Appellate Opinions Released January 31, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court released opinions in the following two cases:

Maciolek v. City of Milwaukee Employes' Retirement System Annuity and Pension Board (procedural requirements for a transfer of assets subject to a marital property agreement)


State v. Shomberg, addressing whether a criminal defendant has the constitutional right to present expert testimony on eyewitness identification, and whether the circuit court misused its discretion in denying the defendant's proffer of evidence that he had offered to take a polygraph examination. The Court ruled the circuit court did not violate Mr. Shomberg's constitutional right to present his defense by not admitting the expert testimony requested, and further held the circuit court did not abuse its discretion in not admitting evidence of the offer to submit to a polygraph examination.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, including the following, which was recommended for publication:

State v. Jenkins, in which the Court agreed with Mr. Jenkins that the circuit court should have allowed him to withdraw his plea, inasmuch as he provided a "fair and just reason to do so," and the State offered no argument that granting the motion would substantially prejudice it.

Midwest BLSA Regional Convention

The National Black Law Students Association holds its Midwest Regional Convention February 1-5 in Madison. The convention theme is "The Tie that Binds: Identifying the Roots of Community Consciousness in the Legal Profession."

This theme reflects the urgent need for the future engineers of American society to integrate the concepts of professional ambition with social/community awareness.

(via WisBar)

Wisconsin Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Case Access

Back up and running, Wisconsin's appellate courts' counterpart to CCAP.

WSCCA provides public access to the status of appeals filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals. Generally, this site includes appeals that were considered "Open" from the end of 1993 forward.

Congratulations, Justice-To-Be Alito!

Confirmed (58-42) this morning, to take the oath of office later today with a public ceremony at the White House tomorrow

Update: Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog reports

At 12:40 p.m.[EST], Samuel A. Alito, Jr., took the oaths of office as the 110th Justice of the Supreme Court, in a private ceremony attended by some members of the Supreme Court.

Cingular Patents Emoticons

Keith Ecker in Inside Counsel

Cingular Wireless may be :) about its pending patent, but the mobile communications company has technologists hopping >:-(.

Congress Takes on Telecom

Sarah Kellogg reports in Washington Lawyer on the impending rewrite of the Telecommunications Act and the players involved.

Cloture

Ed Whelan at Bench Memos

The Senate has rejected the Davos-inspired filibuster and instead voted by 72 to 25 to invoke cloture on the Alito nomination.

The final vote on confirmation will occur Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. [EST]

Update: per the roll call, Senator Kohl voted for cloture, Senator Feingold against.

Update 2: In Alito, G.O.P. Reaps Harvest Planted in '82, David D. Kirkpatrick in The New York Times

In 1982, the year after Mr. Alito first joined the Reagan administration, that movement was little more than the handful of legal scholars who gathered at Yale for the first meeting of the Federalist Society, a newly formed conservative legal group.

Update 3: Hugh Hewitt looks ahead ... way, way ahead.

Not being in D.C. it is hard to say whether the current set of Special Assistants to the AG, Assistant and Associate Counsels to the President, Deputy Assistant AG's and Deputy General Counsels scattered across the government have the same abilities as the young Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito did when they were toiling away in the Reagan-era '80s, but it will part of President Bush's legacy if the nominees of 2025 turned out to have begun their careers in the turbulent legal times of the Bush Adminsitration.

I hope the president and his senior staff are restocking the bench.

Regarding Nightline's Coverage of Justice Scalia CLE Course

Updating the correspondence between the Federalist Society and ABC News:

Federalist Society's January 25 letter to ABC News [pdf]

ABC News January 25 reply

Federalist Society's January 26 response

Could blogs get tangled in web of ethics rules?

Lisa Sink reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that Scott Berg, an alderman in Brookfield, a Milwaukee suburb, has registered his web site under state campaign laws.

That's because state elections law says that anyone who spends more than $25 a year to advocate for the election or defeat of a candidate -- without that candidate's knowledge or control -- must register with the state as an independent committee and disclose the sources of the money spent and how it was expended.

Capitol Update For the Week Of January 26, 2006

Our State Bar reports

Governor, Legislators at Odds Over Guns

Med Mal Override Attempt Fails

Rep. Gregg Underheim will not Run for Re-election

Supreme court tentatively rejects mandatory pro bono reporting

The court favored our State Bar's recommendation to adopt the American Bar Association model rule rather than the proposed SCR 20:6.1 recommended by the Ethics 2000 Commission. The commission's proposed rule would have required mandatory reporting of pro bono publico work, though it would not have required actually performing such work.

