Appellate Practice

Supreme Court Debates ‘F-Bomb’

Though no one ever actually dropped it, the "F-Bomb" was the main topic of conversation during Supreme Court arguments Tuesday in FCC v. Fox Television Stations. The case is on appeal from a Second Circuit decision that the FCC acted…


Posner Affirms Conviction, Laments Ostrich Myth

On June 25, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the conviction of Conrad Black, one of several former newspaper executives found guilty last year of defrauding their company out of millions of dollars.  In a bad sign for the defendants, the opinion…




Government Matches O’Melveny’s 239-Page Tome

About a month ago I mocked Jeff Skilling’s appellate team, not for the quality of what they said to the court but because it took them 239 pages to say it.  (I enjoyed the fact that the word count made…


Judge Pearson Appeals in Lost-Pants Case

The Legal Times reported today that Judge Roy Pearson, who lost a bench trial in June in his $54 million lost-pants lawsuit against Custom Cleaners, has appealed. Pearson, who shed actual tears during the trial and yet seems to have…


Architect Pursues Rival Beyond the Grave

According to a report on Monday, a Pennsylvania architect challenging the license of a rival architect recently appealed his case to the state’s highest court.  This means Mark Altman is still trying to get Michael Molnar’s license revoked even though…


German Man’s Pole-Sitting Appeal Is Unsuccessful

Reuters News reported today that a German man had ended his ten-day protest of a fraud conviction by coming down out of a treehouse-like box that he had built on top of a 72-foot-tall pole.  As the report put it,…