I eventually did receive the reprint of The Minors of Virginia, published in 1926, by John B. Minor. Of course, that is not the John B. Minor, who died thirty years prior.
But, he is in there, along with Virginia Minor, William Lewis Herndon, Matthew Fontaine Maury, John Minor Maury, William Andrew Quarles, James Minor Quarles, Charles Minor Blackford, and William Minor Lile.
And, Charles Landon Carter Minor, the head man of what became the University of Maryland, and then what became Virginia Tech, where he got in a fistfight with James H. Lane.
I liked the reference to Judge Quarles of Tennessee, whose report to the tax assessor included ten children and one skillet.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Thursday, March 27, 2008
On broadband in Rose Hill and elsewhere
This article about the coming of broadband to Rose Hill in Lee County features my sister, Joan.
The article says in part:
"The nuts and bolts of how broadband came to Rose Hill is a story of leveraging local funds—cash from the state Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission charged with developing Virginia’s tobacco country—to draw in federal grant monies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural Internet program. The Rose Hill model is being replicated down the road a piece in Ewing (population 436), and the even smaller coal-mining community of St. Charles (population 159)."
The article says in part:
"The nuts and bolts of how broadband came to Rose Hill is a story of leveraging local funds—cash from the state Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission charged with developing Virginia’s tobacco country—to draw in federal grant monies from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural Internet program. The Rose Hill model is being replicated down the road a piece in Ewing (population 436), and the even smaller coal-mining community of St. Charles (population 159)."
Another book
I've been reading Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren, by Ed Cray.
The funniest thing in there, I thought, was the statement attributed to Justice Brennan upon his selection to the Supreme Court, likening himself to a mule at the Kentucky Derby: "I don't expect to distinguish myself, but I will benefit by the association."
The funniest thing in there, I thought, was the statement attributed to Justice Brennan upon his selection to the Supreme Court, likening himself to a mule at the Kentucky Derby: "I don't expect to distinguish myself, but I will benefit by the association."
Monday, March 24, 2008
More on pleading fraud with particularity
Last year I wrote this post.
So, what good is it?
Look at this opinion and then this opinion. To my own way of thinking, that's how you want to use Rule 9 of the Federal Rules, which rule Middleditch and Sinclair says matches what Virginia law requires. Who knows what will come of that particular case, but it is much different from what I thought at the beginning.
Then again, sometimes I make these same arguments, and a judge somewhere says, nicely done, now go ahead and file your answer and let's get on with it.
So, what good is it?
Look at this opinion and then this opinion. To my own way of thinking, that's how you want to use Rule 9 of the Federal Rules, which rule Middleditch and Sinclair says matches what Virginia law requires. Who knows what will come of that particular case, but it is much different from what I thought at the beginning.
Then again, sometimes I make these same arguments, and a judge somewhere says, nicely done, now go ahead and file your answer and let's get on with it.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Chief Judge Jones on the U.S. Attorney's blanket approach to crack resentencings
This VLW post notes this footnote in U.S. v. Herndon:
"This district is reported to have the fourth largest number of defendants who qualify for a reduction in sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s policy on retroactivity of the amended crack cocaine guidelines. Unfortunately, it appears that the United States Attorney for this district is objecting to reduction in every case, even those which provide for a reduction in sentence of only a few months. While the Department of Justice opposed the retroactivity of the amended guidelines, once the Sentencing Commission unanimously decided on retroactivity—a decision which Congress has not overruled—a per se objection to reduction does not serve the public interest. For example, the court is required to consider the public safety in determining whether to reduce a particular sentence, see U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 1B1.10 cmt. n.1(B)(ii) (Mar. 3, 2008), and the government’s blanket objection in all cases does not assist the court in making that decision, and, in fact, hinders it."
"This district is reported to have the fourth largest number of defendants who qualify for a reduction in sentence under the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s policy on retroactivity of the amended crack cocaine guidelines. Unfortunately, it appears that the United States Attorney for this district is objecting to reduction in every case, even those which provide for a reduction in sentence of only a few months. While the Department of Justice opposed the retroactivity of the amended guidelines, once the Sentencing Commission unanimously decided on retroactivity—a decision which Congress has not overruled—a per se objection to reduction does not serve the public interest. For example, the court is required to consider the public safety in determining whether to reduce a particular sentence, see U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual (“USSG”) § 1B1.10 cmt. n.1(B)(ii) (Mar. 3, 2008), and the government’s blanket objection in all cases does not assist the court in making that decision, and, in fact, hinders it."
