« Environment - Disclosing contingent liabilities under Sarbanes-Oxley | Main | Law - Former landowners seek to reclaim property taken by government for WW II training base »

Friday, August 27, 2004

Law - More on judicial plagarism

"3rd Circuit Sees Through 'Ghostwritten' Opinion'" is the title of this lengthy article today at Law.com. Some quotes:

Federal judges must write their own opinions and cannot simply sign an opinion that was "ghostwritten" by lawyers, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.

In Bright v. Westmoreland County, a unanimous three-judge panel issued a stiff rebuke to U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab of the Western District of Pennsylvania after concluding that defense lawyers had submitted a "proposed opinion" and that Schwab adopted it "nearly verbatim" as his own. * * *

Nygaard found there was "no record evidence which would allow us to conclude that the district court conducted its own independent review, or that the opinion is the product of its own judgment. In fact, the procedure used by the district court casts doubt on the possibility of such a conclusion."

As a result, Nygaard concluded that the 3rd Circuit was forced to remand the case to Schwab with an order requiring that he "engage in an independent judicial review." * * *

Schwab, in response to a call from The Legal Intelligencer, issued a statement that said: "I have carefully reviewed the clear and thoughtful opinion of the Court of Appeals in the Bright case. I appreciate its candor, and will of course make every effort to follow its advice, counsel and directions, in this and all cases."

Here is the 45-page decision of the 3rd circuit.

Here is an earlier (7/16/03) Indiana Law Blog entry on a story about an accusation of judicial plagarism in Miami. (I checked the links in the entry and they are all still active).

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 27, 2004 09:29 AM
Posted to General Law Related