The court favored the ABA Model Rule for its inclusive definition of pro bono publico that would give credit to State Bar members for engaging in a wide variety of free legal work and community services. The original Ethics 2000 definition under rule 6.1 was narrow in scope, and the Bar felt that its members would not be appropriately recognized for all of their pro bono efforts if such a definition were adopted.

If blogging counts, I'm set.

Appellate Opinions Released January 30, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders today.

Oral argument week of January 29

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument in the following.

January 30 at Dist. III, 2100 Stewart Avenue, Suite 310, Wausau

2:00 p.m. State v. Andrew L. Reiman 05AP1380-CR, and
State v. Jason M. Hein 05AP1382-CR

January 31 at Dist. I, 633 W. Wisconsin Ave., #1400, Milwaukee

10:30 a.m. Brew City Redevelopment Group v. The Ferchill Group, et al 04AP3238

1:30 p.m. Karl McNeil v. Brandon Hansen and Maryland Casualty Co. 05AP423

Judicial Exposure

Jeffrey Rosen in The New York Times says Supreme Court justices who sign memoir deals risk squandering the impersonal respect on which the judiciary depends.

Political Tidbits January 27

The latest report from The Hamilton Consulting Group.

Civil Justice Bills Advance/Veto Override Votes Scheduled

Senate Passes Economic Development Legislation

Assembly Eminent Domain Bill Approved by Senate with Amendments

Governor Vetoes Concealed Carry Bill/Senate Overrides Veto

Partial Veto Resolution Passes in Assembly 74-25

Other Legislative Action this Week

Senate Committee to Vote on Ethanol Bill

State Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Create State Disaster Relief Fund

Parental Choice Legislation Introduced

Midwife Licensure Bill Passes Joint Finance

State Senate Democratic Committee Names New Chair

Committee Approves Alito Nomination

Davos Diary

David Rothkopf reports for Foreign Policy from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Appellate Opinions Released January 27, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders other than one addressing attorney discipline.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals did not release any opinions today.

Republicans Clear the Way for Alito Vote

Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press reports

Democrats and Republicans alike said the 55-year-old conservative jurist will get more than the 60 votes need to cut off debate on the Senate floor Monday.

(via Drudge Report)

50 Top County Pension Payouts

Milwaukee Magazine's tabulation

These employees got the highest lump sum (backdrop) payment from Milwaukee County. In addition, they receive a monthly pension payment for life, also calculated as an annual payment.

Prochoice Puritans

Katha Pollitt in The Nation

On the New York Times op-ed page, William Saletan argues that prochoicers should concede that "abortion is bad, and the ideal number of abortions is zero," and calls for "an explicit pro-choice war on the abortion rate." ...

The trouble with thinking in terms of zero abortions is that you make abortion so hateful you do the antichoicers' work for them. You accept that the zygote/embryo/fetus has some kind of claim to be born.

(via Open Book)

Appellate Opinions Released January 26, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court released its opinion in Fazio v. Department of Employee Trust Funds today, in which the Court addressed whether an unconstitutional "taking" occurs if the Department does not pay interest or earnings on a death benefit payable from the Wisconsin Retirement Fund that accrue between the participant's date of death and the date the death benefit is paid. The Court found nothing unconstitutional because "the beneficiary does not acquire a property interest in a single cash sum death benefit . . . until the beneficiary applies for a death benefit . . . ."

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, including the following, which were recommended for publication:

State v. Howell, in which the Court rejected Mr. Howell's argument that he should be entitled to withdraw his guilty plea because he did not understand party-to-a-crime liability.

Lake Country Racquet and Athletic Club, Inc. v. Morgan, addressing whether a tax-exemption on property owned by the YMCA violated the Wisconsin Constitution's ban on private legislation, and the equal protection guarantees of the state and federal constitutions. The Court found no constitutional infirmity.

Dempich v. Pekin Insurance Company, holding that the Dempichs were entitled to no underinsured motorist coverage under their State Farm automobile insurance policy due to the unambiguous reducing, anti-stacking and excess clauses of that policy.

City of Janesville v. CC Midwest, Inc., addressing the City's request for a writ of assistance to remove CC Midwest from property it had acquired through the exercise of eminent domain. The Court concluded the City had not made comparable replacement property available to CC Midwest, as required by statute, and so was not entitled to the writ.

