Pleading paper is dumb. Pass it on.

Appellate practitioners have long known that pleading paper is dumb. Now perhaps more trial courts will get the message in light of Judge Chhabria's standing order declaring a preference for plain paper. See Judge: Enough With the Numbered Pleading Paper, Already?! 'This is the 21st Century'

Law360 reports that on Friday, SCOTUS "issued an order handing over Justice Elena Kagan’s Seventh Circuit assignment, which she had held since 2010, to newly confirmed Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The change pared down Justice Kagan’s circuit court assignments from two to one — she was in charge of the Sixth Circuit and Seventh Circuit and is now responsible for the Ninth Circuit, which was previously held by Justice Anthony Kennedy."

In the WSJ: Bryan A. Garner reviews “Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Life” by Jane Sherron De Hart.

Concerned about the proposed rules for capital habeas corpus / Prop 66?
Well, the proposed rules are now posted for comment, with a deadline of Monday, November 19. http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/SP18-21.pdf (courts of appeal) and http://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/SP18-22.pdf (superior courts).

It's typical to see an appellant (especially a pro per) lose an appeal for failing to provide an adequate record. But it's less typical to see a state agency choke like this. But it does happen, as in this unpub'd case here from 4/1, in which the DMV failed to designate the administrative record on appeal and instead "improperly placed only portions of the administrative record in its appendix in violation of the applicable rules of court, while leaving out critical portions of the record." Oops.