#appellate-litigation

#appellate-litigation

The head of the General Services Administration said a proposal to transfer control of courthouse buildings to the judiciary was a bad idea, highlighting ongoing disputes between the executive and judicial branches over federal courthouse governance and administrative authority.

Sometimes, you don't have to make every argument in the alternative. For example, the prosecutors in Littlejohn v. State of Texas had a number of avenues to challenge a competency evaluation request from the defendant's counsel. The defense sought to check the defendant's mental competence after learning that the court clerk observed the defendant masturbating during testimony at the punishment phase of his trial. We've all heard some wanky testimony before, but this takes it to another level.

Ed. Note: A weekly roundup of just a few items from Howard Bashman's How Appealing blog, the Web's first blog devoted to appellate litigation. Check out these stories and more at How Appealing. Handling of Pretti investigation has some prosecutors on verge of quitting; Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis, frustrated by the response to the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti, have suggested they could resign en masse": Perry Stein of The Washington Post has this report.