Justices hear arguments on U. gun ban

The Utah Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a case pitting the University of Utah against the State of Utah over the University's policy of banning guns on campus. The Salt Lake Tribune story is headlined "U. links gun ban, academic freedom." The Deseret Morning News wrote "U. fears fallout on gun ban."

Over-used sources

Why do so many Utah print newspaper reporters feel compelled to quote Jan Shipps on topics involving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? The Salt Lake Tribune did it again today in "LDS Church shuns political fight over Utah's marriage amendment." Sure, Shipps is an authoritative and quotable source, but her value diminishes with each over-use.

Utah Court of Appeals on libel

In a very interesting opinion filed today, the Utah Court of Appeals has held that the plaintiff in a libel suit should not be penalized for filing a complaint after the one-year statute of limitations when the plaintiff did not know the identity of the person who committed the alleged libel. In Robinson v. Morrow, an anonymous flier accused a man of abusing his children. The man suspected that the author of the flier was his sister, and the man's suspicions were confirmed through a conversation with his nephew. But the court held that the statute of limitations was tolled until the man re-confirmed through another sister that his sibling had indeed authored the flier.

This is an unfortunate decision -- and one that seems to be on somewhat shaky factual ground even though the legal basis is sound -- for libel defendants, which often include news reporters.

Unsubstantiated statements

A reporter for The Salt Lake Tribune wrote an off-base sentence today that should have been caught (and deleted) by an editor. Granted, this story about flat-panel TVs being installed on city buses is not exactly hard news, but unsubstantiated (and unsubstantiatable) statements like this hurt the credibility of newspapers:

Compared to faster and more reliable mass transit systems, the buses that chug along city streets are becoming an unattractive alternative to driving.

Long process

Litigation can be notoriously drawn out: witness the opinion filed today by the Utah Supreme Court in a case that has been in the works for more than 11 years. 438 Main Street v. Easy Heat, Inc., stems from a Park City fire in 1993. After what the court called a "long discovery period," the case went to trial in 2000. The Supreme Court held that the district court did not err in granting a Rule 41(b) motion to dismiss.

Supreme Court tryouts

Legal Affairs Magazine has invited nine federal circuit judges to try out for the Supreme Court. Three of the invitees are potential Bush nominees; three are potential Kerry nominees; and three are highly ranked in statistics compiled by two law professors, Stephen Choi of Boalt Hall (U. of California at Berkeley) and Mitu Gulati of Georgetown. This brings up the issue: Is there anything wrong with the politically oriented nature of federal judicial appointments, which is the system we have had in place for two centuries? Should the federal judiciary be a meritocracy?

Churches have no duty to warn

The Utah Court of Appeals held last week that churches do not have a common law duty to warn their members of known sexual abusers in their midst, as long as the abuse has not taken place in connection with church activities or while the abused were in the "custody" of the churches. The case is Doe v. Corp. of Pres. of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The court did not specify what might give rise to a special relationship between a church and its members that would make the church liable for failing to warn or stop abuse. The Salt Lake Tribune reported that "Church not responsible for abusers." Meanwhile, the Deseret Morning News wrote that "LDS not at fault in sex-abuse case, court concurs."

Congrats to Griffiths

Congratulations to BYU's Tom Griffiths, who was recently named a distinguished broadcast journalism educator. BYU's Tom Griffiths is not to be confused with BYU's Tom Griffith, who is still awaiting Senate confirmation to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Reporters fined for keeping confidences

If you thought court battles over reporters' confidential sources were a thing of the past, check again. For the second time this summer (see the first one here), a federal district jduge in Washington, D.C., has held journalists in contempt for not revealing confidential sources. The AP writes that "Judges ruling may chill newsgathering."

Op-ed on Bybee

"Twisting the law on interrogating detainees," an op-ed piece in today's Newsday, argues that President Bush should not be re-elected because he will continue to appoint federal judges like Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, a BYU grad, and Third Circuit Judge Michael Chertoff. The opinion piece was written by Herman Schwartz, a law professor at American University.

Doggonnit!

Newspaper reporters for different publications sometime render a single quote in different ways. For example, today's Salt Lake Tribune quotes Lehi Mayor Ken Greenwood as having said, "This is the doggonedist hunt I've ever been on in my life," about his apparently successful effort to convince Cabela's to locate an outdoor superstore in his town. Meanwhile, the Deseret Morning News quoted Greenwood this way: "It's been the doggonest hunt I've ever been on in my life."

The Cabela's press release about its Lehi store may be accessed here (with apologies to Utah County Commissioner Jerry Grover, whose name was misspelled in the press release).

