Each week, the Appellate Advocacy Blog Weekly Roundup presents a few tidbits of news and Twitter posts from the past week concerning appellate advocacy. As always, if you see something during the week that you think we should be sure to include, feel free to send a quick note to either (1) Dan Real at DReal@Creighton.edu or on Twitter @Daniel_L_Real or (2) Catharine Du Bois at DuBoisLegalWriting@gmail.com or on Twitter @CLDLegalWriting.
SCOTUS Opinions and News:
- On Tuesday, the Court declined to accept an appeal from Indiana’s Martinsville metropolitan school district seeking to have the Court rule that school districts could limit access to bathrooms by transgender students. The case was brought in 2023 and the trial court and the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals eventually ruled in favor of the transgender boy plaintiff, granting his request to be allowed to use the boys’ bathrooms in the school. The Court declined to take the case without further explanation.
- Guardian article: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/jan/16/us-supreme-court-case-bathroom-transgender-students-indiana
- Courthouse News article: https://www.courthousenews.com/supreme-court-wont-hear-fight-over-transgender-bathrooms/
- Reuters Article: https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-snubs-fight-over-transgender-student-bathroom-access-2024-01-16/
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On Wednesday, the Court heard oral argument in combined cases involving the extent to which courts should give deference to federal administrative agencies in interpreting the law those agencies administer, implicating the future of the longstanding Chevron deference doctrine.
- SCOTUSblog preview of arguments: https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-to-hear-major-case-on-power-of-federal-agencies/
- Bloomberg preview article: https://www.bloomberglaw.com/bloomberglawnews/us-law-week/X2CM43GS000000?bna_news_filter=us-law-week#jcite
- Law.com review of arguments: https://link.law.com/public/34035705
- SCOTUSblog analysis of arguments: https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/01/supreme-court-likely-to-discard-chevron/
Federal Appellate Court Opinions and News:
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U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. Circuit issued an order denying rehearing en banc of a prior order denying Donald Trump’s attempt to restrict Special Counsel Jack Smith’s access to Twitter archives of Trump’s Twitter feed.
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Fox News Article: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-appeals-court-rejects-trump-petition-special-counsel-jack-smith-access-twitter-feed
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D.C. Circuit Court Order: https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/B8BAD4AB171DABF285258AA6005D0173/$file/23-5044-2035679.pdf
Appellate Practice Tips:
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Fifth Circuit appellate practitioner and frequent #AppellateTwitter poster Raffi Melkonian (https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit) had a thread this week discussing some thoughts for those seeking to have their practice focus on appellate practice: https://twitter.com/RMFifthCircuit/status/1747670455069061280
Appellate Jobs:
- The New Mexico Supreme Court is hiring a full-time law clerk. You can find the job announcement on the court’s website: https://www.nmcourts.gov/careers/ (HT Emil Kiehne on Twitter – https://twitter.com/EmilKiehne)