Today's DJ has Federal judge sparks uproar with gun-filled YouTube dissent -- Judge Lawrence VanDyke posted an 18-minute YouTube dissent against the 9th Circuit's ruling upholding California's large-capacity magazine ban. Senior Judge Marsha Berzon, joined by the chief judge and four others, condemned the video--where VanDyke handles various guns--as "wildly improper" for including facts outside the record.
On the LACBA Appellate Courts Section list-serve, appellate specialist Dan Barer comments:
Is this the appellate opinion of the future? The 147-page en banc opinion in this case (not to mention the 104-page separate order regarding whether the en banc court has statutory authority to decide the appeal) is supplemented by Judge VanDyke’s 18-minute YouTube video, in which he discusses firearm mechanisms, and illustrates his point with multiple examples. Appellate courts (including the U.S. Supreme Court) have been linking to video footage for several years; indeed, a dissenting Ninth Circuit judge did so in one of my cases (Vos v. City of Newport Beach). But this is the first instance I’ve seen of a judge actually delivering a video lecture as part of an opinion. Appellate opinions are evolving.
Law.com has ‘Wildly Improper’: Judge’s Video Dissent Showing Handguns Sparks Colleagues' Criticism -- The 18-minute video was part of Judge Lawrence VanDyke’s dissent to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's holding that large-capacity magazines are neither “arms” nor necessary accessories to operate an “arm” protected by the Second Amendment.
Bloomberg Law has Judge VanDyke Displays Handguns in Unusual Video Dissent
VanDyke has written sharp opinions jabbing at his colleagues before. In 2022 he wrote an alternate draft opinion in a separate gun case that he suggested a majority of the en banc court might adopt, if they were to review his decision. “You’re welcome,” he wrote sarcastically.
Law360 has 9th Circ. Judge Takes Aim At Calif. Gun Ruling On YouTube
The Wall St. Journal has Gun-Handling Judge Posts a Novel YouTube Dissent in Second Amendment CaseA federal appellate judge took the maxim “show, don’t tell” to a new level Thursday in a novel dissent to a closely watched Second Amendment case. “This is the first video like this that I’ve ever made,” said Circuit Judge Lawrence VanDyke in a YouTube video he recorded, in his chambers, as the bespectacled jurist in his black robes handled a handgun and explained its mechanics and operation to the camera.
The SF Chronicle has 9th Circuit judge handles a cache of firearms while robed in bizarre video dissent
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