Saturday, March 22, 2008
"A horrible embarrassment to the profession"
The Washington Post writes here on the funny thing that might happen because court-appointed lawyers in Virginia are too slack to apply for all that cap-waiver money: it will disappear.
It says in part:
"The General Assembly established the fund so Virginia could shed its label as the country's lowest-paying state for criminal defense lawyers. In the eight months since the fund was established, defense lawyers statewide have claimed about $640,000, or 8 percent, of the money.
The lack of interest is baffling defense advocates, who argued for decades that the money was needed to ensure that poor defendants get the same quality defense as those who can afford a lawyer."
It says in part:
"The General Assembly established the fund so Virginia could shed its label as the country's lowest-paying state for criminal defense lawyers. In the eight months since the fund was established, defense lawyers statewide have claimed about $640,000, or 8 percent, of the money.
The lack of interest is baffling defense advocates, who argued for decades that the money was needed to ensure that poor defendants get the same quality defense as those who can afford a lawyer."
More books
Last weekend, at the in-laws, I read The Hills of Tuscany by Ferenc Mate, an easy and fun book, and, I must confess, a recent offering from Maeve Binchy. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, when you go to the in-laws, you read the books they have.
In the mail this week came The Other Venice: Secrets of the City by Predrag Matvejevic, a sort of mystical work with great photographs, and, inevitably, Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima, Second Edition.
From the library today, Dana got for me Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope and some other book I haven't looked at yet.
In the mail this week came The Other Venice: Secrets of the City by Predrag Matvejevic, a sort of mystical work with great photographs, and, inevitably, Chow Venice: Savoring the Food and Wine of La Serenissima, Second Edition.
From the library today, Dana got for me Jonathan Alter's The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope and some other book I haven't looked at yet.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
On lawyer poets, including Virginia's own
This article is about lawyers who are poets.
Virginia had a notable one in Armistead C. Gordon, who was among other things a president of The VBA. You can download free from Google Books some of his work, including this book and this book.
Virginia had a notable one in Armistead C. Gordon, who was among other things a president of The VBA. You can download free from Google Books some of his work, including this book and this book.
Cousin Mara in Africa, Mark II in soap opera
My cousin Mara, daughter of Dad's sister Lois and step-daughter of Bristol coal lawyer Tim Lowe, has this blog of her experience in Africa, working at a pediatric HIV clinic.
Unrelated to this, MML's son Mark II has landed a role in One Life to Live.
Friday, March 14, 2008
On Florida and Michigan
Watching the events unfold in the campaign, I have had cause to recollect that the Supreme Court has already ruled in Cousins v. Wigoda, 419 U.S. 477 (1975), and Democratic Party of U.S. v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, 450 U.S. 107 (1981), that the Illinois state courts got it wrong "in according primacy to state law over the National Political Party's rules in the determination of the qualifications and eligibility of delegates to the Party's National Convention" with respect to the dispute over the seating of the Illinois delegation to the Democratic National Convention and, with respect to the Wisconsin delegation to the 1980 Democratic National Convention, that Wisconsin could not "compel the National Party to seat a delegation chosen in a way that violates the rules of the Party."
The Cousins v. Wigoda case is another of which some tales are told in John Tucker's book, Trial and Error: The Education of a Courtroom Lawyer, one of my favorites.
So, on the face of things, there is no constitutional impediment to the enforcement by the National Committee of its rules against Michigan or Florida for conducting their primaries too early - which must be why there have been no lawsuits before now. I note that at least in the Illinois case, the impression I get is that the litigants filed the case before tame state court judges to get their injunction, and the federal courts had no role until the cases wert all the way through the state appeals courts.
The Cousins v. Wigoda case is another of which some tales are told in John Tucker's book, Trial and Error: The Education of a Courtroom Lawyer, one of my favorites.
So, on the face of things, there is no constitutional impediment to the enforcement by the National Committee of its rules against Michigan or Florida for conducting their primaries too early - which must be why there have been no lawsuits before now. I note that at least in the Illinois case, the impression I get is that the litigants filed the case before tame state court judges to get their injunction, and the federal courts had no role until the cases wert all the way through the state appeals courts.