Legal Authorities Supporting the Activities of the National Security Agency Described by the President

Issued January 19, 2006 [pdf 42 pp.] by the U.S. Department of Justice

Immature Dissent On Display

Misha Tseytlin at the Georgetown Federalist Society Blog on a speech at Georgetown by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the accompanying student protest. Tseytlin is president of the Georgetown Federalist Society chapter and assisting with the petitioner's case in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

Vogue picks Feingold as 'man of the moment'

Melanie Conklin in the Wisconsin State Journal on the current issue of Vogue

Inside, John Powers pens a lengthy profile titled "Man of the Moment," calling [Sen. Russ] Feingold "the most blogged-about Democrat since Howard Dean."

(via WisOpinion)

Supreme Court accepts five new cases

That's what yesterday's announcement said, but I count six:

Borst v. Allstate Insurance Co. 04AP2004 (objection to opposing parties' chosen arbitrator)

Hanson v. American Family Mutual Ins. Co. 04AP2065 (tortfearor's liability for subsequent unnecessary surgery)

First American Title Ins. Co. v. Dahlmann 04AP2318 (unintentional encroachment as a defect in, or unmarketability of, title)

Gallego, et al v. Wal-Mart Stores, Ins. 04AP2533 (rule-making authority over food misbranding)

Wisconsin Mall Properties LLC v. Younkers, Inc. 05AP323 (effect on the parties’ contractual rights of condemnation action against real property and the sale/leaseback lease)

Adams Outdoor Advertising, Ltd. v. Madison 05AP508 (valuation of outdoor advertising)

The Conformist

Ann Althouse in The New York Times reviews Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino

If this is an "assault on our civil rights," as the subtitle has it, we might expect to hear how the courts can save us, but readers who get their hopes up will be disappointed, even as readers (like me) who dread an overambitious litigation agenda are disarmed. To his credit, Yoshino recognizes that the problems he has described lie mostly in the realm of personal relationships and, more important, the individual's own inhibitions. What could the legal solution to covering be?

Appellate opinions released January 25

Wisconsin Court of Appeals opinions
(none recommended for publication)

'Professional plaintiff' fit to represent class

David Ziemer reports in the Wisconsin Law Journal on the Seventh Circuit's decision in Murray v. GMAC Mortgage Corp. (No. 05-8035). The court held it was error for a district court to refuse class certification of an action under the FCRA because the named class representative is a "professional plaintiff," meaning plaintiff had decided to sue every creditor who may have violated the FCRA, rather than just one.

De Novo February 2005

The latest issue of our State Bar's Appellate Practice Section newsletter includes an account by John B. Rhode of Sommer, Olk, Schroeder & Payant, LLP, of his work on a pro bono amicus brief and subsequent argument before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Also in this issue, Nicholas C. Zales interviews Justice David T. Prosser, Jr.

Do you have any suggestions for writing better briefs?

"I have three. 1. Keep your briefs as short as you can to do justice to the subject. 2. Use every device you can, in terms of organization and headings, to enable the court to follow your arguments. Do not state the issue too broadly or too narrowly. 3. Include all the necessary documents, such as the decisions of the circuit and appellate court, in the Appendix and use its Table of Contents to clearly identify and explain why these documents are crucial to the record."

Pro bono survey shows key role of State Bar members in justice system

Meaning as opposed to lawyers in organizations like the federal Legal Services Corporation, rather than meaning as opposed to lawyers who aren't members of the State Bar.

I wonder if mandatory pro bono would be less controversial if it was an alternative to mandatory bar membership, and vice versa.

Supreme Ethics Problem?

The subhead to this report by Brian Ross of ABC News asks

What Was Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Doing on Day of Supreme Court Swearing-In?

One of our posts from June 28, 2005 links to an announcement that on September 29-30, 2005 Justice Scalia would be teaching at a seminar in Colorado presented by the Federalist Society. Despite that, ABC News labels this item "EXCLUSIVE" and says "ABC News has learned..." apparently meaning it has just learned about this.

Update: Robert B. Bluey at Human Events reports Federalist Society Slams ABC's Scalia Story: Repeat of Rather-Mapes

Update 2: Letter to ABC News President David Westin from Federalist Society President Eugene B. Meyer

Alito's committee victory assured

Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press so reports in today's Chicago Sun-Times.

Senator Herb Kohl has released to the press his letter to the committee chairman stating he intends to vote against Judge Alito.

(via WisPolitics)

Update: Fred Barbash for the Washington Post reports the Committee Approves Alito for High Court.

The vote is 10-8 for Alito along party lines.

Here is a transcript.

