The latest story in the matter of Judge Peatross and the public defenders in Charlottesville

The Daily Progress has the latest unbelievable segment in the ongoing drama of the public defenders who brought up the circuit court judge for disciplinary charges, who are now filing for him to recuse himself from their cases.

One interesting part of the evidence, the relevance of which I can't quite understand, was this:

The conflict has provided fodder for much Court Square gossip, conspicuous in an e-mail exchange introduced into evidence Thursday between Hingeley and lawyer Blair Carter in which Carter urges Hingeley to take a path of conciliation with Peatross.

“The word on the street is that this latest salvo of yours … is your way of getting in line for [Peatross’] job,” Carter’s e-mail states. “I’ve defended you, both because you don’t seem to be that type of a schemer and also because there is no way a staunch Democrat like you could ever be appointed to serve on the bench [for] Albemarle County.”

In response to Carter’s e-mail, Hingeley writes: “I’ll lay odds not many people will think my latest ‘salvo,’ as you put it, is a winning strategy I would pick to get in line for [Peatross’] job. Truth is, what I’m doing is calculated more to serve my clients’ interests than my own interests. To my way of thinking, that’s just the way it should be.”

Still getting it done at 86

This story from USATODAY.com says that the Rev. Billy Graham is working the crowds this weekend in New York City, notwithstanding his age and ill-health and the fact that already he has "preached to more than 210 million people in 185 countries."

In The Man to See is retold the story of Edward Bennett Williams using the Rev. Graham as a character witness in the John Connally case. When EBW asked Graham to state what he did for a living, Graham replied something like "spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world," to which one of the jurors involuntarily replied, "Amen."

Anatomy of a jury's decision in an E.D. Va. federal death penalty case

Here from the Connection newspapers is a provocative article, with surveys of the jurors from a trial that ended earlier this month in federal court in Alexandria. The jury did not decide the defendants should be executed.

Virginia legislators and the VML react to Kelo

Here is reported the outrage of some Virginia legislators on both sides of the aisle over the Supreme Court's decision in the Kelo case, and comments by a spokesman for the Virginia Municipal League hoping that the General Assembly does not go overboard in legislation to prohibit takings for private use.

Larcenous Virginia lawyer to pay $50 a month on the thousands he stole

The Post reports here on a former Virginia lawyer convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars and sentenced to, among other things, make restitution at the rate of $50 per month.

The Washington Post takes on the Chilhowie laundromat case

Here is the Post's report on the death of the young girl in Smyth County.

On flag-burning

I'm not too impressed with the need for the flag-burning amendment, but almost 20 (no, I mean 30) years later, I'm still a big fan of Rick Monday, who yanked the flag away from some would-be protesters in the outfield at Dodger Stadium in 1976.

We don't need no math education

In this Discriminations post, the Virginia Board of Education president is quoted as saying: "We're trying to make sure every teacher who walks into a classroom knows their content area," and the author points out Jackson's "use of the plural pronoun, their, to refer back to a singular antecedent, teacher."

Apart from the grammar, the story underlying the post was interesting as it said that non-math teachers will not have pass math tests.

I've been missing the best part of the Washington Post

CJRDaily has this account of the miraculous writing skill of the KidsPost authors in the Washington Post, who reduce the news to 100-200 word stories for children to read about current events.

Thoughts on the Kelo case

Having made a quick perusal of Kelo v. New London, it makes me think that the majority are mostly ignorant of what a bunch of job desperados localities have become these days - cities, counties, and towns will sell their souls for the promise of some new jobs. Part of the reason why some people were hoping the Court would find a limit to what localities can do in the Kelo case is because localities are not always constrained by good judgment.

Often, the promises made to them are not kept. Indeed, it was reported here in yesterday's Roanoke paper: "State and city officials contend that health care and consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson has broken a promise and is obligated to refund $1.4 million, or 70 percent, of incentive money received from the Governor's Opportunity Fund - a grant that was tied to job creation."

I'd be bummed if I was Ms. Kelo and the city took my waterfront home for what may be an ill-conceived project that will eventually go bust. Or even, if my family's farm was taken for an industrial park - like this one, which not coincidentally is situated to a great degree on the farm where my mom grew up.