Death penalty verdict here in Abingdon
Here from the Roanoke paper, here from the Virginia Tech paper, and here from the Richmond paper, are stories about the Washington County jury's recommendation of the death penalty in the case of William Morva. The case was moved for trial from Montgomery County, and tried by the Montgomery County prosecutors.
I can't remember the last time someone was sentenced to death in a case from here in the 28th Circuit, unless it was the late Lem Tuggle, Governor Kaine's old client, one of the famous escapees from Mecklenburg. Or, Arthur Jenkins.
I can't remember the last time someone was sentenced to death in a case from here in the 28th Circuit, unless it was the late Lem Tuggle, Governor Kaine's old client, one of the famous escapees from Mecklenburg. Or, Arthur Jenkins.
Boo, hiss
The Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia adjourned sine die last night without picking any more new judges for the year. Sine die means "without any future date being designated (as for resumption)." They might come back for a special session in April, or they might not.
That should be barred by the Constitution, the legislature should not be allowed to leave town until all the courts have the full complement of judges every year.
For the special session, the plan is that "no bill or joint resolution other than (i) those relating to transportation; (ii) joint resolutions affecting the rules of procedure or schedule of business of the General Assembly, either of its houses, or any of its committees; (iii) resolutions regarding the election of judges; (iv) commending and memorial joint resolutions; or (v) joint resolutions confirming appointments subject to the confirmation of the General Assembly shall be offered in either house."
People ask me what I hear about the judgeships in Southwest Virginia. The gossip I hear is that in the 29th, General District Court Judge Pat Johnson will be moved up to the Circuit Court if the legislature acts, but Juvenile District Judge Farmer might be reappointed by the circuit court judges for another year if the legislature doesn't act. Or, both.
That should be barred by the Constitution, the legislature should not be allowed to leave town until all the courts have the full complement of judges every year.
For the special session, the plan is that "no bill or joint resolution other than (i) those relating to transportation; (ii) joint resolutions affecting the rules of procedure or schedule of business of the General Assembly, either of its houses, or any of its committees; (iii) resolutions regarding the election of judges; (iv) commending and memorial joint resolutions; or (v) joint resolutions confirming appointments subject to the confirmation of the General Assembly shall be offered in either house."
People ask me what I hear about the judgeships in Southwest Virginia. The gossip I hear is that in the 29th, General District Court Judge Pat Johnson will be moved up to the Circuit Court if the legislature acts, but Juvenile District Judge Farmer might be reappointed by the circuit court judges for another year if the legislature doesn't act. Or, both.
It's . . . Agee
President Bush has nominated Virginia Supreme Court Justice G. Steven Agee for the seat vacated by Michael Luttig on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, following the failed nomination of Richmond lawyer Duncan Getchell. Unlike Getchell, Agee is on the list to which both Senators Webb and Warner agreed, of names for the position.
Justice Agee is from Salem, and he was a Republican legislator in the General Assembly and a lawyer with the Osterhoudt firm before he became a judge. Per Westlaw, Justice Agee argued a few cases before the Fourth Circuit, but his cases included Patterson v. Shumate, which he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court (and not on the side of Mr. Shumate).
Despite the increasing proximity to lame duck status for President Bush and his nominees, the Senate ought to move ahead with Agee's nomination, particularly since it will probably give Senator Webb's buddy, Governor Kaine, a chance to appoint another Democrat to the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Richmond paper has this story, noting that Webb and Warner both gave statements of approval. BLT has this post. Confirm Them has this post, with a few comments, including one that says: "Now nominate Lemons too, George. Cripes almighty. Unreal. Of course, he finally caves to the list when it'll do no good. As I've said many times before, Nixon, Truman & Harding just have to be shaking their heads that they can't play poker with this Administration."
The Roanoke paper has this lame article, which concludes inanely "Widener said he will step down once his successor is confirmed." Such may have been Judge Widener's intention, before his death in 2007.
Agee joins Robert Conrad, Steve Matthews, and Rod Rosenstein, the other three lawyers with pending nominations to the Fourth Circuit.