Dr. Weitzel brings 1983 suit

A Davis County doctor is suing state and federal prosecutors and investigators for twice trying him for administering morphine to dying patients. "Doctor twice tried in 5 deaths claims malice, sues" in today's Salt Lake Tribune does not specify, but I presume this suit is brought under 42 U.S.C. section 1983.

Commission left out

Remarkably but perhaps not surprisingly, Utah's Constitutional Revision Commission is being left out of the process of determining whether the state constitution should be amended to define marriage as between a man and woman and to ban same-sex civil unions. The Salt Lake Tribune chronicled this development in "Amendments get scant review," a story that I think should have received more play than it did -- at least online, where I found it buried among other pedestrian local stories.

I can imagine that Utah will incur a lot of legal fees down the road to fight litigation, and those are fees that might have been mitigated by allowing the Revision Commission to do its job. Like a lot of people and entities, Utah seems not to want to bring in the lawyers until there's a crisis at hand.

Blog-free weekend

I will have a blog-free weekend while I travel from my current temporary home to Provo, Utah. I'll be back on Monday, August 16.

D-News asks readers to 'rant, rave'

The Deseret Morning News is inviting readers to submit their 50-word rants and raves to a new readers' column. Details are available here. I'm not sure how this is different than the longstanding letters to the editor department, other than it's Utah County-specific.

Utah has judges, not magistrates

The second-to-last paragraph of this story, "Letter shows Lori's heartache," in The Salt Lake Tribune, refers to a search warrant signed by "state Magistrate Timothy Hanson." Actually, Utah's state court system does not have "magistrates"; it has judges. Federal courts employ magistrates, who are not Article III judges with lifetime presidential appointments. Third District Court Judge Timothy Hanson's biography appears here.

News media taking the blame

The Washington Post and other news organizations are blaming themselves for not questioning more intensely the Bush administration's decision to go to war in Iraq. The Post in particular is taking heat for burying stories questioning the existence of weapons of mass destruction.

One Post reporter, however, Walter Pincus, wrote stories about WMD doubts and pushed for their inclusion on Page A1. Pincus is a believer that journalists must go to original source documents for their information: "The main thing people forget to do is read documents," he said in today's story by Post media reporter Howard Kurtz, also available on MSNBC here.

Diversity suit

News coverage of the civil lawsuit filed by Kobe Bryant's accuser has not demonstrated understanding of federal courts. "Twist in Bryant Rape Case as Accuser Files Lawsuit," in today's New York Times, was the first story I saw that even mentioned this suit was filed in federal rather than state court. I have yet to see any story explain what significance might be found in the decision to file in federal court.

As I recall from Civil Procedure and Federal Courts, one of the purposes of diversity jurisdiction is to prevent bias against out-of-state litigants. But in this case, the plaintiff accuser chose to file in federal court so Bryant does not have to try to remove the case. The USA Today story mentions that the accuser is seekign at least $75,000 but does not mention that that is one of the requirements of diversity jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, the Utah papers were not all over this story. Despite a diligent online search, I found no story in today's Salt Lake Tribune. The Deseret Morning News provided brief wire service coverage here.

Hatch on judges

Senator Orrin Hatch discussed liberalism and declining moral principles in the courts yesterday at the University of Utah. Hatch stated: "This election may be the most important election in history, at least from the standpoint of whether the Constitution is going to be amended by judicial fiat or not."

Reporter ordered to jail

A federal district court judge ordered a Time magazine reporter to be jailed for failing to disclose a confidential source, as detailed in "Reporter Held in Contempt Over C.I.A. Leak" in today's New York Times. For Utah journalists, this has been a battle frequently fought during the last few years, as I chronicled in "Reporter's Privilege in Utah," which appeared in the Fall 2003 issue of the BYU Journal of Public Law.

Statutory mandatory minimums

In "Panel opposes mandatory sentencing," The Salt Lake Tribune touched on an important and timely issue -- statutory mandatory minimum sentences. What the Tribune failed to do however, was provide necessary background and explanation. Given the involvement of Judge Paul G. Cassell, who has risen to near Olympic status in federal sentencing circles, the story should have referred to and distinguished the Blakely issue (the Supreme Court granted certiorari just last week). Also, it should have been clarified that the mandatory minimums discussed in the story are statutory and not incident to the federal sentencing guidelines.

Time out

As you may have noticed, I am on leave from blogging this week while I present the results of some legal research at a conference of the AEJMC in beautiful Toronto. I will return to regular blogging on Monday, August 9, 2004.

In case you haven't heard, the Cleveland Indians defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-3 in 10 innings this afternoon, and from my seat in left field I discovered that SkyDome is a great place to watch a ballgame.