Two in a row from Boing Boing

Check out Serpent handler art from Boing Boing blog. The post begins: "Gary Monroe's charcoal drawings depict religious snake handling practices in Southern Appalachia."

John Behan would indict them for this in his jurisdiction

According to this Boing Boing post, the first two innings of a minor league baseball game are going to be played on Xbox, then the real players will play from the third inning forward.

Anti gay marriage people cite Virginia Supreme Court on their website

According to this AP report in the Bluefield paper, a group supporting the anti gay marriage amendment to the Virginia Constitution has got its own website, va4marriage.org. The front page of the website references the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in the birth certificate case, Davenport v. Little-Bowser, as part of the rationale why the amendment is necessary.

Supposedly, the group includes some Catholics and some Baptists, plus some home schoolers.

No word on whether the Bacon Eaters of America also plan to intervene

In American Canoe Association, Inc. v. Murphy Farms, Inc., the Fourth Circuit in an opinion by Judge Luttig joined by Judges Widener and Niemeyer allowed that the plaintiff conservation groups had standing as plaintiffs in the Clean Water Act case against the defendant pig farmers.

On Judge Ledbetter

The Fredericksburg paper has this article on the retirement of Circuit Court judge William H. Ledbetter, Jr.

Little girl dies in washing machine

The story begins: "Police in this small Smyth County town were trying Monday to determine how a 5-year-old girl died after being trapped in a laundromat washing machine."

My wife read this and said, "it sounds like there's a suit in there."

Professor Young of ASL on mediator styles

Paula Young of the Appalachian School of Law wrote this article, The Who Of Mediation-Part I: A New Look at Mediator Styles, which I discovered by way of this Legal Sanity post.

On vote buying in West Virginia

This wild story about buying votes in West Virginia begins: "According to political lore, just before John F. Kennedy's momentous win in the 1960 West Virginia primary, the Democratic boss of Logan County asked the Kennedy campaign for '35' — meaning $3,500 — to buy votes for the presidential candidate. In an apparent misunderstanding, Kennedy's people delivered $35,000 in cash in two briefcases."

US News' Barone takes on the Virginia primaries

Here he says, of this month's primaries in the Commonwealth:

"In Virginia, which does not have party registration, the only office for which both parties had contests was lieutenant governor. Some 169,000 Virginians voted in the Republican primary and 114,000 in the Democratic primary: Sixty percent of the two-party vote was cast for Republicans in a state that Bush carried by a 54-to-45 percent margin. Republicans cast 59 percent of the votes in the three congressional districts in Northern Virginia, which Kerry carried, and 60 percent of the vote in the other eight districts. Democrats got the lion's share of the vote in the black-majority Third District and the Arlington-Alexandria Eighth District, the two districts John Kerry carried; they also got 59 percent of the votes in the Ninth District in southwestern Virginia. But in five districts, 75 percent or more of the votes were cast for Republicans. And in the suburban Northern Virginia 11th District, which Bush carried by only a 50-to-49 percent margin, 62 percent of the votes were cast for Republicans."

Bar examiners, take note

Via YahooNews - E-Mail Embarrasses 119 Failing Students.

Power Line on the nomination of Judge Boyle

Here and here are Power Line posts with some background on Judge Boyle's long wait to become a judge of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The latter post includes this:

"President Bush tried to end the bad blood. First, he nominated Roger Gregory to the Fourth Circuit. Gregory, an African-American and Democrat, had received a recess appointment late in Clinton's second term. It is virtually unheard of for the recess appointee of a president from one party to receive a regular appointment from a president of the other party. Then, Bush nominated Allyson Duncan, a moderate Republican from North Carolina, whose nomination was supported by Senator Edwards.

None of this olive-branching made any difference to Edwards or his fellow Democrats. Contrary to what their apologists say, the Senate Democrats generally don't oppose nominees based on tit-for-tat. They oppose nominees based on what the liberal special interest groups instruct them to do. Thus, Boyle remains in limbo."

No Chief at the Homestead

Here it says that Chief Justice Rehnquist "has alerted the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that he will not make his regular trip to its judicial conference next week." Perhaps he figures, if he can't sing like he used to, what's the point?