Justice Agee is from Salem, and he was a Republican legislator in the General Assembly and a lawyer with the Osterhoudt firm before he became a judge. Per Westlaw, Justice Agee argued a few cases before the Fourth Circuit, but his cases included Patterson v. Shumate, which he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court (and not on the side of Mr. Shumate).
Despite the increasing proximity to lame duck status for President Bush and his nominees, the Senate ought to move ahead with Agee's nomination, particularly since it will probably give Senator Webb's buddy, Governor Kaine, a chance to appoint another Democrat to the Virginia Supreme Court.
The Richmond paper has this story, noting that Webb and Warner both gave statements of approval. BLT has this post. Confirm Them has this post, with a few comments, including one that says: "Now nominate Lemons too, George. Cripes almighty. Unreal. Of course, he finally caves to the list when it'll do no good. As I've said many times before, Nixon, Truman & Harding just have to be shaking their heads that they can't play poker with this Administration."
The Roanoke paper has this lame article, which concludes inanely "Widener said he will step down once his successor is confirmed." Such may have been Judge Widener's intention, before his death in 2007.
Agee joins Robert Conrad, Steve Matthews, and Rod Rosenstein, the other three lawyers with pending nominations to the Fourth Circuit.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Wednesday with Judge Turk
I went to Roanoke today for a conference with Judge Turk, he was in good humor and there were no great issues at stake, and so it was a good day.
And, while I was there, I drove by that new museum, for the first time. What a spectacle it is.
And, while I was there, I drove by that new museum, for the first time. What a spectacle it is.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Another book
I've been reading Lightning Man: The Accursed Life of Samuel F. B. Morse, which is full of interesting stuff.
Morse was a flighty, depressed and most often broke artist, deeply affected by religion, patriotism, and anti-European and anti-Catholic sentiment, who had little to do with his children. That's from the first third of the book.
He went to Naples, Italy, and complained about some disgusting cake the natives ate there, with tomatoes and little fishes and black pepper on top, which the author observes may have been the first American account in writing of anchovy pizza.
The idea of the electric telegraph occurred to him while crossing the Atlantic in 1832 with, among others, the American ambassador to France, Virginia's own William C. Rives, the brother of Alexander Rives, who (39 years later) became the judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Morse was a flighty, depressed and most often broke artist, deeply affected by religion, patriotism, and anti-European and anti-Catholic sentiment, who had little to do with his children. That's from the first third of the book.
He went to Naples, Italy, and complained about some disgusting cake the natives ate there, with tomatoes and little fishes and black pepper on top, which the author observes may have been the first American account in writing of anchovy pizza.
The idea of the electric telegraph occurred to him while crossing the Atlantic in 1832 with, among others, the American ambassador to France, Virginia's own William C. Rives, the brother of Alexander Rives, who (39 years later) became the judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Trying to channel the spirit of an old Big Stone Gap lawyer
I've got a case where the dude I need to call is Joshua Fry Bullitt, Jr.
Unfortunately, he died in 1933.
I thought his story was pretty interesting, but as you can see, some others disagreed and tried to whack that article about him.
If you didn't know it, counting Bullitt there are 13 past presidents of The Virginia Bar Association on Wikipedia, including 9 former Virginia Supreme Court justices, 5 former members of the House of Delegates, 4 former members of the Senate of Virginia, 3 former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 2 former members of the Confederate Congress, 1 former U.S. Senator, 1 former U.S. Attorney - and Bullitt.
Unfortunately, he died in 1933.
I thought his story was pretty interesting, but as you can see, some others disagreed and tried to whack that article about him.
If you didn't know it, counting Bullitt there are 13 past presidents of The Virginia Bar Association on Wikipedia, including 9 former Virginia Supreme Court justices, 5 former members of the House of Delegates, 4 former members of the Senate of Virginia, 3 former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 2 former members of the Confederate Congress, 1 former U.S. Senator, 1 former U.S. Attorney - and Bullitt.
The Larry Sabato of Pennsylvania
Up in Lancaster County, where I went to high school and worked one summer in a law firm, there is Franklin & Marshall College, which has its own Center for Politics and Public Affairs, headed by this guy. Instead of being called Larry, he is Terry - Terry Madonna, can that be his name, really?
I'd say he will be busy for the next two months until people get bored of talking about the primary in that particular Commonwealth, set for April 22.
