How Appealing

Howard Bashman's blog HowAppealing is the goto place for news updates related to law, courts, and crime (and especially appellate litigation).

He has more links to newspaper articles on the lawsuit against Rumsfeld and one from Washington Post called, "Commute this Sentence: A clemency case not even President Bush can ignore--or can he?" (I've decided that WaPo is a pejorative, aka bad, term and won't use it any more);

And this from Howard:

the brand new installment of my "On Appeal" column is headlined "Have 7th Circuit Judges Gone Off the Deep End?" My essay concludes:

If the 7th Circuit desires that the appellate record better reflect the precise basis for the federal district court's subject matter jurisdiction, those appellate judges should consider cracking the whip on their federal district court colleagues. It is the federal district court judges who, in the first instance, have the ability to ensure that the record is absolutely clear concerning what facts and allegations do or do not give rise to the district court's subject matter jurisdiction.

I continue to enjoy the intellect and writing of Judge Posner and Chief Judge Easterbrook, but sometimes, to use Judge Posner's own words, they do cross the line and become fusspots and nitpickers when the question arises of berating or sanctioning attorneys for minor and inconsequential transgressions.

NB. I too have started thinking that Judge Posner has gone off into the depths. But judges are allowed to do that I suppose.