Retired Federal Judges Throw Shade On Shadow Docket

Law360 has Retired Federal Judges Throw Shade On Shadow Docket --Retired federal judges speaking at a Federal Bar Association panel in California Thursday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's increasing use of "shadow docket" emergency rulings that offer little or no explanation, with retired Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford saying the high court has "an obligation to give more of a ruling."

No AI sanctions here

In this unpub from 4/3, a pro per cites fictitious cases, but is not sanctioned. The court concludes:

It is a serious and sanctionable action to cite fictitious cases on appeal. All parties, whether self-represented or not, must strive to include proper legal authorities in support of their arguments. Blind reliance on cases generated by artificial intelligence damages the litigant’s credibility with the court when the cases are fictitious. Responding to the fictitious cases wastes the limited resources of the courts. Although we decline to impose sanctions in this case, self-represented litigants who cite fictitious cases in future appeals may not be so fortunate to avoid monetary or other sanctions.

AI sanctions reach CA

The appellate sanctions case we all knew would be coming has finally reached California.
In Noland v. Land of the Free, L.P. (2/3) the court imposes $10K in appellate sanctions:

What sets this appeal apart—and the reason we have elected to publish this opinion—is that nearly all of the legal quotations in plaintiff’s opening brief, and many of the quotations in plaintiff’s reply brief, are fabricated. That is, the quotes plaintiff attributes to published cases do not appear in those cases or anywhere else. Further, many of the cases plaintiff cites do not discuss the topics for which they are cited, and a few of the cases do not exist at all. These fabricated legal authorities were created by generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools that plaintiff’s counsel used to draft his appellate briefs. The AI tools created fake legal authority—sometimes referred to as AI “hallucinations”—that were undetected by plaintiff’s counsel because he did not read the cases the AI tools cited.

Although the generation of fake legal authority by AI sources has been widely commented on by federal and out-of-state courts and reported by many media sources, no California court has addressed this issue. We therefore publish this opinion as a warning. Simply stated, no brief, pleading, motion, or any other paper filed in any court should contain any citations— whether provided by generative AI or any other source—that the attorney responsible for submitting the pleading has not personally read and verified. Because plaintiff’s counsel’s conduct in this case violated a basic duty counsel owed to his client and the court, we impose a monetary sanction on counsel, direct him to serve a copy of this opinion on his client, and direct the clerk of the court to serve a copy of this opinion on the State Bar. .... 

We decline to order sanctions payable to opposing counsel. While we have no doubt that such sanctions would be appropriate in some cases, in the present case respondents did not alert the court to the fabricated citations and appear to have become aware of the issue only when the court issued its order to show cause. ....

We conclude by noting that “hallucination” is a particularly apt word to describe the darker consequences of AI. AI hallucinates facts and law to an attorney, who takes them as real and repeats them to a court. This court detected (and rejected) these particular hallucinations. But there are many instances— hopefully not in a judicial setting—where hallucinations are circulated, believed, and become “fact” and “law” in some minds. We all must guard against those instances. As a federal district court recently noted: “There is no room in our court system for the submission of fake, hallucinated case citations, facts, or law. And it is entirely preventable by competent counsel who do their jobs properly and competently.” (Versant, supra, 2025 WL 1440351, at *7.)

[The MetNews has $10,000 Sanction Imposed Based on Fake Quotes in Briefs -- Justices Reject Excuse That Use of Artificial Intelligence Resulted in Fabrications Not Intended by Lawyer; Bloomberg Law has California Appeals Court Blasts Lawyer for AI-Generated Quotes; The Recorder has 
'A Warning': State Court Fines Lawyer $10,000 for AI-Generated Fake Quotes in Briefs]

And note Justice Hoffstadt's latest in the DJ is Accentuate the objective: Rethinking bias in California's courtrooms -- California's CCP §231.7 and the Racial Justice Act adopt an objective "reasonable person" standard to evaluate peremptory strikes, charging, and sentencing, addressing both explicit and implicit bias while supplementing existing equal protection safeguards, though practical application and judicial discretion remain evolving and largely untested.

