On the federal judiciary

Back in the spring, I did a presentation to a high school class, and while I was there I noticed that someone had misspelled the names of three of the nine Justices of the United States Supreme Court. This was irritating to me, and so I pointed it out to the teacher, who was irritated by my pointing it out. That same day I tried to explain to a Republican blogger and activist about President Bush 43 and how I thought he had done poorly in getting vacancies filled on the Fourth Circuit, and what difference this would make for the next 25 years, and she had no idea what I was talking about. Somebody will be picking more federal judges after 2016, but I guess fewer people pay attention to such things than I would have realized, if civics teachers and party regulars can't figure it out.

The end of the Friday morning opinions

I read today that the Virginia Supreme Court has issued this statement:

"Effective immediately, the Supreme Court of Virginia will no longer hold opinions for release during a session of Court following oral argument. Instead, opinions will be released when deemed ready by the Justices and will typically be issued and posted on the Court's website on a Thursday."

My reaction was that it seemed like an especially civilized practice to have opinions issue predictably on Friday mornings of the argument weeks, but to look at opinions mostly on Thursdays I suppose is no different than looking for Court of Appeals opinions on Tuesdays.