In The Courthouse Elevator
This guy gets in the elevator with me. We ride in silence for a moment while he looks at the files in my arm. “Man, I’m glad I don’t got no court today,” he says. I say, “Huh. That’s funny,… Continue Reading
Courts
Know The Odds
At a booze-enhanced social gathering a couple weeks ago, I met a woman who had been convicted of some kind of Federal drug offense. She was pleasant enough to talk to but when she found out I was a lawyer,… Continue Reading
The Stay Order
In full, the Ninth Circuit’s order granting the stay of the vacation-of-Prop-8 holding in Perry v. Schwarzenegger reads: Appellants’ motion for a stay of the district court’s order of August 4, 2010 pending appeal is GRANTED. The court sua sponte… Continue Reading
Stayability Of Prohibitive And Affirmative Injunctions
Here’s some dense law for you — a general rule of California law is that a prohibitive injunction is not stayed during the pendency of an appeal. Rubin v. American Sportsmen Television Equity Society, Inc. (1951) 102 Cal.App.2d 288, 290. … Continue Reading
Article III Standing May Determine Status Of Marriage
Judge Walker has ordered that the stay of entry of judgment in Perry v. Schwarzenegger will expire at 5:00 p.m. on August 18. That means at the start of business on August 19, 2010, California will once again be a… Continue Reading
End The Invocations
My city has adopted a policy by which its City Council devotes a few minutes after calling the meeting to order for the delivery of an invocation — an invocation which permits of sectarian invocations, such as “…and this we… Continue Reading
Justice Elena Kagan
Elena Kagan was just confirmed to the Supreme Court by a vote of 63 to 37, mostly along party lines. No one ever seemed to get really enthusiastic about her or really enthusiastic against her. Maybe that’s a good thing… Continue Reading
Hats Off For David Boies And Ted Olson
There are two meaty things to note about the opinion in Perry v. Schwarzenegger. I’ve added a jump page if you want to get in to the two meaty things. The ultra-short version — the opinion sets out findings of… Continue Reading
The Loser Must Acquiesce
The rule of law requires that when a decision is made by the appropriate authorities, everyone go along with it. I was, and remain, a strong proponent of same-sex marriage. I thought, and still think, that Proposition 8 was a… Continue Reading
Whole Lotta Nothing Going On
As a colleague put it to me yesterday, it’s amazing the amount of nothing that is happening in the world. It seems that there is a lot of fruitless effort to do something about the oil spill in the Gulf… Continue Reading