See also Do Law Schools Neglect Appellate Advocacy? Former Judge Pushes for Specialized Training --Too often, appellate law takes a back seat to trial advocacy in law schools, some litigators say. (Featuring H&L's Jeremy Rosen.)

And Senate Committee Advances More Trump Circuit Nominees -- The Senate Judiciary Committee advanced Ninth Circuit pick Eric Tung and First Circuit pick Joshua Dunlap in 12-10 votes.

Bar fees approved

The Recorder has Legislature Approves 2026 Lawyer License Fees, Restrictions on Future Bar Exams

• California lawmakers on Wednesday passed a 2026 lawyer licensing bill that will not raise fees but will require the state bar to use a national bar exam, and not a multiple-choice test written by a private vendor, at least until 2027.
• The state bar licensing bill, SB 253, keeps annual fees for active lawyers at the 2025 level of $598, which also includes statutorily required contributions for legal aid funding, substance abuse help for lawyers and other programs.

Chemerinsky's Annual SCOTUS Review

FBA-LA presents its annual U.S Supreme Court Review by Dean Chemerinsky on Oct. 16 at noon at the DoubleTree in DTLA. Details here.

5th DCA pro tem update

The following are currently sitting on assignment in the 5th District:

• Judge Gregory T. Fain of the Fresno County Superior Court will be sitting pro tempore until November 30, 2025. 

• Judge Wayne Ellison (retired from Fresno County Superior Court) will be sitting pro tempore until  October 31, 2025

Also.... Happy Birthday California! Today's is CA's 175th birthday. Details here. Gov's proclamation here.

And here's an unpub from 1/3 of appellate interest:

In order to adjudicate Kugler’s demurrer—which is properly before us—we must necessarily examine the viability of the underlying breach of fiduciary duty claim against all defendants. To do otherwise would render our review of Kugler’s demurrer incomplete. This is precisely the type of “extraordinary circumstance” that warrants writ treatment. (Williams v. Impax Laboratories, Inc. (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 1060, 1071–1072 [“ ‘An appellate court has discretion to treat a purported appeal from a nonappealable order as a petition for writ of mandate, but that power should be exercised only in unusual circumstances.’ ”].) Accordingly, we exercise our discretion to treat the challenge to the fiduciary duty ruling as a petition for writ of mandate so that Kugler’s liability can be resolved in a coherent and final manner.

6th DCA Road Trip

Sixth District Court of Appeal to Hold Oral Arguments in Santa Cruz -- The Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, will convene oral arguments at the Santa Cruz Courthouse on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, at 9:30 AM. There will be no live broadcast for the Oral Argument calendar on September 9, 2025. A recording of the proceedings will be uploaded after the conclusion of Oral Argument.

Research Attorney job in 2D8

Division Eight of the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, located in Los Angeles, is accepting applications for an appellate attorney.
This attorney will serve in a justice’s chambers and work collaboratively with the justice in preparing opinions. The types of cases presented are varied, and the attorney will work on both civil and criminal appeals in an environment providing significant responsibility and challenge. The attorney’s duties will include: reviewing appellate briefs and trial court records; thoroughly researching and analyzing existing law; drafting clear, concise, and well-reasoned memoranda and draft opinions; reviewing and proofreading opinions; making recommendations regarding the resolution of legal issues pending before the court; and performing other tasks the justice assigns. Excellent research, analytical, and writing skills are mandatory, along with a sense of collegiality, a strong work ethic, sound judgment, and a dedication to excellence and public service. Candidates must be able to work independently on complex legal issues in many different areas of the law, organize their own work, set priorities, and meet deadlines. Desirable qualifications include state or federal clerkship experience and familiarity with appellate practice. Salary is based on qualifications and experience. View here for more information

