The Third Circuit today held that an arbitrator, instead of a court, should decide whether to consolidate arbitration proceedings. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s v. Westchester Fire Ins. Co., No. 06-1457 (3d Cir. June 13, 2007).
Barry Barnett
Local Long Distance? Eighth Circuit Says Nosir
The Eighth Circuit held today that a local call remains a local call even after it goes through a long distance network. Alma Communications Co. v. Missouri Pub. Serv. Comm’n, No. 06-2401 (8th Cir. June 12, 2007).
Alma Communications and other local telephone companies disputed T-Mobile’s entitlement to "reciprocal compensation" for local calls that
Some Confidence?
Lionel Hutz provided good service to his
shoe customers.
The Senate voted today, 53-38, to end debate on whether the body has "no confidence" in Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The tally fell seven votes short of the 60 necessary to achieve "cloture".
According to Wikipedia, Blawgletter’s source for every fact whose accuracy doesn’t matter:
The
“Indefinite Detention” of “Enemy Combatant” Illegal, Fourth Circuit Holds
A 2-1 panel of the Fourth Circuit held today that President Bush acted unlawfully in ordering military seizure and indefinite detention of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri:
For over two centuries of growth and struggle, peace and war, the Constitution has secured our freedom through the guarantee that, in the United States, no one will be
Supreme Court Roundup
The U.S. Supreme Court issued five decisions this morning:
Watson v. Philip Morris Cos., Inc., No. 05-1284 — ordering remand of "light" cigarette case to state court.
Long Island Care at Home, Ltd. v. Coke, No. 06-593 — holding third-party employer of home care workers exempt from Fair Labor Standards Act.
Colin Powell for Attorney General
Can a former military general serve as attorney general?
Blawgletter can’t find, in our copy of the U.S. Constitution, a requirement that the nation’s attorney general must have a law degree. Indeed, if our memory of legal history serves, law schools didn’t exist back in the late 18th century. So we think it could happen.
Annals of Antitrust Enforcement: Don’t Blame Us
Blawgletter has once in awhile mentioned the (cough) less assertive (cough cough) antitrust enforcement (cough cough cough) that we’ve seen since January 2001 (cough cough cough ack).
The NYT — with its gift for understatement — writes today about the pass that Microsoft has gotten from the current Antitrust Division, a part of Fredo
Federal Circuit Courts’ Websites
Some people, Blawgletter among them, enjoy looking for new federal court of appeals opinions directly on the courts’ websites. Now you can do it too!
Just click below on the link (or links) you want and add it (or them) to your Favorites for quick, easy, obsessive checking:
First Circuit: http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/
Second Circuit: http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/
Third
And So It Goes: Texas Supreme Court Roundup
Defendants won four out of five cases that the Texas Supreme Court decided yesterday:
Defense Wins
Borg-Warner Corp. v. Flores, No. 05-0189 — tossing jury verdict for asbestosis victim on ground that he failed to prove causal connection between inhaling asbestos at work and disease.
Quigley v. Bennett, No. 05-0870 — reversing
Tribal Talk
Blawgletter admires the persuasive force of WSJ editorials. Just today, the Journal printed hard-hitting lamentations on private enforcement of federal securities and patent laws. The basic problem, as the editors portray it? That enforcement hurts the people it aims to protect.
If true, the point would indeed justify reform. But the editorials don’t use facts