If the regular circuit justice is unavailable for a judicial conference, I think they should send a substitute circuit justice.

One Regent professor's guide to what a conservative judge looks like

How does a conservative judge look? was written by an assistant dean at Regent University's Robertson School of Government.

No joy in the False Claims Act limitations case

In Graham County Soil & Water Conservation District v. U.S. ex rel. Wilson, decided today, the Supreme Court in an opinion by Justice Thomas concluded that the statute of limitations for retaliation claims under the False Claims Act is to be borrowed from state law, and the six-year statute from 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b)(1) does not apply.

As written here and here, this was the case argued in part by Abingdon lawyer Mark Hurt. I'm sure he is bummed but five or ten or fifty years from now, he'll still be able to tell the tale of arguing before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Public defender's office wants recusal of judge against whom it made complaints

The Daily Progress reports here that the public defender's officer that joined in the complaints about Judge Peatross, that were ultimately rejected by the Supreme Court, is now claiming that there would be an appearance of improrpriety for him to sit on cases involving the lawyers who made charges against him.

More on Judge Luttig as a Supreme Court candidate

This law.com article includes, among other things, this interesting statistic regarding Judge Luttig: "In his nearly 14 years on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, 40 of his 42 law clerks have gone on to the high court."

On legal writing, from Nell Strachan

One of the excellent lawyers of the Venable firm whom I've gotten to know a little bit over the past several years is Nell Strachan, who wrote this article on legal writing.

More on Judge Boyle's prospects

This AP story via Law.com says - nobody is saying yet whether the Democrats in the Senate will filibuster to prevent a vote on the nomination of Judge Boyle to the Fourth Circuit.

Massey's Blankenship sues UMWA President and others for $300 M in Virginia

This Brian Peterson post has a link and some details on the $300 million defamation suit filed in Fairfax County by the CEO of Massey Energy against some of his antagonists from West Virginia.

One number that sticks out at me

Fairfax County went to McDonnell with 73.38% to Baril's 26.62%. I guess that transportation plan was not much of a hit up there.

Congressman Boucher as crusader for consumers' fair-use rights

This Wired News article describes Congressman Boucher's efforts to liberalize copyright laws.

How much whiskey, pork rinds, and cigarettes could you get for $30

JB concludes here that Baril and Petersen spent about $30 ahead for the votes they got in the primary.

At that rate, they should have at least carried the Town of Appalachia.

The new Part 3 of the Virginia Rules, implementing the single action

In today's mail came a hard copy of the new changes to the Virginia Rules of Court, implementing the single form of action, abolishing old Parts 2 and 3 of the Rules, and replacing them with the "new" Part 3, starting with the new Rule 3:1 which says - "There shall be one form of civil case, known as a civil action." (Compare FRCP 2 - "There shall be one form of action to be known as 'civil action.'")

These new rules are to take effect January 1, 2006, and do away with our favorite terms such as "motion for judgment," "grounds of defense," "subpoena in chancery," and "cross-bill," the latter of which always made me think of sort of some kind of cockeyed bird, perhaps a drunk pelican.

UPDATES: I am informed that indeed the cross-bill is a real bird, and separately, it appears that this post did nothing for the morale of Brian Patton as he studies Virginia procedure for the upcoming bar exam.

Marine life changing from boy to girl in Virginia's tidal waters

This post has links to reports of boy bass trying to become girl bass and a half-boy, half-girl crab, or something like that, all in and about the waters of the Commonwealth..

Fourth Circuit nominee Judge Boyle clears the Judiciary committee

How Appealing has this post with links, indicating that Fourth Circuit nominee Judge Boyle of North Carolina passed the Senate committee by a party line vote of 10-8.

Still more on Judge Wilkinson

SCOTUSblog has this profile on Judge Wilkinson as a candidate for nomination to the Supreme Court.

Circuit court clerk wins over circuit judge in Wise budget wrangling

I've still not yet figured out what's going on with the budget decision reported here in the Coalfield Progress, something to do with putting the secretaries under the budgetary control of the clerk of court in Wise County.

