Appellate consults; appellate ethics

Today's DJ has retired Judge Margaret Morrow and retired Justice Laurie Zelon, at Judicate West, in Zealous Representation is Good, But Get a Second Opinion, urging lawyers to get a "fresh and dispassionate pair of eyes to help evaluate" cases, noting that a "neutral experienced in appellate matters can provide analysis and assistance" in helping to advise clients, in evaluating "the strength and persuasiveness of potential issues" on appeal, and "can help advocates write a more effective brief" and ensure an effective oral argument.

The ABA Journal has Judges' educational trips look more like 'luxury vacations,' Fix the Court says, pointing out:

• Dozens of U.S. federal appeals court judges have attended judicial education seminars that closely resemble “luxury vacations”
• On Monday, court transparency group Fix the Court published a list of 31 appellate judges’ privately funded trips to resorts between August 2020 and August 2023.

Bloomberg Law has Emory Law School Prof. Michael Broyde's article The Supreme Court’s Ethics Problem Has a Pretty Easy Solution, asserting:

US law already has the basic outlines of an ethics code. Federal law states directly that “any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.”

The statute, if applied uniformly and properly, solves nearly all the issues that have recently plagued the high court’s image by making the rules themselves clear.

Chief Justice Names Judicial Council Leadership -- including Justices Corrigan, Hill, and Fujisaki.

Also recently posted: Diving into Water Law: Q&A with California’s “Water Renaissance Man” Justice Ronald Robie

For your appellate-viewing pleasure, on Sept. 22 Showtime/Paramount+ will drop Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court, a four-part series telling the story of the Supreme Court from teh 1950s to today.