February 2016

The Hawaii Legislature is evaluating a series of bills which, taken collectively, would radically overhaul the way judges and justices are selected for Hawaii’s state courts, and retained in office. 

Currently, the system is generally modeled on the “Missouri plan,” also known as “merit selection.” Supreme Court justices and Court of Appeals and Circuit court judges are appointed by the Governor for 10 year terms, and must be selected from a list promulgated the appointed Judicial Selection Commission. The nominee is then confirmed or rejected by the State Senate. District Court judges are appointed from a JSC list by the Chief Justice, and if confirmed by the Senate, serve six year terms. Justices and judges may be reappointed for additional terms, and may serve until they reach 70 years old. 

The proposals which the legislature is now considering were summarized in a recent email which we received from…

Continue Reading Time To Elect Hawaii’s Judges? Maybe Not Such A Bad Idea.

Norfolk_sign

Talk about timing: Dana Berliner, Andy Gowder, and I were talking about the Central Radio case during a session on free speech and other First Amendment issues at the recent ALI-CLE Eminent Domain Conference, when we learned that at the same time we were speaking about the case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit was issuing its opinion on remand from the Supreme Court. 

Bottom line: Norfolk, Virginia’s sign ordinance is an unconstitutional restriction on free speech. See slip op. at 1 (“Applying the principles of content neutrality articulated in Reed, we hold that the sign ordinance challenged in the plaintiffs’ complaint is a content-based regulation that does not survive strict scrutiny. Accordingly, we reverse the district court’s judgment with respect to the plaintiffs’ First Amendment challenge and remand that claim to the district court to award nominal damages to the plaintiffs and for consideration of other…

Continue Reading Fourth Circuit: City Violated First Amendment By Banning Anti-Eminent Domain Sign