First Among Equals

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is widely seen as the “first among equals” of the U.S. circuit courts. It is the most prominent, it deals with the biggest cases, and its opinions are most highly regarded. This need not necessarily be the case. During the time that Learned Hand (left) and his cousin Augustus sat on the Second Circuit, for instance, the Second Circuit was the most prominent in the land. When the U.S. Supreme Court failed to assemble a quorum to hear an important antitrust case, the Court chose to certify the case to a panel of the Second Circuit for final resolution. Learned Hand authored a significant antitrust decision for the panel in the case (148 F.2d 416), and their power of mandamus was later upheld by the Supreme Court (334 U.S. 258). I have heard it argued that the Ninth Circuit is on the rise to the point where it may soon displace the D.C. Circuit as the most prominent court below the Supreme Court.

I mention all of this to ask the simple question, prompted by yesterday’s indictment of Governor Blagojevich: Is the Northern District of Illinois the new Southern District of New York? Traditionally, SDNY, as it’s known in the case cites, has been the most prominent of the federal district courts. For instance, Rudy Giuliani left his post as the associate attorney general, number three at Department of Justice, to become U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

But with Patrick Fitzgerald running the Northern District of Illinois, that seems to be the home of many major cases. 

Continue ReadingFirst Among Equals

Appreciating Our Professors: Kathleen A. Sullivan

I had some really wonderful professors in law school. I could easily write about a number of them in expressing my gratitude for their influence on my legal career. However, one in particular — Professor Kathleen A. Sullivan — sticks out for me. Kathleen (no one called her Professor Sullivan . . . indeed, she’d have none of it) was one of my professors in the Community Legal Sevices clinic at Yale. I began law school after seven years of Jesuit education (three years at Loyola High School and four years at Loyola Marymount University, both in my hometown of Los Angeles). And while I enjoyed my first semester classes, none of them resonated with me in terms of my educational background and values.

But then I enrolled in the clinic, and all that changed. Kathleen inspired us to embrace the enormity of our responsibility in representing and serving those who could not afford legal representation. Her message was clear: Our clients — those suffering from intense poverty — deserved the respect, dignity, autonomy, and privacy that we all shared. Kathleen also emphasized that our clients deserved zealous advocates who worked tirelessly and ethically to gain justice for them. And she led by example — spending long days in the clinic training her students and serving her clients, despite battling cancer.

Continue ReadingAppreciating Our Professors: Kathleen A. Sullivan

Region Free DVD Players: The Answer to DVD Zones?

I am currently in Italy combining work commitments and holidays with my family. As part of my (modest because of what is called here “the American Crisis”) holiday shopping, I have decided to opt for useful gifts for my children: so books and DVDs in Italian — fundamental items for little children growing in a bilingual environment (and for anyone who wants to learn a foreign language well). Books: no problem (apart, of course, from making sure to avoid too much weight for the plane). The problems start, however, with DVDs. And here is why.

The world of DVDs and DVD players is divided into six different zones or regions, i.e. DVDs from one zone only play on certain DVDs players, also sold in the same zone, and not in the other zones (so, DVDs bought in the U.S. do not work on common DVD players in Europe). The reason for these differences (that do not apply, on the other side, to music CDs) has traditionally been control. Motion picture studios (primarily in the U.S.) wanted to control the release of movies around the world since movies were released on DVD at different times (later in Europe or Japan, for example). In order to prevent the (uncontrolled) flow (i.e., parallel imports) of DVDs from one region to another (where a certain movie, for example, was still playing in theaters), these different regions with different technical standards were created. Thus, because of different technical standards on DVD disks, users could not use DVD products freely around the world.

Much has changed, however, since the advent of DVD regions in the DVD world.

Continue ReadingRegion Free DVD Players: The Answer to DVD Zones?