(via Hugh Hewitt)

Appellate Opinions Released January 24, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, of which the following were recommended for publication:

Herr v. Lanaghan, in which the Court addressed whether the defendant could offset a civil judgment he fully paid against a restitution order in his related criminal case. The Court held that the circuit court properly exercised its discretion in re-opening the civil judgment to consider the question. It further held that an evidentiary hearing was necessary to determine whether the elements of damage included in the restitution order were also included in the civil judgment.

Sliwinski v. The Board of Fire and Police Commissioners of the City of Milwaukee, in which the Court held that Mr. Sliwinski, a former Milwaukee Police Officer, was denied his due process right to access and confront potentially exculpatory witnesses and material in his termination proceedings.

State v. Davis, in which the Court considered (1) whether the circuit court erroneously joined an armed robbery charge with burglary and receiving stolen property charges for trial; and (2) whether the circuit court misused its discretion in excluding evidence Mr. Davis was mistakenly identified and charged in a burglary similar to the one before the court. The Court of Appeals concluded the circuit court relied on erroneous facts in its decision to join the charges, and so reversed the decision to join. The Court of Appeals also held that evidence of the misidentification should have been admitted as "other acts" evidence.

Ad case wins another look

Criaig Gilbert reports in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the United States Supreme Court's decision yesterday in Wisconsin Right to Life, Inc. v. Federal Election Commission.

The group's lawsuit doesn't challenge the constitutionality of the [McCain-Feingold] law as written but challenges its application to the group's ad campaign. A lower court had ruled that such "as applied" challenges were not permitted under the Supreme Court's 2003 decision.

The high court rejected that reasoning Monday and unanimously sent the case back for the federal district court to consider the merits of the challenge of the group opposed to abortion.

Here is the Supreme Court's opinion.

Update: Reaction and comment at CourtWatch

"The Legacy of the Rehnquist Court"February 23 Milwaukee

The Federalist Society's Federalism & Separation of Powers Practice Group invites you to attend a conference on

"The Legacy of the Rehnquist Court"

The conference will feature a keynote address by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and will include panel discussions on the structural constitution, and the enterprise of judging and judicial interpretation.

Confirmed participants to date include:
Justice Antonin Scalia, U.S. Supreme Court (Keynote Address)
Hon. Paul D. Clement, Solicitor General of the United States
Hon. Stephen M. Colloton, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit (moderator)
Hon. Walter E. Dellinger, of O'Melveny & Myers, and former Solicitor General
Dean Joseph D. Kearney, Marquette University Law School (moderator)
Hon. David G. Leitch, General Counsel, Ford Motor Co., and former Deputy White House Counsel
Professor John O. McGinnis, Northwestern University School of Law
Hon. Theodore B. Olson, of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, and former Solicitor General

Date: Thursday, February 23, 2006
Time: 9:00 AM - 2:00 PM (Lunch will be provided)
Location:The Pfister Hotel, 424 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI

CLE credit

RSVP by Email or telephone 202-822-8138

Appellate Opinions Released January 23, 2006

Today the Wisconsin Supreme Court released dispositional orders in these cases.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals did not release any opinions today.

Oral argument week of January 22

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument in the following.

January 27 District IV
10:00 a.m. State v. Angela Keyes and State v. Matthew
Keyes, 2004AP1105-CR

When Cosmologies Collide

Judith Shulevitz in The New York Times

Could something as trivial as scientists' lack of self-awareness help explain why, nearly 150 years after Darwin, creationism in its various forms has become the most popular critique of science? Well, consider how scientists tend to respond to the attack on evolution. Rather than trying to understand creationism as a culturally meaningful phenomenon -- as, say, a peculiarly American objection to the way elites talk about evolution -- they generally approach it as a set of ludicrous claims easily dismantled by science.

Political Tidbits January 20

The latest report from The Hamilton Consulting Group

State of the State Address
Revenue Estimate Increase
Punitive Damage Legislation Advances/Other Judiciary Committee Action
Malpractice Override Falls Short
Full Senate action on Thursday
Calendars for Tuesday, January 24.
Study: Ethanol Mandate to Increase Utility Costs
State Agencies Draft EIS for Transmission Project
Midwife Licensure Bill (SB 477) Passes Senate Health Committee
Green and Walker React to State of the State
Newcomer Sworn In

WCC Capitol Update January 19

The latest report by the Wisconsin Catholic Conference on its concerns.

