Hiatus

BBL Readers,

As you can tell, we've been noticeably absent for the past couple of months. There is a reason for this: we all work now in a legal world that is demanding and that requires strict confidentiality. We will keep the BBL archives up as a resource for our readers. And, please e-mail us at tips@blackbooklegal.com if you are interested in taking the reigns of this once active law student blog.


Thanks to all.

11th Cir. finds healthcare mandate unconstitutional

From Politico:

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled that the health care reform law’s requirement that nearly all Americans buy insurance is unconstitutional, a striking blow to the legislation that increases the odds the Supreme Court will choose to review the law.

The panel partially upheld a ruling issued in January by Judge Roger Vinson, who struck down the entire health reform law. However, the 11th Circuit said that the rest of the legislation can stand even if the mandate is unconstitutional.

The panel also said that the law’s expansion of Medicaid is constitutional, ruling against the states.

Read more here.

Debt bill passes the House

Last major roadblock cleared. From Politico:

With the government running on fumes, Congress and the White House moved quickly Monday toward expanding Treasury’s borrowing authority and putting in motion an ambitious plan promising between $2.1 trillion to $2.4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years.The hastily-written 74-page bill—never reviewed by a legislative committee and rushed to the floor— cleared the House on a 269-161 vote late Monday. The Senate is poised to act Tuesday—the very day of the threatened default. But passage seems all but certain given the margin in the House and unified support of Senate leaders of both parties.

Read more here.

---

UPDATE: Senate passes, Pres. Obama signs debt ceiling bill to avoid default.

No debt vote yet

Even though party leaders have arrived at a "deal," voting has not yet occurred in the House or Senate on the measure. While the House is scheduled to vote tonight on the bill (after markets close, lest we forget the TARP fiasco) there are signs that members on both sides are not playing ball:

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, "You'll have to ask the speaker. He has the majority." Democrats met for over two hours on the debt ceiling compromise Monday afternoon in the Capitol. Vice President Joe Biden offered a personal appeal to lawmakers to support it—Democratic support is expected to be crucial to getting it over the goal line.

Minority Leader Pelosi's comment, made at 2:35 p.m., likely indicates strong push-back from the House Progressive Caucus. Let's hope this gets done soon so we can all move on happily--at least until after 2012 when this nonsense likely comes up again. For a play-by-play on the debt ceiling negotiations, see the National Journal.

Senate cancels debt bill vote, progress ensues

This might be the first glimmer of real hope we've seen for weeks. From The New York Times:

After a tense day of Congressional floor fights and angry exchanges, Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, called off a planned showdown vote set for after midnight, but said he would convene the Senate at noon on Sunday for a vote an hour later. He said he wanted to give the new negotiations a chance to produce a plan to raise the federal debt limit in exchange for spending cuts and the creation of a new Congressional committee that would try to assemble a long-range deficit-cutting proposal.

“There are many elements to be finalized and there is still a distance to go before an arrangement can be completed,” said Mr. Reid, who just a few hours earlier had played down talk of any agreement. “But I believe we should give everyone as much room as possible to do their work.”

Mr. Reid’s announcement set off an almost audible sigh of relief on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers and their aides had been bracing for an overnight clash over the debt following a day that had seen a heated House vote and lawmakers trudging from office to office in search of an answer to the impasse.

The first indication off a softening of the hard lines that have marked weeks of partisan wrangling over the debt limit came in the afternoon when the two leading Congressional Republicans announced that they had reopened fiscal talks with the White House and expected their last-ditch drive to produce a compromise.

Following the House’s sharp rejection of a proposal by Mr. Reid to raise the debt limit and cut spending, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader and a linchpin in efforts to reach a deal, said he and Speaker John A. Boehner were “now fully engaged” in efforts with the White House to find a resolution that would tie an increase in the debt limit to spending cuts and other conditions.

“I’m confident and optimistic that we’re going to get an agreement in the very near future and resolve this crisis in the best interests of the American people,” said Mr. McConnell, who noted he was personally talking to both Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a favorite partner in past negotiations.

Despite today's theatrics, a final debt deal is (apparently) in the works. ABC News has learned the details of a "tentative deal" reached by Republicans and the White House. It would be structured as follows: (1) $2.8 trillion in a debt ceiling increase (through 2012); (2) immediate cuts of $1 trillion; (3) vote on the Balanced Budget Amendment; (4) a committee to recommend (roughly) $1.8 trillion in further cuts to match (dollar for dollar) the debt increase; and (5) a trigger mechanism to enact "across-the-board cuts," including cuts to Defense and Medicare. Let's be cautiously optimistic.

"Six" Nominated to the 10th Circuit

President Obama nominates Former Kansas Attorney General Steve Six to a seat on the 10th Circuit vacated by new Pepperdine Law Dean, Deanell Tacha.

"No Jokes, Judge"

From the ABA Journal:

A lawyer for West Publishing didn’t see the humor when a federal judge hearing a motion to set aside a nearly $5.2 million defamation verdict tried to lighten the proceedings.

New York lawyer James Rittinger is asking the judge to overturn or reduce the award to two law professors who said they were defamed when West identified them as the authors of a pocket part that was written by a first-year lawyer. The Legal Intelligencer covered the arguments.

The senior federal judge, John Fullam, “is known for an especially dry wit and a deadpan delivery,” the Intelligencer says.

When Rittinger said the professors didn’t have “a single case” to back up one of their arguments, Fullam asked, “What about married cases?” When Rittinger objected to the size of a punitive award, Fullam asked, “You think it should be increased?"

Rittinger explained that he got the joke when the judge tried to explain the first question, according to the Intelligencer account. The lawyer gave a straightforward answer to the second question, saying, no, the award should not be increased. Later, he told the judge what he thought of his humor.