The economics of outside counsel for local government

Here it is reported of a town in Massachusetts: "For years, the town has had a standing contract with the Worcester firm, which is paid at an hourly rate of $115. Last year, legal costs topped $230,000." That sounds like a lot of work.

I was pleased to learn in the past few days that Karen Mullins' position as County Attorney in Wise has been made a full-time position. Good idea, and congratulations, Karen.

The fugitive

The Republicans in Wise County are still out looking for the one guy in the City of Norton (as shown here) who voted for George Fitch in the Republican primary. (The vote was Kilgore 42, Fitch 1.) At last report, the search was focusing in on the Main Street area, on the west end of town.

It brings to mind a story told to me about how in the old days in Mississippi, there were no Republicans to speak of, but in the general election for president, every four years, the Republican candidate would get one vote. Then, when Eisenhower ran, he got two votes. "Throw that second one out," declared the Democrat election judge, "somehow the S.O.B. has voted twice."

More on Judge Wilkinson as a candidate to be endowed with deistic powers

This column suggests that Judge Wilkinson is a "middle of the road" conservative who might be more easily confirmed than some of the other best-known candidates.

The column begins with a quote from Wilkinson book about clerking for Justice Powell: "A Supreme Court judgeship is perhaps the closest our country has come to clothing mortals with deistic powers."

When do you possess a file that's on your computer

This post from InternetCases.com considers yesterday's decision by the Virginia Court of Appeals in Kromer v. Com., in which the Court upheld the defendant's conviction for possession of child pornography.

On the politics of getting a vasectomy in the Commonwealth

In this irate post, the author describes his encounter with the realities of Va. Code § 54.1-2974, which requires counseling before a man can get himself fixed in Virginia.

The people of Watauga Precinct have spoken

Here are the results for my home precinct in Washington County:

Kilgore 55, Fitch 2
Puckett 55, Byrne 5, Petersen and Baskerville 0
Bolling 32, Connaughton 16
McDonnell 43, Baril 8

Last year, 1,850 Wataugans voted in the presidential election.

For today's primary, about 120 showed up.

The City of Bristol, Virginia, voters have spoken

Here are the returns with 100% of the vote counted here in downtown Bristol:

Registered voters - 10,918

Kilgore 224, Fitch 12
Puckett 261, Petersen 11, Byrne 10, Baskerville 1
Bolling 165, Connaughton 51
McDonnell 134, Baril 78

Combined turnout - less than 5%

Who needs inner peace, any how

It is being reported in the New York Times and elsewhere: "Phil Jackson is returning to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, completing the most unlikely, unexpected and dizzying one-year turnabout in recent memory."

I just read The Last Season: A Team In Search of Its Soul, his account of the last year with the Lakers. It's tough to see how he and Kobe Bryant can reconnect after all that was written in that book.

Poll workers equaled voters at my precinct

At the Watauga Elementary School this morning, there were three other voters, me, and I believe 4 poll workers - during the time that I was there. I couldn't say whether there were others who snuck in before or afterwards.

Is this another commentary on the elections?

HealthLawProf Blog ahs this post which says: "The NIH has set forth a study indicating that more than fifty percent of the American population will develop a mental illness during their lives."

Griffith confirmed, 73-24

This AP story via Yahoo indicates that Thomas Griffith was confirmed to the D.C. Circuit seat that Miguel Estrada did not get, and by a vote of 73-24.

Patti Church nominated for another run for Commonwealth's attorney in Lee County

The Kingsport paper reports here that the Lee County Democrats have again nominated Ms. Church, who lost last time by less than 200 votes.

Ms. Church still likes to tease me about how I tried to manipulate the jury in a case where my grandmother came to watch part of the trial. I was pleased but a little bit frightened when Grandma was there - anything was possible.

They don't call it Cocke County for nothing

Today's big story from south of State Street: Tenn. Police Arrest 144 at Cockfight.

The law professor blogger census

According to this census of law professor bloggers, out of 103 listed, none are from William & Mary, W&L, U.Va., or Appalachian.

On Magistrate Judge Lauck

The Richmond paper has this profile of M. Hannah Lauck, the new magistrate judge in the E.D. Va. at Richmond.