2d DCA pro tem updates

The following are currently sitting on assignment in the 2d District:

• Judge Stephen Goorvitch of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Two until September 30, 2025

• Judge Craig B. Van Rooyen of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Four until October 24, 2025

• Judge Sunjay Kumar (Retired) of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Five until October 17, 2025

• Justice Laurence D. Rubin (Retired) of the Second District Court of Appeal will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Eight until October 31, 2025

• Judge Jessica Uzcategui of the Los Angeles County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem in Division Eight from September 15, 2025, until November 14, 2025

Arthur & Arnold

PJ Gilbert's latest column is Why not 49 years? And other observations... Marking his 50th year as a judge, Justice Arthur Gilbert reflects with humor on numerology, celebrity and a chance encounter with Arnold Schwarzenegger, ultimately underscoring the importance of merit over name recognition in judicial elections.

SCOTUS Justices quotes

Bloomberg Law has:

Kavanaugh Pushes New Label for Supreme Court Emergency Docket

Justice Brett Kavanaugh is doing his best to rebrand the Supreme Court’s emergency docket — known colloquially as the “shadow docket” by another name. “I think the term ‘interim docket’ best captures it,” Kavanaugh told attendees at the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit’s conference in Memphis on Thursday, after he was asked to “settle” the dispute over what to call the justices’ oft-criticized practice of issuing brief orders in pending cases without explanation.

[Law360 has 'Tone Matters,' Justice Kavanaugh Tells Fellow Judges -- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh said the judiciary should recommit to using cool-headed and civil language in their writing and spoke about the difficulties the court faces in handling a flood of emergency relief cases at a conference Thursday.]

Barrett Found Marathon Bomber Death Sentence Vote ‘Distasteful’ -- Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett said she found it “distasteful” to affirm the death sentence of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev based on her personal opposition to capital punishment.

Justice Barrett Says Trump Barbs a Dance ‘We’ve Seen Before’ -- Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett downplayed President Donald Trump’s sharp barbs directed at federal judges, telling a New York crowd that US presidents have a long history of criticizing the judiciary.

ABA Journal has After more than 40 years in the solicitor general’s office, this lawyer says it was a privilege -- When Edwin S. Kneedler joined the Office of the Solicitor General in 1979, Warren E. Burger was the chief justice, and no women had ever served on the court. He says that, at that time, there was significantly less public attention on the justices, the role of the high court and the lawyers arguing each case. ... Before retiring from government service in June, Kneedler, 79, argued 160 times before the Supreme Court. He joined the solicitor general’s office after four years in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. He was promoted to deputy solicitor general in 1993 and also briefly served as acting solicitor general in 2009. ... Appellate work appealed to Kneedler because it often entailed meticulous research, satisfying his inquisitive nature and fascination with U.S. history.

And Chemerinsky: SCOTUS rulings on shadow docket cases should be fully heard before becoming binding precedent

Sanctions!

1/3 publishes this opinion imposing $30K in sanctions against counsel "for filing a frivolous appeal."

See also this unpub from 4/2 here, where appellate sanctions are denied, but the appeal "comes right up to the line of sanctionable conduct" and some "remarks cross the line from vigorously asserting [] legal position[s] to ad hominem attack." "[I]t is telling that the closest legal question presented by this appeal is whether sanctions should be imposed. We caution [the pro per appellant] to proceed carefully in the future."

[9/15 update: The DJ has Court fines attorney $30,000 over frivolous San Francisco appeal -- An appellate court fined L.A. attorney Daniel Geoulla $30,000 for a frivolous scooter-injury appeal, upheld $8,000 in trial sanctions, referred him to the State Bar, and rebuked obstruction of discovery and examinations.]

Law360 has 5 Key Steps To Prepare For Oral Arguments

Capital appeals application revised

Court Approves Revised Application for Appointment to Capital Appeal and Approves New, Shorter Application for Subsequent Appointments -- The California Supreme Court has approved a revised application form for use by attorneys seeking appointment by the court to represent indigent defendants in capital appeals, as well as a new, shorter application form for use by attorneys who seek an additional appointment.

