Generally, you can ask a judge to change her mind, but you can’t ask her to change a different judge’s mind. For example, at the trial-court level, a judge can
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The Panel of Theseus
Might the Rule of Necessity be Necessary After All?
“Rule of Necessity” Not Necessary for Federal Circuit Courts
An interesting recusal issue recently faced the Supreme Court of North Carolina, requiring the Court to invoke the “Rule of Necessity” in order to hear a high-profile case on North
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The Fourth Circuit’s New Normal?
Another week, another published ruling on an en banc rehearing petition from the Fourth Circuit. Last week we saw Judge Niemeyer arguing in a published concurring opinion that en banc
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The Not So Curious Case of the Published Denial of Rehearing
A few years ago I wrote about The Curious Cases(s) of the Published Denial of Rehearing. In that post, which focused on two published denials of rehearing from the
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Another Published Denial of Rehearing, Another 4th Circuit Case to the Supreme Court?
Almost two years ago, 
I blogged about a relatively rare phenomenon: a published denial of a petition for rehearing. Back then, two recent Fourth Circuit cases had produced petitions for
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Right for the Wrong Reasons, Redux
NOTICE: Take the following post with a grain of salt. The Court of Appeals issued an updated opinion in the Ellis case on 20 August 2019. Although the opinion is
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Fourth Circuit Judge Advocates for “Unpublishing” Panel Opinion, Simultaneously Lauds and Criticizes the Court
Appellate practitioners are familiar with the concept of moving to have the court publish an opinion that was initially issued as “unpublished.” Much rarer is the reverse situation, where a
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The Curious Case(s) of the Published Denial of Rehearing
Twice this week the Fourth Circuit took the relatively unusual step of issuing published opinions on orders denying rehearing of a case. Ordinarily such orders are not published for the
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A Tool For All Seasons—Supreme Court Deploys Writ of Certiorari to Resurrect State Bar Dispute
A Petition for Writ of Certiorari continues to be the most powerful tool in the Supreme Court’s arsenal. Last Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court used its certiorari authority
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