California Appellate Report

Sure, I've been listed (as most of us have) on the counsel line in a variety of published appellate opinions. And my academic pieces ar...

Some peremptory challenges that are allegedly race-neutral are, I'm fairly convinced, based upon stereotype and pretext, and shouldn...

We're on the Left Coast. So we don't usually see cases in which (1) Liberty University is a defendant, and (2) Jerry Falwell prov...

Cheating on your DMV test. No upside (if you're caught). But no downside either . At least if you're not criminally prosecuted. A...

Pimp out a boy who's 14? You'll get right around the same number of years in prison. Oh, yeah. One more thing. When you appeal to...

It's been a busy m*****f***ing month. By which I do not mean that it's been busy for me personally, though assuredly it has. No, ...

It's been a slow day today in the Ninth Circuit and California Court of Appeal. So not much about which I can intelligently comment. P...

Let's talk about pirates. They exist . Not just in Disneyland . And they're bad . Okay, I get that. The question then becomes: H...

Sometimes justice is way speedy. Which is, in part, why I loved this one . It's just an order on an emergency motion for a stay pending ...

Justice Cornell writes a concurring opinion in this case to try to be helpful to trial courts in confronting the challenges involved when ...

It's not enough to have a good claim on the merits. You've also got to follow the rules on appeal . So, for example, Justice Perlus...

Mental institutions in Mexico may not constitute deliberate "torture" sufficient to justify withholding of deportation. But, at l...

Two years? I mean, sure, I understand why the government might not want the name of the relevant AUSA mentioned in the published opinion. ...

Now you're just making fun of me . It's a published opinion by Justice Bedsworth . It's got only three and a half pages of text....

They can search your laptop at the border without probable cause. We know that from a couple of years ago. But Judge O'Scannlain adds t...

When you read all the death penalty cases in California, there are some basic, fairly universal themes. Most of the time, guilt is fairly o...

I don't know why this struck me as particularly funny . And it admittedly came out of some slim pickings today (the Ninth Circuit, for ...

Unlike the Ninth Circuit, you typically don't see that many votes ever cast to grant a petition for rehearing in the California Court o...

"When we tell you to jump, the proper response is 'How high?', not 'I'm going to do a double gainer.' Learn it or b...

Taxes are finished. Money has been paid. The national welfare and defense is secure. So now we can move on to more important issues. To w...