Self-defense as a public policy that supports a wrongful discharge claim in WV

In At will employment: Should there be a public policy exception for gun nuts?, Professor Bainbridge takes on the case of the West Virginia convenience employee who when fired for resisting a robbery claimed the discharge was in violation of the state's public policy in favor of the right to self-defense.

The Kentucky blawger story

Here via Internetcases.com is a collection of links on the matter of Ben Cowgill, the ethics blawger in KY, who is trying to convince the authorities in that Commonwealth that he should not have to pay a $50 advertising fee for every post.

Another reason to put every federal court opinion on the Internet

How Appealing links here to this Washington Times article that says the new Democratic strategy for dealing with nominees they don't like is to keep asking for more information, and thus they keep trying to get the "unpublished" works of Judge Boyle, the N.C. district court judge nominated to the Fourth Circuit.

Now, in the W.D. Va., you can get at all the written opinions in a flash.

Nominee who didn't pay bar dues likely to be confirmed

How Appealing links here to this news story from Utah that says Thomas Griffith is expected to be confirmed to the D.C. Circuit, even though he let his law license lapse a couple of times for not paying dues.

On going to college to study for NASCAR

The CSM has this article on college courses focusing on NASCAR technology topics.

Should Virginia hold statewide elections in presidential election years?

Louisiana is considering moving its governor's election to coincide with the presidential elections, as a cost-cutting move. This article explains: "Louisiana is one of six states that do not hold the governor's race to coincide with the presidential race. The others are Alabama, Maryland, Mississippi, New Jersey and Virginia."

The Commonwealth's unruly barbecue tradition

Mother Earth News reports here: "in the late 1600s, the founding fathers of Virginia felt constrained to pass a law banning the discharge of firearms at barbecues."

On lawyer advertising

Regarding the new Riverside office building in Richmond, the Times-Dispatch reports here: "The Troutman Sanders name will go over the front door -- and become part of the Richmond skyline when the name is added to the building top. And yes, it will be lighted during the holidays."

The story brought to mind the recent discussion by Professor Bainbridge and others of the nature of lawyer advertising (mostly in connection with whether blawgs are lawyer ads). Bainbridge wrote: "self-promotion = advertising."

UPDATE: By the way, I certainly don't agree with the view that all blogs all the time are advertising. To borrow a phrase from Crimlaw, this blog is a hobby, mostly for the amusement of myself and a few friends.

Hokie in the hunt in today's Nationwide Tour event

Brendon de Jonge, a 2003 Virginia Tech graduate, started T4 and is still in the top ten in today's Nationwide Tour event in Glenview, IL. de Jonge had one top ten finish last year as a rookie.

Public confidence in newspapers hits all-time low

E&P reports here that the latest from Gallup shows public confidence in newspapers is at an all-time low.

They've got everything but spell-check

Checking the fancy website (by local standards) for my home county, I see the headline, "County of Washington, Virgina."

This week's Virginia Supreme Court opinions

Here are the summaries from the Court's website and here is Steve Emmert's review.

I may take a look at them myself later on this weekend.

McDonnell went to Bishop Ireton

One thing I never knew before I read this Post profile on Bob McDonnell was that he went to Bishop Ireton and his father still lives in Northern Virginia. (Two of my buds in law school went to Ireton.)

I'm not sure, though, whether that will help him get my wife's family's votes, since she and her sister went to O'Connell.

Brian Patton says Linda Tiller to run against Bud Phillips

Brian Patton says here that Russell County attorney Linda Tiller is said to be the Republican candidate to run against Del. Phillips. I know Ms. Tiller a little bit from a case way back when.

If my memory is correct, some years back, her husband Jerry Tiller ran as an independent in the Commonwealth's Attorney's race in Russell County, which surely didn't help the Republican candidate, who is now a federal magistrate judge. I never did hear what all that was about. Was that ten years ago? I can't remember.

VaElections.com

I've not yet decided what to make of the new website, VaElections.com. Check it out.

Richmond lawyer, cancer patient, blogger

102704 is the blog of Richmond lawyer Jim Guy about his experience with cancer, and is written up here in the Richmond paper.

The first post I read gives some cause for optimism, as it concludes with his answer to those "have asked me how long I'm going to keep the blog going. I'm not sure. I'm looking for a point where I can sign off, saying "and he lived happily ever after." It's hard to say when that will be, but I hope I'll know it when I see it."

