turned away the Esformes cert petition, setting up the potential retrial before Judge Scola.

One of the main trial lawyers for DOJ, Allan Medina (son of beloved court reporter Barbara Medina), has left the government and joined Goodwin.

New magistrate judge named

Back in October, the blog broke the news that the judges had voted Randy Katz as our newest magistrate judge.  However, Randy has withdrawn his name from consideration.  My understanding is that the newest nominee is Marty Fulgiera Elfenbein, a current AUSA.  

Marty was an associate at Kirk Caldwell and clerked for Judge Bloom.  

Congratulations!

Potential Lawsuits over FSU Snub

 

By John R. Byrne

If you're a college football fan, you know about the recent travesty of FSU being snubbed by the College Football Selection Committee. Did we really need to see Alabama in another college football playoff? Although there's no fixing it now, there may be a lawsuit coming. Governor DeSantis set aside $1 million in the state's upcoming budget for a lawsuit against the College Football Committee. And Senator Scott has already issued a letter to Boo Corrigan, the Chairman of the Committee, demanding emails, text messages, and the like regarding the selection process. Even a judge in our own district, Judge Singhal, made a lighthearted reference to the snub in a recent order.

Hopefully, the Seminoles can beat Georgia and the AP can name FSU national champ. 

New Podcast episode!

 

pictured: Randall Jackson (left), Tom Barrack, and Michael Schachter (right) FOR THE DEFENSE, HOLIDAY BONUS EPISODE: MICHAEL SCHACHTER AND RANDALL JACKSON FOR TOM BARRACK I hope everyone is doing great! For our 40th episode (!!), we have a really great one for you: Michael Schachter and Randall Jackson for Tom Barrack. This was a wild trial in New York, where Barrack was charged with FARA violations (being an unregistered agent of the UAE).  You can guess the result from the picture above, which was taken after the verdict.  I love how you can see the joy on their faces! Schachter and Jackson are real trial lawyers, and we discuss trial strategy from picking a jury to whether and how much to use PowerPoint to calling your client in a white collar case to the use of stories in opening and closing, and so on. I think you'll enjoy it. As always, you can catch this and other episodes on every podcast platform including Apple, Spotify and YouTube,  All other platforms can be accessed on this website.  Don't forget that last season qualified for Florida CLE and was listed at the end of the season finale (the Andrew Gillum episode). Hosted by David Oscar Markus and produced by rakontur   CONTACT: info@rakontur.com, dmarkus@markuslaw.com null