Law Archives - Page 9 of 24

Judge Merrick Garland

March 16, 2016

Justice Antonin Scalia died on February 13, 2016. On March 16, 32 days later, President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland to replace him. Judge Garland is the Chief Judge of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He has been a judge on the DC Circuit since 1997.

Judge Garland is a highly distinguished jurist. He enjoys bipartisan support and affection, on his Court and in the United States Senate. In particular, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) like him very much. Here’s what Senator Hatch said on Friday, March 11: “[He] could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man.” He also said, once, that there was no question about Judge Garland being

Merrick Garland, President Obama, Senator Orrin Hatch

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Make-a-Will Month and Estate Planning

February 29, 2016

Mark Rubin

Make-A-Will Month starts tomorrow. Yes, it’s a bit of a contrivance, advanced by the Planned Giving Roundtable (now called the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning) and championed by nonprofits, but the month provides an opportunity to think about estate planning and getting your affairs in order.

I’ve shared pieces about estate planning on several occasions. (Click on Probate and Estate Planning under Categories on the right side of your screen for links.) Today, I want to address some myths about estate planning, probate, and end of life issues. Some have been mentioned before but here are my Great Eight (in reverse order):

My Power of Attorney Has Me Covered. A power of attorney is cheap, and it has its

estate planning, intestacy, Make a Will Month, probate, trust, will

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Justice Antonin Scalia

February 18, 2016

Mark Rubin

At Monday’s Philosopher’s Guild meeting, RF posed the question: Can a person be good and still take pleasure in someone’s having passed? I said yes, at least with respect to a public person. I mourn the loss of life and feel sad for family and friends. Soon after, the public persona takes over. With an appropriate amount of respect, the person becomes fair game.

So, history will judge Antonin Scalia, and the verdict will likely be mixed, and will come after a long while. For me, though, three negative attributes stand out. They are: (1) The originalism conceit; (2) An abysmal lack of judicial demeanor; and (3) A lack of evident empathy. (For an insider’s take, read after I wrote

Chief Justice John Marshall, Justice Antonin Scalia, originalism

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Jefferson Wins … and We’re Effed!

February 12, 2016

Mark Rubin

Reverent references to the Founding Fathers drive me nutso. Yes, they established a more perfect union, but they rarely agreed about anything. Disagreements are what what we ought to expect from bright, ambitious, contentious men, so when modern day references turn the Founding Fathers into a monolith, it should not go unnoticed.

How bad is it? Almost half-term Governor and full-time nitwit Sarah Palin said her favorite Founding Father is “all of them.” Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski liked Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865) best. And these references are just silly. Certain Supreme Court justices believe in originalism, a principle which claims for itself the obligation and ability to determine what the words in the Constitution meant

Clean Power Act, Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Supreme Court

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The Carmack Amendment

February 8, 2016

Mark Rubin

You’ve probably noticed the lack of regularity here. Apologies, but there are only so many hours in the day and stress has a way of shrink-wrapping them, so that an hour feels like it provided about three minutes worth of time for getting important things done.

Tuesday—Law Day, mostly, here at MRW—is upon us. Since moving is on my mind, I’m focused on the Carmack Amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act (49 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.) The law—Section 14706 of the Act—addresses the rights, duties, and liability of common carriers who cross state lines, when a freight loss occurs.

The law is named after Senator Edward Carmack (D-Tenn.), who served in the U.S. Senate from

Carmack Amendment, Ida B. Wells, moving, Senator Edward Carmack

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Trump and the Bankruptcies

January 26, 2016

Mark Rubin

There’s been some talk—not enough, in my humble opinion—about the Trump bankruptcies. Here are some basic facts.

First, bankruptcy laws are federal, and they’re found in Title 11 of the United States Code. The title includes nine chapters: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12, 13, and 15. One through five apply to all bankruptcy filings.

Chapter 7 is a traditional or straight bankruptcy. The debtor gives up non-exempt property, if there is any, in return for which debts go away. It’s for poor people and corporations with no future prospects.

Chapter 9 is for municipalities. They’re uncommon, albeit less uncommon than they used to be, and my good friend and former partner Lowell Rothschild handled one of the

bankruptcy, chapter 11, trump

Law, The Rest of Everything

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Senator Ted Cruz, Redux

January 22, 2016

Mark Rubin

On April 24, 2015, I wrote Senator Ted Cruz. I was working a series about Rs running for POTUS. I’m pretty sure what I wrote about “this puerile personification of pestilence”—my words—left me so unclean I walked away from the exercise.

Alas, I’m back with redux, but not ready to leave this miserable momzer alone. Where to start, where to start? Let’s begin with health insurance.

Senator Cruz popped up on Thursday announcing that he is one of those “millions of Americans who’s lost their healthcare because of ObamaCare.” (Details in Bradford Richardson’s piece for The Hill, Cruz says he lost his health insurance because of ObamaCare.) Well, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo did a little

Senator Ted Cruz

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Appellate Court Process

January 18, 2016

Mark Rubin

The Arizona state court system has two primary appellate court levels: the Arizona Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court is paramount. It hears appeals from Court of Appeals decisions and in rare cases, directly from the trial courts. The Court of Appeals—there are divisions sitting in Phoenix for the north / central part of the state, and in Tucson for the rest–handles appeals from the Superior Courts, and from the Industrial Commission in workers compensation cases. I offer the foregoing introduction to highlight recent cases and provide some insights into the appellate process.

On November 24, 2015 the Arizona Supreme Court issued its unanimous opinion in DBT Yuma, L.L.C. v. Yuma County Airport Authority. The

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Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association

January 11, 2016

Mark Rubin

Labor law is not my best subject, for sure. I’ve handled many employment cases, and still advise clients on employment matters. Labor law, though, connotes union-management issues, and it’s an area in which I don’t practice.

Qualifier noted, I found myself following Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, No. 14-915, the case in which the which the U.S. Supreme Court has been asked to abolish the “agency fee” regimen associated with public sector unions. In part, this was a “how can you ignore it case,” written and talked about everywhere. It’s also a reminder that elections matter. Had some more people moved their asses off their couches and voted in Florida in 2000, and if a few tens of

friedrichs, labor law, Michael Carvin, U.S. Supreme Court

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Executive Orders

January 5, 2016

Mark Rubin

There’ll be a hubbub about executive action / orders by the time you’re reading this post. That arrogant, pompous wimp of a POTUS we have right now—does anyone else wonder how President Obama can be, at one and the same time, a king and a dictator and a skinny, wimpy dude who doesn’t have the cojones to stand up to anyone—will issue an Executive Order regarding guns in America later today.

From my perspective the Executive Order—a highlights sheet has already been posted—will do little, and ought to bring forth little controversy. Others will surely disagree. Here, and because it’s Law Day at MRW, I want to focus on the basis for presidential authority to act.

Executive Orders have been

executive orders, guns, president, President Obama

Law, The Rest of Everything

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