Splits and consequences

Today's DJ has Justice Hoffstadt's Doing the splits -- How a split is created or articulated affects the likelihood of the Supreme Court reviewing the case, with explicitly created splits more likely to be reviewed.

• Intermediate appellate courts can articulate and/or create splits of authority in three different ways.
• The first and most obvious way is when an intermediate appellate court articulates and creates a split by explicitly declaring that it is "parting ways" with a sister court's interpretation of the law.
• The second way is when an intermediate appellate court articulates but does not create a split. This happens when judges on a three-judge panel of an intermediate appellate court disagree with one another, typically when the majority adopts one rule, and the dissent espouses another.
• The third way is when one court creates but does not articulate a split. This happens when a court issues an opinion that, in effect, disagrees with another opinion, but never acknowledges that effect or any disagreement.
• How a split is created and/or articulated can have significant effects. It can affect the odds that the governing Supreme Court will take up a case to resolve the split (although the quality of advocacy is no doubt also a factor). In deciding whether to exercise their discretion to accept a case to review, both the United States and California Supreme Courts look to whether there is a split of authority among the lower courts. S. Ct. Rule 10(a); Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.500(b)(1).

NLJ has GOP Senators Urge Judiciary to Scrap Proposal for Greater Amicus Funding Disclosure -- The Supreme Court "has long protected those who associate for speech purposes from compelled disclosure of those associations, subjecting any such disclosures to 'exacting scrutiny,'" the Republican lawmakers wrote.

The Recorder has Governor OKs Test of Remote Appearances by Court Reporters in 2025 -- AB 3013 will temporarily allow court reporters to capture proceedings while working outside the courtroom—and maybe even outside the courthouse.