ZiefBrief

Impending SCOTUS Appearance.

Q: What does Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor have in common with Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, Steve Carell, Jon Hamm, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Hyde Pierce, Timothy Olyphant, Maya Rudolph, and Zac Efron?

A: According to a recent news report all of them will be appearing on the upcoming season of Sesame Street. Justice Sotomayor will be reprising last year's visit to the Street. That appearance was made memorable by her controversial on-air ruling on a dispute between Baby Bear and Goldilocks concerning defendant's trespass and subsequent breaking of plaintiff's chair. Her impending appearance will be limited to a discussion of the meaning of the word "career" and is not expected to result in any new rulings.

First Star Trek, Now Monty Python Cited by Courts

 

Last week we Tweeted a blog post about a recent decision that included a reference to Star Trek's Mr. Spock. In a concurring opinion Texas Supreme Court Justice Don R. Willet quoted Spock's maxim that it was only logical that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. To read the decision click here.

Now we are able to report a new addition to enlightened jurisprudence: a case from the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Texas that cites to a sketch by Monty Python. In footnote 69 of a decision authored by US Magistrate Judge Stephen Smith (available as a .pdf file from the ACLU at this link) the court makes a parallel between the ability of law enforcement agents to track the target of an investigation using cell phone location data with the demise of Mr. Nesbitt in the famous "How Not To Be Seen" sketch that appeared in both Episode 24 of Monty Python's Flying Circus and in slightly different form in the film Now For Something Completely Different.  Legal researchers who want to view the sketch should go to YouTube and search for "Monty Python" and "How Not To Be Seen" or try this link.  Thanks to USF Professor Susan Freiwald for bringing this to our attention.

To Enjoy TV, Suppress Your Inner JD

Concurring Opinion's Jon Siegel has a great post about all of the legal frailties that occur in the TV series "House."  The post helps to explain why attorneys may find themselves watching TV alone at home --it can be difficult to resist the urge to tell your couchmates exactly how the show's writers are ignoring important and fundamental legal principles.  While I was a practicing health care lawyer, I had a hard time watching TV shows with either a medical or legal theme for this very reason.  I found myself jumping off the couch every time a show depicted all of the physicians on the medical staff of a non-Kaiser California hospital as hospital employees, berating the TV show's writers for their ignorance of California's corporate practice of medicine laws.  I was a new associate when Ally McBeal aired, and I used to try to count the actual number of billable hours that Ally racked up during each episode (it was usually no more than a .2 or .3).  Surprisingly, my husband is rarely grateful for these legal insights, so I've learned to suppress my inner JD while we watch TV.