California Appellate Report

If all published Ninth Circuit opinions were this obviously correct , I'd have a lot less to write about.

This is a big step forward for the proposed desalinization plant in Carlsbad . The Court of Appeal's opinion also seems right.  No pro...

A child outsmarts the California Legislature. You can't own a switchblade.  You can own a pocket knife.  The Legislature says that a k...

This one  can be summarized fairly easily: "We granted a stay because we thought the environmentalists might win.  But we heard oral ...

Smart panel.  Smart result .  Not an exceptionally bright defendant, but that's actually her only hope of staying out of prison.  Becaus...

The Ninth Circuit notes that letting the government deliberately violate briefing deadlines and fail to file substantive written oppositions...

I know that this opinion technically only concerns the statute of limitations.  But it looks like there's a nontrivial chance that some ...

Let me get this straight:  The Sentencing Commission says that denying a crime -- for example, telling your  probation officer "No, I d...

Possessing child pornography is worse than committing statutory rape.  At least according to the Court of Appeal . Agree?

Judge Ebel, sitting by designation from the Tenth Circuit, thinks it's okay to call grand jurors to testify to their deliberations in or...

There are some darn smart people on the California Supreme Court (and in their chambers). Take today's opinion, for example .  Check o...

When cities and counties spend tax money on lawyers to fight over allocating a limited pie of taxpayer funds, everyone loses.  By definition...

Allen and Helle Hodjat -- who own "Luxury Auto Sports" in Santa Fe Springs -- lose their appeal .  They should be glad.  Because i...

It's no defense to a statute that imposes a sentence of 15-to-life for raping someone during a kidnapping that when you initially kidnap...

When I read the majority opinion by Judge Randy Smith , I thought it seemed right.  But then I read the dissent by Judge Gilman, sitting by ...

The parties agree to arbitrate.  The arbitrator perceives the relevant law to be that expressed by the Seventh Circuit, and follows this law...

Oooh!  An opinion with plat maps !  Exciting. We call this the "hold out" problem in academia.  "Rent seeking."  You d...

I'm ambivalent about charter schools.  Don't think they're nirvana.  Don't think they're the devil.  I see their upsides...

Call me crazy.  But before I spend ten million dollars or so to buy a building primarily because it has a huge wallscape facing I-10, I'...

Information about how to manufacture methamphetamine is already available over the internet.  And thanks to Justice Johnson, step-by-step in...