"Judge, you know, I guess it's funny, but it's not funny to me. It was a shock, and it should not have happened. So it is not a joking matter to the West Corporation," Rittinger said.

The plaintiffs in the suit are University of Pennsylvania law professor David Rudovsky and Widener law professor Leonard Sosnov.

Check out the article.

Justice Thomas -- Law Prof.

Justice Thomas drops in to teach Contracts for Dean Maggs at GW Law.

Sen. Rockefeller Urges NFL to Open Books

From Sports Illustrated:

The chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee is urging NFL owners to open their financial books to the players union, arguing that will help resolve a labor dispute that is threatening next season's games.

"Reluctantly, I have come to the conclusion that the only way to sort out this stalemate is for the owners and the league to answer the biggest sticking point: money," Sen. Jay Rockefeller wrote in a Washington Post opinion column on Friday. "What I'd like to see from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the owners is a simple display of good faith: Show the union your books. Don't keep secrets. If there are financial pressures that keep you from agreeing to the revenue-sharing plan proposed by the players, let's see the proof."

Rockefeller, D-W.Va., suggested that a neutral third party review the financial data, remove anything sensitive and prepare an assessment of the league's finances.

The NFL declined to comment on Rockefeller's suggestion, citing a request by federal mediator George Cohen that the two sides not discuss negotiations while they're in mediation. Those negotiations are scheduled to resume next week.

Fans can only hope that this helps put an end to the seemingly endless fight over billions of dollars. I can't help but think that most blue collar union employees would want "revenue sharing plans" with their respective employers similar to the one that the players union is so desperately fighting for. Of course, when the median NFL salary is almost 800k per year, it's not hard to understand the fans' growing impatience with the inability of the parties to reach some type of deal before the CBA deadline in a few weeks.

D.O.M.A = Unconstitutional

-- President Obama.

Kung Fu Panda Lawsuit

Boston illustrator sues DreamWorks for stealing his idea.

Cal. Supreme Court to Answer Certified Question on Prop 8

From Law.com:

The California Supreme Court today said it would answer the standing question in the Proposition 8 same-sex marriage appeal at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

The justices unanimously agreed to say whether California law allows for ballot initiative proponents to defend the constitutionality of a measure when state officeholders refuse to do so.

The three-judge Ninth Circuit panel — Stephen Reinhardt, Michael Daly Hawkins and N. Randy Smith — sent the certified question to the Supreme Court in January after Reinhardt raised the idea during oral arguments Dec. 6.

The justices agreed to expedite the matter. In a short order, the Supreme Court set a briefing schedule that will allow for oral arguments "as early as" September. The first briefs are due March 14. Responses are due April 4.

Link.

Harvard and Milbank

The push for higher-quality.

Judge Tacha is New Dean at Pepperdine

. . . and the 10th Circuit now has two vacancies.

Congress Grills Zuckerberg

. . . on privacy.

Arenas Gets Served

From Yahoo Sports:

Orlando guard Gilbert Arenas was served with child support and custody papers as he left the court during halftime of the Magic’s loss to Miami on Thursday night. The court documents, obtained by The Associated Press, were a California petition filed by Laura Mendoza Govan. She identified herself as his ex-girlfriend in the documents.

The petition seeks custody and child support for three children that Govan says Arenas fathered and has since “financially cut off.” She is also seeking support for another unborn child, as well as monthly support for the other children. In the petition, she is seeking $109,000 in monthly support payments from Arenas and $1.3 million annually.

At least he still posted good numbers that night.

The Economics of Book Covers

Want to sell more books?

Blackbook Weekend Links

1. Anaheim Ducks hit with anti-semitism lawsuit.

2. Donald Verrilli tapped as new Solictor General.

3. Where's all that BCS money going? Only to a very select few places.

4. Taco Bell products contain only 35% beef? "No," company officials say, it's more like 88%. I don't know whether to feel better or worse about all those late night meals during college.

5. "Glass-gate" -- Apple's new headache.

6. Rahm can run.

Law School in America v. Canada, Eh?

From the McGill Tribune:

The situation in Canada is drastically different, and certainly more promising for prospective students. Much of what ails the American market has been preempted in Canada by an entirely distinct system in which there are both fewer schools and less divergence in terms of academic quality.

"The situation's a lot better in Canada because we have far fewer law schools," says Leeann Beggs, director of career services in the Faculty of Law at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. "The likelihood that you're going to get into your profession is very good."

While there are almost 200 American law schools, there are only 20 in Canada, all of which are highly competitive and prestigious. Because they are essentially "all tier one schools," Beggs says, it is very difficult to be admitted, but students can also be assured they will receive a high-quality legal education once they are there. Before passing the bar, law students are expected to article, or work and learn at a law firm in some sort of legal apprenticeship. Furthermore, there seems to be no sort of legal outsourcing being practised in Canada.

"It's pretty tightly controlled who gets access to legal work here," Beggs says.

This is in direct contrast to the hundreds of American law schools, not all of which are accredited—some of which are online—that graduate thousands of new lawyers each year who must then fight for a diminishing number of entry-level jobs. As a result of the Canadian system, recent graduates in this country have a much better chance of gaining the employment they desire. They have already been singled out as the best and the brightest and are competing against a much smaller pool. Some expectations may have to be lowered in terms of starting salaries, says Beggs, but new lawyers should have no problem getting a foot in the door.

Some things are just better in Canada, I guess.

iPads for Teachers (and Students)

Monterey College of Law gives iPads to all faculty and students. And all I got for my 160K was a piece of paper with my name on it.