D.C. Circuit Review – Reviewed: Bulletin Board Material
To sports fans, the term “bulletin board material” refers to a demeaning statement from the other team that is used to fire everyone up. And that’s a shame. For you see, bulletin boards can do much more than prompt already very competitive individuals to be even more competitive.
In fact, a bulletin board changed my life. When I was a sophomore, I walked across campus one day and saw a flyer posted to outdoor bulletin board telling interested students about the possibility of sub-matriculating into law school. I stopped. I had never heard of such a thing. Afterwards, I went to speak with a course counselor who observed that if I structured my schedule in a certain way, I could graduate early and apply to any law school. And so my entire college plan changed. Thank you anonymous person who posted that fateful flyer on that bulletin board.
My goal is for D.C. Circuit Review — Reviewed to be the bulletin board of the D.C. Circuit. With that goal in mind, here are some things you may have missed.
(1) Judge Janice Rogers Brown — for whom I clerked — is making a rare return trip to Washington, D.C. On February 25, 2020, she will give the Third Annual Jay A. Parker Lecture at the Heritage Foundation.
(2) The D.C. Circuit will not rehear Judge Wilkin’s opinion for the Court in California Communities Against Toxics v. EPA — and Judge Rogers is none too pleased. Presumably a cert petition is next.
(3) The Chief Justice has had an unusual week … with a D.C. Circuit twist.
A quick question. Couldn’t much of the procedural back-and-forth that took the entire first day have been resolved by written motions?
(4) Related: The Supreme Court spent nine days hearing argument for McCulloch v. Maryland! That’s way too long. Thank goodness for written pleadings.
(5) The D.C. Circuit created a circuit split this week in United States v. Sota — a case about extraterritorial application of criminal law.
Given the seriousness of the violence and the acknowledged circuit split, a cert petition may be forthcoming here too.
(6) From last month: The D.C. Circuit is sticking with the Clerkship Hiring Plan for another year. So students, plan ahead. (For what it is worth, I think the Plan is a mistake.*)
(7) The D.C. Circuit today issued a noteworthy decision about standing to bring pre-enforcement challenges to statutes. In Woodhull Freedom Foundation, the Court (per Judge Rogers, joined by Judge Griffith) found standing to challenge the Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act. Judge Katsas concurred in part and in the judgment. Here is an important paragraph:
(8) On the subject of impeachment and the D.C. Circuit, here are links to dueling Rule 28(j) letters.
(9) If you are a BYU Law student, make sure you attend this year’s moot court finals. It’s going to be great.
(10) Go Kansas City Chiefs. (I didn’t say you can’t use bulletin boards for “bulletin board material.” 😉 )
* I feel bad for students who are trying to navigate a clerkship hiring market in which some judges follow the Plan and others don’t, but students can’t easily tell which judges fall in which categories.
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