I'd say he will be busy for the next two months until people get bored of talking about the primary in that particular Commonwealth, set for April 22.
More books read in 2008
1. The Colonel: The Life and Legend of Robert R. McCormick, 1880-1955, by Richard Norton Smith.
2. Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt, by David McCullough.
These are both interesting and fun reads, in this election year. McCormick was the oddball publisher of the Chicago Tribune, who never quite overcame his peculiar family life, while Roosevelt was just about as odd and equally affected by his family.
Also, I read from cover to cover (but for the poetry, AND including the sideways cartoons) the latest edition of Waldo's Own Virginia Quarterly Review, some 200 pages or more. Does that count on the 50-book challenge, I wonder?
I also read Victory Square, by Olen Steinhauer, which was a bit of a mistake, since it was the fifth in a series of five, not having read 1, 2, 3, and 4.
2. Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt, by David McCullough.
These are both interesting and fun reads, in this election year. McCormick was the oddball publisher of the Chicago Tribune, who never quite overcame his peculiar family life, while Roosevelt was just about as odd and equally affected by his family.
Also, I read from cover to cover (but for the poetry, AND including the sideways cartoons) the latest edition of Waldo's Own Virginia Quarterly Review, some 200 pages or more. Does that count on the 50-book challenge, I wonder?
I also read Victory Square, by Olen Steinhauer, which was a bit of a mistake, since it was the fifth in a series of five, not having read 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Monday, March 03, 2008
On the need for weaker medicine
I've been mulling over the 53 pages of the Virginia Supreme Court's decision in Jaynes v. Com.
There were two opinions. The majority opinion written by Justice Agee concluded that the spammer's conviction should be affirmed, for reasons including his lack of standing to complain about the potential overbreadth of the criminal statute. The dissent by Senior Justice Lacy concluded not only that the spammer could assert the First Amendment rights of others, but also that the statute was overbroad and unconstitutional as applied to those rights of others.
I think that the dissent makes some good points about standing, and that the majority's commercial/non-commercial distinction seems somewhat poorly-reasoned. Even so, the taboo against representational standing is much stronger across the board in Virginia jurisprudence than in federal court, and the majority's conclusion strikes me as consistent with that approach.
Moreover, the merits of the case strike me as indistinguishable from the Hicks case, where the U.S. Supreme Court held that "the Virginia Supreme Court should not have used the 'strong medicine' of overbreadth to invalidate the entire RRHA trespass policy." The dissent in the spam case would overprescribe the strong medicine once again.
Justice Lacy tries to wrap the flag around her First Amendment argument, pointing out that the Internet needs to be wide open because people use it for the classic kinds of political speech. Yeah, but spam strangles that speech. Half the unsolicited political e-mails I get are trapped by the spam filters, with the Viagra ads and the Nigerian investment offers.
There were two opinions. The majority opinion written by Justice Agee concluded that the spammer's conviction should be affirmed, for reasons including his lack of standing to complain about the potential overbreadth of the criminal statute. The dissent by Senior Justice Lacy concluded not only that the spammer could assert the First Amendment rights of others, but also that the statute was overbroad and unconstitutional as applied to those rights of others.
I think that the dissent makes some good points about standing, and that the majority's commercial/non-commercial distinction seems somewhat poorly-reasoned. Even so, the taboo against representational standing is much stronger across the board in Virginia jurisprudence than in federal court, and the majority's conclusion strikes me as consistent with that approach.
Moreover, the merits of the case strike me as indistinguishable from the Hicks case, where the U.S. Supreme Court held that "the Virginia Supreme Court should not have used the 'strong medicine' of overbreadth to invalidate the entire RRHA trespass policy." The dissent in the spam case would overprescribe the strong medicine once again.
Justice Lacy tries to wrap the flag around her First Amendment argument, pointing out that the Internet needs to be wide open because people use it for the classic kinds of political speech. Yeah, but spam strangles that speech. Half the unsolicited political e-mails I get are trapped by the spam filters, with the Viagra ads and the Nigerian investment offers.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Another LeClairRyan merger
Here it says that LeClairRyan is merging with Wright Robinson Osthimer & Tatum.
Just in case you were wondering if that sort of thing was still going on.
Just in case you were wondering if that sort of thing was still going on.
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