Reading other posts, I must confess, selfishly, it occurs to me that Crohn's disease by contrast is a walk in the park. Good luck and good health to you, Jim.

The Washington County teacher who taught about creationism on the side

Findlaw News picked up Creationism Teacher Is Told to Stop, about a science teacher down the road at John Battle, between here and Bristol.

AWOL on Friday

On Friday, I went to this seminar of the Local Government Attorneys of Virginia, which included some excellent presentations by John Rife of the Linebarger Goggan firm (tax collection specialists) and Greg Haley from Gentry Locke.

Then, I went to the investitute of Judge Isaac St. Clair Freeman as the new judge of the 28th Judicial Circuit, which was held at the much-restored Lincoln Theater in Marion.

Then, I stopped by to sample the fare at Miller's Market at the junction of Rte. 80 and U.S. 11 at Exit 24. My friends there have got the stuff, go eat some.

The South's earliest law school?

From the soon-to-open Charleston School of Law website: "In February 1826, The Forensic Club offered lectures in the law to begin what essentially was the South's earliest law school."

From the law school of the College of William & Mary: "The Chair of Law at William & Mary, created in 1779 by the Board of Visitors at the urging of Thomas Jefferson, was the first established in the United States. The first occupant of the Chair was George Wythe, in whose offices studied Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Monroe and Henry Clay. Wythe, a leader in the struggle for independence, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a member of the Federal Constitutional Convention. He became a powerful force in the development of American legal education. During the decade of his professorship, he developed a comprehensive course of law study which emphasized the acquisition of practical skills in such areas as legislative drafting and oral advocacy. "

Who can be criminally liable for violating HIPAA

Here, via the HIPAAblog, is a Justice Department memo about the scope of the criminal enforcement provisions of HIPAA.

HIPAA has entered the legal vocabulary with almost the same ubiquity as terms like "the IRS", and even beyond those such as "CERCLA" and "COBRA."

They probably went wild and broke out the Grape Nehi down at the Southern Appeal

Front and center for Judge Pryor's confirmation have also been Steve and the gang at Southern Appeal, and no doubt they were more than pleased to report here today's cloture vote. With Pryor's situation resolved, the Southern Appealers may have to cut back their blogging to 4 days a week.

Motion to dismiss denied in Waffle House discrimination case

This story about a case in the E.D. Va. begins: "A federal court has refused to dismiss an equal-rights lawsuit claiming the staff of a Virginia Waffle House restaurant discriminated against five minority customers when they were served grits laced with flies."

The new book on Christiansburg

The Roanoke paper has this article on the new book, Christiansburg (Images of America: Virginia), my mom's hometown.

On the Fourth Circuit's partial birth abortion ruling and the elections

AFP has this article in which various pundits opine that, notwithstanding the fears of some Democrats, the recent ruling against the 2003 Virginia law banning partial birth abortion will not energize pro-life voters, because there is no one on the ballot to blame; instead, voters will blame "the justices of the Fourth Circuit" (or something like that).

If so, the issue might be more important if Senator Warner runs for re-election, since unlike state government officials, he has some say in who gets to be on the federal courts of appeals, especially some seats on the Fourth Circuit.

Norfolk paper likes Judge Humphreys for DNA review, tells him how to do it

The Norfolk paper in this editorial comments favorably on the selection of Court of Appeals Judge Humphreys to head a review into the state crime lab's handling of DNA cases and proceeds with a checklist of things for him to do.

Scott County electoral board backs Ms. Kilgore

Here in the Roanoke paper is an article that says the new members of the Scott County electoral board, with a majority by law being Democrats, have endorsed the good works of the country registrar of voters, Ms. Kilgore.

UPDATE: I don't know why I wrote "Republicans" earlier, sorry about that. The makeup of the electoral board is tied to the outcome of the last governor's election. Va. Code § 24.2-106 ("In the appointment of the electoral board, representation shall be given to each of the two political parties having the highest and next highest number of votes in the Commonwealth for Governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election. Two electoral board members shall be of the political party that cast the highest number of votes for Governor at that election.")

