Should Souter’s chair be filled by a judge?

United States Supreme Court Justice David Souter’s decision to retire is not a great shock, but it is a big moment in the new administration.

It is a fairly recent notion that justices are selected from among sitting judges. Justices Harlan, White, Warren, Black and Douglas are among the many justices who were not from judicial ranks.

If a judge is selected, Sonia Sotomayor adds a second woman and a first Hispanic to the Court. She also has the odd honor of having been appointed to one court by George H.W. Bush and to another by Bill Clinton (though there is more to that story).

If any academic, then Elena Kagan or Cass Sunstein would seem logical choices. They both have distinguished records and close relations to President Obama.

But what if it were a politician or practicing lawyer as the president once suggested?

Any ideas?

Denis Hauptly
Vice President, Technology Strategy
Thomson Reuters Global Resources

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See Scalia in a free CLE

Editor’s note: This CLE is no longer available. The podcast excerpt, however, remains on YouTube for viewing.

Part of a continuing legal education event (CLE) featuring United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Bryan Garner, is now available on West LegalEdcenter.

For free.

The unique CLE course from LawProse was based on the book Scalia and Garner co-authored, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” published by West.

They teamed up for the CLE on July 25, 2008 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Kennedy Center has granted West permission to post one hour of the five hour event online.

The CLE excerpt provides a glimpse into how Scalia and Garner presented the points in their book about legal reasoning and argument, brief-writing and oral argument to the live audience.

It’s informative and often entertaining, with several memorable quotes from both men. All profits from the event went to Legal Aid of Washington, D.C.

In addition to the excerpt on West LegalEdcenter, highlights from the CLE – featuring clips from Scalia and Garner’s entire event – also are included in this three minute Westcast video podcast, along with an interview with Garner:

Westcast: A day in the life of a case

When the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller in June, striking down a ban on gun possession in D.C., a team at West went to work to get this landmark case loaded to Westlaw, complete with the insight and analysis that is critical to legal researchers.

The West editorial process involves specific steps, including fact-checking, headnoting and classification. This Westcast video podcast highlights that process. The result is a rare glimpse behind the scenes at the skills and trusted editorial experience involved in the daily work here at West.

Please take a few minutes to watch this Westcast and let us know what you think:

Incidentally, West’s Tom Trenkner, who you saw at the end of the podcast, had a unique interest in the Heller case. He was among several colleagues from West and Thomson Reuters who were invited to attend the oral arguments in the Heller case when it was before the Supreme Court.

Posted by Kevin Hunt, senior communications specialist, Thomson Reuters

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Scalia’s full remarks at Scribes Awards

We first posted about the Lifetime-Achievement Award Scribes gave United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, early last month. Scalia is the co-author of “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” from West.

We now have Scalia’s full remarks from the Scribes event, about 15 minutes long, broken into two video clips.

Here’s part one:

Here’s part two:

West was a sponsor of the event honoring Scalia, and excellence in legal writing, at the Harvard Club of New York City.

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Scalia honored by Scribes

We wrapped up our three-day visit to New York City today at the Scribes 2008 Annual Luncheon.

West was a sponsor of the event honoring excellence in legal writing at the Harvard Club of New York City. This year’s awards program drew additional interest because Scribes recognized United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia with its Lifetime-Achievement Award.

Bryan Garner, Scalia’s co-author on their West book “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” presented Scalia with the award.

Here are some of their remarks:

Scribes is a professional association whose main goals are to honor legal writers and improve legal writing. Its members are judges, lawyers, law professors and legal editors. It is the oldest and most prestigious organizations of its kind.

Scribes publishes The Scribes Journal of Legal Writing, The Scrivener newsletter and sponsors the Book Award, the Law-Review Award and the Brief-Writing Award.

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ABA Annual Meeting

We’re bringing WestBlog back to the Big Apple. We’re in New York City through tomorrow for several events related to the American Bar Association’s (ABA) 2008 Annual Meeting.

Our reports will include a recap of a special event on Ellis Island tonight, the inaugural Liberty Awards from the ABA’s Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section (TIPS) celebrating diversity and the law.

We’ll also be at a Scribes luncheon for an award for United States Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Both events are sponsored by West.

As for the ABA Annual Meeting, you can see the ABA’s coverage here.

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Scalia and Garner at the Kennedy Center

Black’s Law Dictionary editor Bryan Garner and United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia squared off in a unique live legal discussion on persuasion and argument at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. on Friday, July 25.

Garner and Scalia discussed their recent book “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” published by West, in a five hour continuing legal education (CLE) event. The CLE featured an entertaining and informative discussion of legal reasoning and argument, brief-writing and oral argument. The attendees included attorneys, other legal professionals and law students. Profits will go to Legal Aid.

It’s no surprise that a CLE featuring two of the preeminent authorities on legal writing and argument would generate a good deal of buzz in legal circles. Check out the links, below, to see what some media and bloggers had to say about the event:

Associated Press (via The Huffington Post)

The Blog of Legal Times from Tony Mauro (Also on Law.com)

Consumer Goods and Retail Industry Litigation Blog

A portion of the CLE with Scalia and Garner will soon be available – for free – through West LegalEdcenter. And, an upcoming Westcast video podcast about the event will feature highlights from the event. Keep an eye on WestBlog for more details on both.

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Scalia and Charlie Rose

Charlie Rose’s interview with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia aired last Friday night. You can watch their discussion online.

Rose asked Scalia about his book published by West, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” co-written by Bryan Garner, who edits Black’s Law Dictionary for West.

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FindLaw posts Heller case

It was the most anticipated United States Supreme Court ruling of the 2007-2008 term remaining to be announced and today the decision came in.

You can read the documents in the Court’s ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller on FindLaw. There’s also coverage and links to analysis on FindLaw’s Common Law blog.

The court ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to have a gun for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense in a home, striking down a D.C. ban on handgun possession.

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FindLaw posts Guantanamo Bay case

You can read the documents in the United States Supreme Court’s ruling today in Boumediene v. Bush on FindLaw.

The court ruled 5-4 that detainees being held by the Pentagon at Guantanamo Bay can file suit in federal courts to challenge their detentions.

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Garner interviewed in The Dallas Morning News

Bryan Garner, co-author of “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges” talked about the writing process in the Sunday, June 1 edition of The Dallas Morning News.

Garner, who teamed with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia on the book, told the newspaper he chose to work with Scalia in part because of his “great rhetorical skill.”

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Wall Street Journal Law Blog interviews Scalia

Dan Slater from The Wall Street Journal Law Blog has posted an interview with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia.

Scalia co-authored the West book, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges” with Bryan Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary, also from West.

Slater broke his interview with Justice Scalia into three posts on The Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

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Garner interviewed about legal writing

Bryan Garner, editor of Black’s Law Dictionary and co-author of the new book from West with United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, is featured in an article in The National Law Journal.

(Photo credit: LawProse.org)

Among the topics covered in the interview with Leigh Jones, Garner talks about the influence of technology in attorney writing.

Garner also recorded a Westcast audio podcast about his new book with Scalia, which is available here.

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More Web coverage for Scalia

We’re continuing to track the Web coverage of United State Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s recent interviews related to the West book “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges” that Scalia co-authored with Bryan Garner.

New posts are at the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Law.com, Slate.com’s Convictions blog and the Sophistic Miltonian Serbonian Blog.

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Scalia on “Tim Russert”

NBC’s Tim Russert interviewed United States Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia on the MSNBC program, “Tim Russert.”

The interview covered the book that Scalia co-authored for West titled, “Making Your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges,” as well as Scalia’s family and career.

The transcript is available on the MSNBC Web site. 

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