Howard J Bashman

February 01, 2021 | The Legal Intelligencer

Thanks to a proposed amendment to Pennsylvania's Constitution that may soon be appearing as a ballot question at a polling place near you, voters may have the ability to approve a system in which the state is divided into discrete appellate court election districts so that each voter can only vote to elect a single Pennsylvania Supreme Court, Superior Court and Commonwealth Court judge.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

December 07, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

The very first installment of my monthly appellate-related Upon Further Review column appeared in the Dec. 11, 2000, issue of The Legal Intelligencer bearing the headline "The Unconstitutionality of Non-Precedential Appellate Rulings."

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

November 09, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

For now, let's review how the oral argument policies of the Pennsylvania Superior Court, the far busier of Pennsylvania's two state intermediate appellate courts, have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

October 12, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

I wrestled over whether to devote last month's installment of this column to encouraging readers to vote this November with the future of the federal judiciary in mind, because it seemed clear that the next president of the United States would likely have some significant appointments to make to the nation's highest court.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

September 14, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court recently issued a notice stating that the court has not yet decided whether its October 2020 oral argument session will occur in person in Harrisburg or remotely online.

By Howard J. Bashman

5 minute read

August 10, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

In last month's column, I examined the four cases that reached the U.S. Supreme Court directly from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in the 2019-2020 term. As readers may recall, the Third Circuit had a .500 success rate in those four cases, achieving two affirmances and two reversals.

By Howard J. Bashman

5 minute read

July 13, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

During its just concluded term, the Supreme Court decided four cases on direct review from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, affirming our local federal appellate court two times and reversing it two times. In another six cases, the Supreme Court expressly noted that it was resolving conflicts that involved the 3rd Circuit.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

June 15, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

Fortunately, for the most part appellate litigation can be performed anywhere one has access to a laptop computer and a reliable internet connection. Electricity helps too!

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

May 11, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

More recently, the state appellate courts of Pennsylvania have announced how they will be altering their oral argument procedures until it is once again safe for participants to conduct appellate oral arguments in person.

By Howard J. Bashman

6 minute read

April 06, 2020 | The Legal Intelligencer

Although it now seems like eons ago, on March 3, I delivered what has likely turned out to be my last in-person appellate oral argument for quite some time to a three-judge panel of the Pennsylvania Superior Court sitting in Philadelphia.

By Howard J. Bashman

7 minute read