This week was a quiet one at the D.C. Circuit, at least in terms of “admin law.” Aside from a couple of unanimous NLRB decisions, the court did not address regulatory issues at all. So if labor law is not your thing, feel free to take this week off—though come back next week. But if […]
Here is a pretty good rule of thumb: If you want to understand an appellate judge, don’t spend too much time on majority opinions. To be sure, those opinions are almost always the most important ones—they’re the law, after all.* But the author of a majority opinion must write an opinion that reflects the views […]
I have written more than my share about clerkship hiring and the collapse of the national hiring plan.* Long story short, about three years ago, the D.C. Circuit abandoned the plan because it had become an open secret that judges and applicants around the country were not abiding by it. Following the D.C. Circuit’s decision, […]
Over the weekend, as part of my weekly review of D.C. Circuit decisions, I included a footnote listing many articles written by D.C. Circuit judges. Without question, this list is incomplete, but it is a good place to start for scholars or advocates seeking to get a sense of the Court’s judges and their scholarly […]
Here is a little known fact about Justice Samuel Alito: in 1989, he wrote a chapter for a book entitled The RICO Racket (buy it now on Amazon for $100!). In his chapter—Racketeering Made Simple(r)—Alito described himself as “a federal prosecutor and staunch RICO supporter.” In a colorful way, his chapter runs through the basics […]
Over the weekend I mused about how “the Court does not often ‘call for the views of Texas’ or ‘call for the views of California,’ even though those sophisticated litigants may also have something to say about a petition’s certworthiness.” Since then, a reader has helpfully pointed one fairly recent example of a CVTex: Rhine […]
When it comes to appellate litigation, the color of a brief matters a lot. Judges—busy people—are particular about it because standardization helps. After all, a judge can quickly sort out the appellant’s brief from the appellee’s brief from the appendix from the amicus briefs. The importance of a color code, moreover, is especially important at […]
Dear 2Ls, A couple of months ago I wrote a letter explaining that “if you hope to clerk for a federal judge after graduation,” you should be prepared to apply no later than “after first semester grades are released and law review boards turn over.” True, not all clerkship slots will be filled over the […]
This isn’t a novel insight but it bears repeating: no two judges are the same. They grew up in different families; had different careers; have different interests; and operate with different intuitions. Yet judges in the United States—at least as a rule—wear the same uniform: a plain black robe.* Recently, however, Noah Feldman—one of the […]
At 12:02 last night, one of my (very tired) children made a keen observation: “New Years is a silly holiday.” I sympathize. We don’t celebrate turning the calendar from January to February, nor do we throw a party when February 29th rolls around every Olympiad.* But you know what? The fact that January 1st is […]
Here’s a new Christmas experience: This year, I had to check with the federal government to make sure that “Santa’s” gift for my young son is legal. You see, I bought him a toy helicopter. It turns out that is now called a drone. And it also turns out that the FAA has begun regulating […]
This is a foolish way to start a sentence, especially one published on the internet: “I’m no military historian, but ….” After all, there are lots of actual military historians out there, and they often have strong opinions on the subject. Even so, I’ll chance it. I’m no military historian, but it seems to me […]
A while back I mentioned a new project that Chris Walker and I are working on that applies administrative law principles to the Supreme Court’s new procedural rules for qualified immunity. Those who are interested in the topic should check out Nancy Leong’s (very generous) review in Jotwell, available here. (Quick preview: “The article should stand […]
Everything I am about to say will be old hat for many readers. Even so, I like to provide public service announcements to law students. In that spirit, here is a valuable lesson: law — or at least the practice of law — is about math. In particular, law revolves around expected value, and by […]
Law clerks, of course, vow to keep confidential “any information [they] receive through [their] clerkship that is not part of the public record.” Even so, this announcement should be safe: D.C. Circuit law clerks are terrible at basketball. Each year, the D.C. Circuit clerks play a game of basketball against the Supreme Court clerks. In my […]