WCC Lends Support to Bill to Change Family Planning Waiver
Milwaukee Parental Choice Program Reaches Cap
Governor Doyle's State of the State Message
New Bills of Interest

Administrative Register effective January 15, 2006

The Revisor of Statutes Bureau has issued the first half of No. 601 which includes

Emergency rules now in effect.
Scope statements.
Submittal of rules to legislative council clearinghouse.
Rule-making notices.
Submittal of proposed rules to the legislature.
Rule orders filed with the revisor of statutes bureau.
Public notices.

Appellate Opinions Released January 20, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions or dispositional orders today.

Kaus on Presidential "signing statements"

Presidential "signing statements" may be justified as a sort of retaliation--I wrote some Congressional legislative history once myself once, and my goal was to bury the most tendentious and partisan interpretations deep within unbroken paragraphs of tedious boilerplate, where nobody would find them except our allies in the "public interest" bar.

Board supports legislation prohibiting notaries public from practicing law, the right to habeas corpus, and more

Inside the Bar reports on the December 9th meeting of our State Bar's Board of Governors.

The article clarifies that, while the Board opposes Notaries Public practicing law, it is not so opposed that it wants to deny them habeas corpus.

Sanction against firm reversed

David Ziemer reports in the Wisconsin Law Journal on the Seventh Circuit decision in Hobley v. Burge (No. 05-1367) which held that, in the absence of a subpoena, a law firm could not be sanctioned for not producing documents, even if the firm may have known that they were relevant to litigation involving a client.

Litigation Section Takes on Two Key Bills

Our State Bar reports

Both the Senate and Assembly Judiciary committees have now held hearings on bills related to frivolous lawsuits (AB855/SB 501) and punitive damages (AB 843/SB447). A committee vote is scheduled on both bills in the Senate on Wednesday, January 18, 2006. The Assembly Committee has delayed taking a final vote. This sets the stage for possible votes by the full Legislature within the days following. The Litigation Section Board is actively opposed to both bills.

In Defense of Elitism

H. W. Crocker III in The Prospect, published by the Concerned Alumni of Princeton.

Elitist standards have altered with the tides of history. What was elitism to the ancient Greeks may not be elitism today ... . Indeed the fatty portions of a steak that a Princeton man might save in case he had Yale company are the very parts that were given to Achilles, Ajax, and Agamemnon as the choicest cuts.

(via Todd Zywicki at The Volokh Conspiracy)

Appellate Opinions Released January 19, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions today, none of which were recommended for publication. So read them, understand them, but don't cite to them.

Bill Clinton can re-apply for his lawyer license

The Associated Press reminds us

On [President] Clinton's last full day as president, Jan. 19, 2001, he agreed to a five-year license suspension. The agreement came on the condition that Whitewater prosecutors would not pursue criminal charges against him after he lied under oath about his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

(via Michelle Malkin)

The People's Justice and Count Borkula

James Lileks writes

Let us imagine two fictional nominees whose "life stories" have informed their attitudes towards the Constitution, and see which one you'd prefer.

(via Hugh Hewitt)

Case List where Alito has ruled against the individual in favor of powerful interest

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) so characterizes this Case List [pdf] at his official web site, calling powerful interests: prison officials; Orix Credit Alliance, Inc.; Gettysburg College; the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development; Allegheny Valley Hospital; and a physician.

Appellate Opinions Released January 18, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals released these opinions, including the following, which was recommended for publication:

State v. Jonathan Bell, in which the Court of Appeals considered whether district attorneys violated (a) the civil commitment of sexually violent persons statute (Wis. Stat. sec. 980.02(1)), or (b) Mr. Bell's due process rights. Mr. Bell was convicted of one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child and one count of third-degree sexual assault. The sentence included a prison term. At the parole board's request, Mr. Bell was evaluated to determine whether it would be appropriate to release him on his mandatory release date. An evaluator concluded Mr. Bell remained a sexually violent person. Just over a year later, the evaluator changed her mind, concluding it was no longer substantially likely Mr. Bell would engage in sexually violent behavior. The district attorneys asked for a second opinion. The second evaluator concluded Mr. Bell continued to be substantially likely to engage in sexually violent acts. Based on that opinion, Mr. Bell was commited following a jury trial. Mr. Bell argued the district attorneys' request for a second opinion violated his statutory and constitutional rights. The Court of Appeals found no statutory or constitutional infirmity in the district attorneys' actions.

Argument in Wisconsin Right to Life v. FEC

Ben Shultz summarized at SCOTUSblog in anticipation of today's hearing.