Appeal qualified immunity in 30 days

Professor Shaun Martin blogs about an important 9th Circuit appellate opinion, McNeil v. Gittere, here. The bottom line is that appealable interlocutory orders, here the denial of qualified immunity, must be appealed in 30 days. 

Red Mass 10/14

 

The 43rd Annual Red Mass, a cherished tradition for judges, lawyers, and legal professionals of all faiths, taking place on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

5th DCA pro tem update

The following are currently sitting on assignment in the 5th District:

• Judge Gregory T. Fain of the Fresno County Superior Court will be sitting pro tempore until November 30, 2025. 

• Judge Wayne Ellison (retired from Fresno County Superior Court) will be sitting pro tempore until October 15, 2025. 

Litman at the Hammer 10/14

Leah Litman is scheduled to appear in person at the Hammer Museum in Westwood on October 14 at 7:30 to discuss her latest book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes.

Leah Litman is a professor of law at the University of Michigan and a former Supreme Court clerk. In addition to cohosting Strict Scrutiny, she writes frequently about the Court for media outlets including The Washington Post, Slate, and The Atlantic, among others, and has appeared as a commentator on NPR and MSNBC, in addition to other venues. She has received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg award for her “scholarly excellence” from the American Constitution Society and published in top law reviews.

See also: Law360's latest edition of Wheeling & Appealing: The Latest Must-Know Appellate Action

PJ Gilbert to retire at end of year

Today's DJ has Justice Arthur Gilbert marks 50 years on the bench, looks toward his next act -- A towering figure in California's judiciary and a devoted jazz pianist celebrates five decades on the bench on Monday. Known for his wit, clarity and collegiality, Arthur Gilbert plans to retire at the end of the year.

• Gilbert will mark 50 years of judicial service on Labor Day but won't hang up his robe until the end of the year.
• As he put it in a Daily Journal column last year, "But when I do retire, I hope to get a gig playing standards in a bar. Drop by and request your favorite tune. ... And don't forget the glass filled with dollar bills on the piano. It won't be a bad transition. At least I will still be sitting on the bench."
• Gilbert wrote hundreds of opinions, but his irrepressible voice has had its say beyond the California Official Reports. By his count, he's so far written 364 legal affairs columns for the Daily Journal. In one 2008 offering, he contended that it's a bad idea to include limericks or other poetic forms in legal decisions, lest litigants find it disrespectful. He concluded: "There once was a judge not so solemn. / His opinions solved many a problem. / He often told jokes / To all the good folks. / But limericks he saved for his column."

6th DCA pro tem update

Judge Sunil R. Kulkarni of the Santa Clara County Superior Court will be sitting Pro Tem until October 31, 2025 in the Sixth District. 

September is Constitution Month

California Courts Celebrate Constitution Month with Statewide Civic Learning Programs -- Commemoration highlights the importance of civic education and the U.S. Constitution’s enduring role in American democracy

Throughout Constitution Month in September, courts across the state will partner with K-12 schools and community organizations to bring judges into classrooms, host courthouse visits, and provide civic learning resources for educators and students. The initiative underscores the judiciary’s commitment to fostering public understanding of the Constitution and the role of the courts in protecting the rights it guarantees. ....
Constitution Month activities align with the judicial branch’s statewide mission to expand civic learning and strengthen public trust in the courts. Public schools may request to connect with the judicial branch by visiting the Power of Democracy Constitution Month website

Elsewhere, ... What happens when Beds gets stuck at an airport? See Bedsworth: Don’t Retire to Travel

And Law360 has Judge Newman's Suspension Extended Once Again -- Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's suspension from hearing cases was extended by another year on Friday, in a unanimous opinion by the appeals court's 11 other judges.