Another *huge* immigration win for President Trump and Secretary Rubio. Must they, now, open the diversity visa lottery program? The program gives visas to people for being from countries without many people that qualify for merit based visas. No, per the Ninth Circuit. Stayed!
The panel includes judges McKeown (Clinton), N.R. Smith (GW Bush) and H. Thomas (Biden). Not a strong conservative panel by any means. Read the opinion here: cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datasto…
Former Senior DOJ attorney Abhi Kambli weighs in :
This was a very easy call from CA9 on standing grounds. I posted about this previously but didn’t have the benefit of a written opinion from the district court. Here, the plaintiff was a law firm not bringing a claim on behalf of someone in the diversity visa lottery but on behalf of the firm itself. As one of the concurring opinions stated, “If Red Eagle Law were allowed to allege standing based upon its hypothetical or conjectural collateral injury, we would be opening the floodgates, allowing all lawyers to ‘roam the country in search of governmental wrongdoing.’” The district court should have never gone beyond standing but CA9 corrected this one.
CNN is calling to get the facts straight on the antisemitic pro-Abdul El-Sayed ad. She says he denounced it. The comment I found on @wapo said an AES spokesperson said the pro-AES ad made by pro-AES political consultant Cenk Uyghur wasn't made by the campaign. Is that denouncing?
Let’s get the facts straight @HaleyforMI the Rebellion PAC ad, was not produced by Abdul’s campaign. He denounced it within hours.
Here is the crux of the problem: The district judge erred in applying clear error review to the Magistrate Judge's findings. But the MJ can only make recommendations. So it should have applied de novo review. That error of law infected the opinion and warrants reversal.
Very interesting standing and First Amendment opinion. Worth a read: cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datasto…
Congress passed the Wild Free Roaming Horses and Burros Act to protect wild horses and burros on public lands. If an excess population, the Act tells BLM to remove them. Can @DougBurgum remove excess horses and burros? Yes, per Judge Holcomb (Ninth Circuit by designation)
Can Seattle enact an ordinance that prohibits unwanted deactivations and other rights for app-based workers? Yes, per Judge Clifton, in an amended opinion. The new opinion removes a section arguing that the ordinance regulates conduct, and instead assumes it is speech. Same end
Judge Bennett still dissents for similar reasons. Although he calls out the majority from abandoning its earlier approach to instead "assume without deciding" that the ordinance regulates speech. He contends it compels speech and is subject to First Amendment scrutiny
Read the amended opinion here: cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datasto…
Read the original opinion here: cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datasto…
A woman sued a lawyer and law firm (and Attorney General of Ohio and county) on frivolous grounds and was tagged as a vexatious litigant. She appealed, and brought a similar quality to that appeal. Dismissal affirmed, per Judge Gilman. District court here did not err.
Read the full opinion here: govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCO…
(I think many attorneys may have some feelings about this one...)