Perhaps I was having some kind of flashback to a hard-fought electoral board case from about 10 years ago.

Carrying on about Crawford

In Hodges v. Com., the Court of Appeals in an opinion by Judge Elder, joined by Judges Frank and Humphreys, rejected, among other things, the defendant's constitutional arguments about the use of hearsay evidence to convict him, construing the Supreme Court's recent application of the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment in Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004).

More on the dispute over who is the Floyd County prosecutor when the elected officer is off to Iraq

The Roanoke paper reports here on oral argument before the Virginia Supreme Court in the dispute of who gets to be the prosecutor in Floyd County.

The state association of commonwealth's attorneys has taken the side of the incumbent, while the local bar association wants one of their own picked as the replacement for the incumbent.

No jurisdiction in Court of Appeals to consider propriety of remand order in administrative law case

In Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation v. Lancaster, the Court of Appeals in an opinion by Judge Benton concluded that it had no subject matter jurisdiction of what it concluded was an appeal of a non-final order remanding a disciplinary matter back from the circuit court to the state agency.

225 unreturned calls?

In this story from the Bristol paper, an accused murderer "complained that he made 225 calls to attorney Barry Proctor's office that went unreturned."

I imagine Mr. Proctor, a good guy and good lawyer who has done very well in representing defendants in a high profile murder cases that come to mind, was not entirely displeased when the court let him out of the case.

117 pages from Judge Sargent in the ex-Paramont employees pension case

Without commenting on the merits of the opinion by Magistrate Judge Sargent in Adams v. Brinks, its length gave me occasion to recollect that I once filed a brief that was 105 pages long.

Some time later, I confessed to the judge that even my wife had chided me over the contradiction between a 105 page paper and calling it a "brief." He replied: "well, did she also say what would be perfectly obvious to everyone else, which is that there's no way you expect the judge to read all that, do you?" I had no response. Fortunately, someone must have found the good parts, as the motion was granted.

The Rolling Stones in Charlottesville, now this?

I'm not sure what to make of this statement, from RollingStone magazine online: "Sirius satellite radio will air an exclusive JIMMY BUFFETT concert live from Bristol, Virginia, on June 15th to launch its new Radio Margaritaville channel."

UPDATE: Of course, it was a typo. The concert is at the Nissan Pavilion, in Bristow, Virginia, outside of Manassas.

I saw Buffett in Charlottesville, some time or another, way back when.

I greatly enjoyed the recent WSJ article about Jimmy Buffett and Warren Buffett.

First judgment for Virginia under federal Do Not Call

It says here: "A Newport News, Va., firm has been ordered to pay $196,000 for violating the federal Do Not Call law. Virginia Attorney General Judith Jagdmann said it was the first time Virginia has prosecuted a company under the federal statute."

Federal employment cases by the numbers

Via LawMemo Employment law blog, I see that in How Employment Discrimination Plaintiffs Fare in Federal Court by Kevin Clermont, Stewart Schwab, downloadable via SSRN, the authors conclude regarding federal court employment discrimination plaintiffs that "relatively often, the numerous plaintiffs must pursue their claims all the way through trial, which is usually a jury trial; at both pretrial and trial these plaintiffs lose disproportionately often, in all the various types of employment discrimination cases; and employment discrimination litigants appeal more often than other litigants, with the defendants doing far better on those appeals than the plaintiffs."

Two dash or not two dash

In this free story from VLW are reported plans to reorganize the Virginia Code in 2007, including a move from a "one dash system" (e.g., § 2.2-3119) to a "two dash system" (perhaps, e.g., § 2-31-19). In other words, Virginia is taking a bold leap to, er, be like Tennessee.

Congressman Boucher on DTV

In this article, Congressman Boucher explains that there will be no law requiring the changeover to digital television without the inclusion of a subsidy for poor, rural, analog television owners to get a $50 set-top converter box.

Predicting gridlock for the West Virginia part of Interstate 81

This article reports some expert's forecast that traffic will soon grind to a halt on the stretch of Interstate 81 in West Virginia, which according to this page is a distance of 23 miles.

I knew that high school yearbook editing experience would come in handy some day

Once again, victory in the Commonwealth Conservative Caption Contest.

