Senate confirms Lisa Branch to the 11th Circuit

From the Daily Report:

After five months of waiting, Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth “Lisa” Branch will be moving to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

The U.S. Senate confirmed Branch’s appointment Tuesday by a vote of 73-23.
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President Donald Trump nominated Branch to the federal bench in September 2017. When the year closed without a vote, Branch’s nomination was returned to the president at the end of 2017. She was re-nominated in early January. The Senate Judiciary Committee approved her appointment on a bipartisan vote of 19-2 on Jan. 18.

Branch has served as the 77th judge on the Georgia Court of Appeals since Sept. 4, 2012. Previously, she was a partner in the commercial litigation practice group at Smith, Gambrell & Russell in Atlanta, where she began her legal career. Branch served as a senior official in the administration of President George W. Bush as counselor to the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the U. S. Office of Management and Budget and as an associate general counsel at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Branch graduated from Davidson College and received her law degree from Emory University.

Congratulations to Judge Branch.

Magistrate Judge Lauren Louis sworn in

Congrats to our newest Magistrate Judge, Lauren Louis, who was officially sworn in last Friday. Here's the link to the information on the court's brand new website, which looks much nicer and more streamlined.

The blog first reported on Louis back in November.

Congrats to Judge Louis!  She is a super nice person and will be a great magistrate. 

Fane Lozman back to the Supreme Court — again

Most lawyers dream of getting a shot to argue in front of the Supreme Court.  Non-lawyer Fane Lozman has convinced the Supreme Court to hear him twice.  The second one has oral argument tomorrow.  From the Washington Post:

The many descriptions bestowed on Fane Lozman over the years include political gadfly, relentless opponent of public corruption, and bored rich guy always spoiling for a fight.

If every town has a you-can’t-shut-me-up activist who second-guesses council members and dominates the public comments portions of meetings, few have elevated the art like Lozman. He has offered a $50,000 reward for dirt on local politicians and taunted them at a ribbon-cutting with an airplane flying overhead. “Adios,” said the banner that called the council corrupt.

So remarkable are his battles with the political leaders of this town of 35,000 people that they have drawn the attention of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Not once, but twice.

The latest rendition of Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach has grown from a ham-handed attempt to cut him off at a city council meeting into a major free-speech showdown that will have nationwide implications for citizens arrested — as Lozman was — by government officials they criticize. The court will hear arguments in the case Tuesday.
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The first time Lozman and the city met at the Supreme Court, the justices reviewed Lozman’s claim that Riviera Beach had improperly used federal admiralty law to seize (and later destroy) his two-story, plywood-and-French-doors houseboat, moored at the city marina. The court ruled 7-to-2 against the city, saying Lozman’s houseboat was more house than boat.

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At issue is Lozman’s arrest at a city council meeting in November 2006.

Fane Lozman’s home floating in the waters near North Bay Village, Fla., in 2014. (J Pat Carter/Associated Press)
During the public comments portion of the meeting, Lozman began to use his three minutes to talk about his favorite subject: corruption in Palm Beach County, where Riviera Beach is located.

Wade, who was presiding at the meeting, immediately stopped him. If he continued to rant about a county official at the meeting of the city council, she warned, he would be arrested.
He refused, adding: “I have a right to make my public comment.”

“Carry him out,” Wade told a police officer. Lozman was led away in handcuffs and spent hours in jail. The episode can be seen on YouTube.

More than 11 years later, there have been dropped charges and court hearings, a 19-day federal trial in which Lozman served as his own attorney and a return trip to the appeals court in Atlanta that ruled against him in the houseboat case.

This time at the Supreme Court, Lozman is supported by First Amendment organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of media organizations who say Lozman’s fight is especially important at a time when protests of government policies are on the rise and government officials are geared up to shut them down.

The city of Riviera Beach, meanwhile, is backed by the Trump administration, the District of Columbia and 10 states who say that showing there was probable cause for an arrest — as a jury found in Lozman’s case — should be the end of a retaliatory arrest claim.

Should judges be armed?

Should judges be armed?

The big debate of the day is whether teachers should be armed.  Rumpole discusses it over at his blog today.  Sheriff Israel's answer during the town hall was the best one I've heard: "Teachers should teach" and not be armed.

What about judges?  Former Chief Judge Norman Roettger (1930-2003) used to carry on the bench even though guns were not permitted in the federal courthouses.  He also allowed his court reporter to carry.  Judge Roettger was quite a character.  He had a huge handle-bar mustache.  He was a maverick. 

One of my first hearings was in front of Judge Roettger.  I was a federal public defender and it was a change of plea.  And the government had just started trying to get appellate waivers in agreements.  I couldn't get this new prosecutor to take it out and I was very frustrated.  My supervisor at the time told me to leave the waiver in the agreement and watch what happened when Roettger saw it.  Roettger BLASTED the prosecutor.  He asked him whether he worked for the Department of Justice or the Department of INJustice.  Why would they want the defendant to waive appeal.  What if the judge made a mistake.  Roettger took out a big sharpie and crossed it out in a very dramatic fashion and told the prosecutor to come sign the cross out.  It was quite a show.

Who has some good Judge Roettger stories? 

Is Customs asking people for their papers in the courthouse?

Is Customs asking people for their papers in the courthouse?

I have heard it from reliable sources that agents from Customs and Border Protection have been seen in the Wilkie Ferguson Courthouse asking people for identification.  Has anyone else seen this?

Are people going to federal court now to worry that they are going to be confronted by federal agents?

Don’t our federal agents have better things to be doing?