Unpublished Opinons, Budgets, Separation Of Powers And - Where's The Media?
Wednesday, July 3, 2002 at 7:00AM University of Arizona law librarian Leah Sandwell-Weiss wonders how West's print set of unpublished U.S. appellate decisions is selling (since unpublished decisions aren't precedent in her jurisdiction, and in any event are available from other sources), and whether Congress will allocate more tax dollars to courts and libraries if it concludes federal courts should be issuing more published opinons. Howard Bashman questions whether the Legislature can regulate how the Judiciary decides appeals, and I'm enjoying Howard's articles about nonpublication (referenced at the last link), given that I've "grown up" as a lawyer in a jurisdiction where unpublished decisions are the norm and he offers a characteristically well-considered perspective.
Now granted - this is an esoteric issue that only an appellate wonk (and a few of you other crazies) could love. But wouldn't you think there'd be a news story by now about last Thursday's congressional hearing? Aren't there reporters who hang out at the House just to relate what goes on there? There's a scheduling note on the Washington Post's "Today In Congress" page, but I haven't seen anything about the hearing itself. (Shoot, you know you've gone niche when you can't even find it on C-SPAN.)