RIP Holly Skolnick

Very very sad news...  Holly Skolnick has passed away.  I really liked Holly -- she was a great person.  Smart, energetic, and fun to be around. She's the second from the left in the picture below (with Ellen Roth, Cheryl Little, and Jane Moscowitz):



 Here's the into from the Herald's obit:

Holly R. Skolnick, a veteran attorney at the Miami-based firm Greenberg Traurig, died on Saturday of melanoma. She was 59.
In an email to firm personnel, co-President Hilarie Bass, said that Skolnick “will be remembered as a close friend to so many of us. A brilliant lawyer, a wonderful friend, and someone who was always committed to finding justice for those who needed her help.
“ Whether as the leader of [the firm’s] pro bono efforts, the chair of the country's most important organization for providing legal assistance to immigrants, or her involvement with Equal Justice Works Fellows, Holly will be remembered for her passion for our legal system and helping all of us to try to fulfill it's promise for everyone.’’
Skolnick held degrees from the University of Wisconsin/Madison, 1976, and Harvard University Law School, 1980.
***
Skolnick is survived by her husband, federal appellate attorney Richard Strafer, daughter Jordan Strafer, and her parents.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/23/3466467/holly-skolnick-prominent-attorney.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/06/23/3466467/holly-skolnick-prominent-attorney.html#storylink=cpy

Celebrate -- pots and pans edition!

Government files two responses to Dore Louis' NSA motion

One is classified and one is public.

 Here's the public one, which was posted by Paula McMahon from the Sun-Sentinel.

She writes:

Federal prosecutors filed two versions of their response in federal court in Fort Lauderdale late Wednesday. The unclassified, publicly filed version was 21 pages long and included several lines that stated "CLASSIFIED INFORMATION REDACTED."
Prosecutors filed a longer, classified version of their response with supporting information under seal with U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenbaum — so even the defense attorneys cannot see it — saying the judge would need additional information to make her ruling.
Prosecutors claimed in court records that the secretive NSA program did not capture "information about where a cellular telephone was geographically located at the time a call was made."
"Thus, the government does not possess the records the defendant seeks," they wrote.
The defense will have an opportunity to respond before the judge issues her ruling, which the prosecution asked should be sealed if it contains any classified information.

If the government does not have the data, then so be it.  But 20 pages seems like a lot of words to say we don't have it.  I found the argument heading on page 17 interesting: "Neither Brady nor Rule 16 permit the defendant to conduct a fishing expedition of highly classified NSA Data." 

Government responds to Dore Louis' motion for NSA records

Last week, the blog broke the story of Dore Louis' motion seeking NSA phone records, and Judge Rosenbaum's order requiring the government to respond.  The story got a lot of attention, which was pretty neat.

The government filed a short motion this morning, asking the Court to appoint a CIPA (Classified Information Security Officer) to watch over the classified information that it will be disclosing to the defense and the Court in its response.  Here's a link to the government's motion, which is unopposed. And here is the most interesting part of it:

As a result of the filing of Brown’s Motion to Compel Production (DE:778) and CIPA Section 5 Notice (DE:779), the government’s response will require the discussion of classified material. Pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act (“CIPA”), 18 U.S.C. App. 3, and Section 2 of the Security Procedures established under Pub. L. 96-456, 94 Stat. 2025 by the Chief Justice of the United States and promulgated pursuant to Section 9 of CIPA the Court shall designate a CISO in any proceeding in a criminal case in which classified information is reasonably expected to be within.
 To assist the Court and court personnel in handling any motions, pleadings and implementing any orders relating to the CIPA proceedings, the government requests that the Court designate Daniel O. Hartenstein as the CISO for this case, to perform the duties and responsibilities prescribed for CISO’s in the Security Procedures promulgated by the Chief Justice.

All of this means that the government's response is likely to be deemed classified, so the public will not get a chance to see it.  What a shame...

Justice Kagan dials Jenny at 867-5309

Gotta love this -- Justice Kagan cited the famous 1982 Tommy Tutone song in American Trucking Association v. City of Los Angeles:

Under th[e] contract, a company may transport cargo at the Port in exchange for complying with various requirements. The two directly at issue here compel the company to (1) affix a placard on each truck with a phone number for reporting environmental or safety concerns (You’ve seen the type: ‘How am I driving? 213–867–5309‘) and (2) submit a plan listing off-street parking locations for each truck when not in service.

Lots of big decisions coming out this week, and SCOTUSBlog has all of the action. Unless there is some big SDFLA news, there will be very little blogging this week...

Meantime, you can listen to the classic 8675309/Jenny right here.