The answer on medical marijuana and interstate commerce

Regarding the medical marijuana case, in October 2003, I wrote in this post: "How will they distinguish the Agricultural Adjustment Act case from 1942?"

And, from today's decision in Gonzalez v. Raich, we know the answer is, Wickard is controlling, the federal power to regulate interstate commerce trumps whatever rights a state has to legalize medical marijuana.

I heard Marc Bernier's token liberal commentator, Ellen Ratner, wailing and moaning about this decision this morning on the radio. Perhaps she can't figure out which side of the bread has the butter on it; this reaffirmation of federal power is a "victory" for the "liberals," all of whom plus Justice Kennedy joined in the majority opinion in the case. Ellen shrieked, "this [medical marijuana] will never pass Congress!" The only solution for those who agree this is a problem is to vote in a different Congress. I don't see why she expected the Court to help on a question like this one, where the federal power is so entrenched in New Deal-affirming precedent.

Two sets of online polling figures

From SteveBaril.com:

Do you think it is unethical and should be illegal for legislators to represent paying clients before state agencies? (2044 total votes)

Yes,It's unethical and should be illegal - 70.5%

No, It's ethical and should remain legal - 29.5%

From the Augusta Free Press Election 2005:

Who should be the next attorney general in Virginia? (365 votes total)

Steve Baril 12%
Creigh Deeds 33%
Robert McDonnell 54%
Other 1%

Ex-U.Va. football coach in Berlin

During a break in the action at The Memorial, I flipped over to the NFL Europe game, and the coach looks familiar. That's the old U.Va. guy, I thought. What was his name? The answer is Rick Lantz, and evidently he's still going strong over there (even though his team the Thunder lost to Cologne in the game broadcast this afternoon).

By gosh, the course where they played the Memorial just looks fantastic. Add that to the list of golf tournaments I'd like to go see.

They could nail me for this every day of the week

It says here in the Fredericksburg paper:

"I came across a story about a preacher who in 1923 was arrested and convicted in Newport News for singing religious songs too loudly while driving through town in his car. The Virginia Supreme Court upheld the conviction."

Heartwarming tale of federal practice in Eastern KY

From 3L post, I see that I'm not the only one who took note of the comment by Judge Hood of the E.D. Ky. in this Post article that he's proudly packing heat.

Does Judge Hood still come to Pikeville, I wonder.

Save a burger for Jerry

I finally read (and heard) here the actual details of the Cookouts for Kilgore on June 7. (I guess I'm slow.)

The message is that Mr. Kilgore will join the cookout people via a conference call with a special guest.

I hope none of the Kaine people try to listen in on the call.

Only in the Appalachian League

As reported in this Johnson City Press story, a while back, City Council member and then mayor Pete Paduch tried and failed to get into a Johnson City Cardinals game without paying, and later confessed that he did not have the $3 for a ticket. Now, the Cardinals are planning a promotion based on this story:

"Foundation President Jeff Banyas said the JCSF officials figured they might be able to turn all of that negative attention into a plus this year by promoting the Aug. 8 game against the Bluefield Orioles as Mayor’s Night, during which all fans may enter free if they tell ticket booth workers, 'I don’t have $3.'"

Funky headlines for this AG story

Under the headline, "Neophyte Claims Inroads in Va. Race, Lt. Governor Contest Shows GOP Divide," the Washington Post has this story about the race between Steve Baril and Bob McDonnell.

It looks like they took a headline for a Bolling-Connaughton story and put it on a Baril-McDonnell story.

Alien invasion

It says here in the Richmond paper that the National Republican Party is getting ready to send in a bunch of its professionals to help out Virginia Republicans in this fall's elections.

On whether and how judges write their own opinions

Which Judges Write Their Opinions (and Should We Care)? by Stephen Choi, Gaurang Gulati, available for download via SSRN, deals with the interesting topic of whether it is possible to figure out which judges do most of their own writing, and what is the usefulness of knowing who all contributed to the writing of opinions.

The article notes that postings on the Greedy Clerks message board indicate "that Judges Posner, Easterbrook, Garza, and Niemeyer are among those federal circuit judges most likely to author their own opinions."