Update: Craig Gilbert in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports on the hearing.

Behind the Deluge of Porn, a Conservative Sea-Change

Jim Sleeper writes in Salmagundi

In fact, though, conservative moralists won't begin to seriously address what is happening in our society until they take on the very market capitalism and consumerist culture they uphold and promote.

(via Catholic and Enjoying It!)

Appellate Opinions Released January 17, 2006

The Wisconsin Supreme Court did not release any opinions or dispositional orders today.

The Court of Appeals released this opinion today, which was not recommended for publication. But we publicize it here anyway.

State of the State address

Governor Doyle's speech is at 7:00 p.m. tonight.

Update: George Lightbourn on the State of the "State of the State"

Update 2: Stacy Forster and Patrick Marley in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report on the speech.

Update 3: Here's the full text [pdf 10 pp.].
(via Wheeler Report)

Point/Counterpoint: Footnotes

The Wisconsin Civil Trial Journal presents a debate on

the merits of in-text citations versus footnotes in briefs.

Easy Reading by Judge Ralph Adam Fine of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals
v.
In Praise of Footnotes by Mary T. Wagner, Assistant District Attorney, Sheboygan County

Here's an alternate citation for the analogy that Judge Eich attributes to Noel Coward in Judge Fine's article.

"It has been said anyone who reads a footnote would answer a knock at the hotel room door on his or her wedding night." Zurich Insurance Company v.Baxter International Inc., 275 Ill.App.3d 30, 35, 655 N.E.2d 1173, 1176, 211 Ill.Dec. 790, 793 (1995).

UnKingly Statutes

Roger Clegg writes at National Review Online on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.

The Federalist Society has posted on its website a white paper by Shawn Nevill and myself that summarizes the results of a nationwide study recently completed by the Society, which surveyed and catalogued the various state statutes that use racial and ethnic classifications. The results were appalling: There are 656 statutes on the books that contain such discriminatory classifications. Not all states have them -- the honor roll of those that do not includes 15 states -- but most do.

We the People

Robert H. Bork in Opinion Journal picks the five Top books on the Constitution, including The Rise of Modern Judicial Review by Christopher Wolfe.

(via Marquette Warrior)

Alito vote won't be easy

Brian Tumulty reports in the Appleton Post-Crescent.

"Roberts was a clearer choice for me," Kohl said in a telephone interview Friday. "I felt I could vote for him without any misgivings."

Feingold said he had concerns prior to the hearings that have not been allayed.

"There were some things that I was hoping to hear I have not heard yet, especially with regard to executive power in times of war, issues of capital punishment and right to privacy," he told reporters in a conference call Thursday.

(via WisPolitics)

Appellate Opinions Released January 16, 2006

Neither the Wisconsin Supreme Court nor the Wisconsin Court of Appeals released any opinions today.

The Metaphysics of Conservatism

Edward Feser at Tech Central Station starts out noting that Richard Weaver wrote about the consequences of Ideas more than of ideas.

It will be useful, then, to have a survey of the kinds of metaphysical assumptions that underlie the thinking of various people classified as "conservative." I will argue that there are, metaphysically speaking, three basic types of conservative -- conservatives of the Weaver sort, of course, and two others.

(via Michael at Southern Appeal)

Oral argument week of January 15

The Wisconsin Court of Appeals has scheduled oral argument in the following.

January 17, District IV
01:30 p.m. Wis. Dept. of Revenue v. Menasha Corp. 2004AP3239

January 18, District I
10:00 a.m. State v. Randy Mcgowan 2004AP3380-CR
01:30 p.m. Union Pacific Co. v. Motive Equipment, Inc., et al. 2004AP2630

Federalist Society Chapter Weblogs

Since our last review of the Federalist Society blogosphere, the Federalist Society at Barry University Law has started a weblog. They use it to post events and news, not commentary. That's not necessarily a bad idea. It might limit the potential audience and won't get you on many blogrolls. But it avoids the time commitment required for regular posting and the bad impression left by stale posts if you can't keep it up. And if you start a weblog that way, you can always try posting commentary later.

The chapter weblog with the most regular posting is Originalisms at Yale University.

Other student chapters had active posting but seemed to have tapered off, perhaps because of exams and holidays:
Georgetown Federalist Society Blog;
Ex parte at Harvard University;
Ex Post at Columbia University; and
MULS Federalistas at Marquette University.

Last time, The Well FED Society at the University of Baltimore should have been classified inactive. The Hastings Federalists in San Francisco looks like its headed that way, a