Raffi Melkonian

Congrats!

“Dear JJ - you haven’t responded to my 73 emails. You’re busy, I get it. That’s why I’ve put a meeting on your calendar for tomorrow! Let’s get this done.”

It is a disservice to our branch for any inferior officer to speak of “rebuk[ing]” or “policing” another. In that spirit, we would all do well to remember our late colleague Judge Reavley’s kind and gentle reminder that “[t]he trial judge is the key to the administration of justice. . . . [I]t is a function of the circuit judge to be an enabler of the trial judge, because the trial court is the point of delivery of justice.” Thomas M. Reavley, TMR’s Judicial Philosophy, in Reavley on Law, Judging, and the Good Life 7, 7, 9 (Bryan A. Garner ed., 2022); see also Alvin B. Rubin, Views from the Lower Court, 23 UCLA L. Rev. 448, 452 (1976) (“In these endeavors, hyperbole and metaphor are more frequently a hindrance than a help.”).

But Judge Higginson intervened just to push back on that, invoking the much-beloved late Judge Reavley.

All in all, the Court continues to have some very sharp disagreements, and without any inside knowledge, that's the most anyone can say.
/3

First, Judge Jones’s important dissent details the troubling series of actions by the district court. I join her call to arms on the need for appellate courts to police insubordination in the district courts. See also In re Westcott, 135 F.4th 243, 250 & n.1, 251 (5th Cir. 2025) (Ho, J., concurring). One hopes that district courts in our circuit will heed her message.1

Judge Ho concurred on this point, saying that the Fifth Circuit has the duty to police "insubordination." /2

I respectfully dissent from this court’s failure to rehear this appeal en banc and forcefully rebuke the district court’s gamesmanship that avoided the requirements of federal law. The authority of federal courts springs from our adherence to governing law,

There was a pretty fierce dispute in CA5 last week about a district court's behavior. Long story short, a group of CA5 judges believe the judge was manipulating the length of injunctions to avoid review.

Judge Jones wrote to "forcefully rebuke" the district judge. 1/

Yes

Exclusive | Trump Administration to Drop Defense of Law Firm Sanctions The Justice Dept. plans to abandon its defense of the president’s executive orders that targeted Jenner & Block, WilmerHale, Perkins Coie, and Susman Godfrey.

WHOA: WSJ reporting that DOJ is dropping its appeals of the four law firm executive order rulings as soon as today. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

I missed this, but stay issuance of the mandate based on *what?*

BREAKING

The Federal Circuit immediately issues the mandates in the tariffs litigation, rejecting the Trump admin's request for further delay. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump has articulated like 6 different "goals," most of which are inconsistent with the other ones. It's a mess.

At least 22 people killed in Pakistan as protesters try to storm US Consulate Authorities say at least 22 people were killed and more than 120 wounded in clashes with police on Sunday after protesters tried to storm the U.S.

On #1, the articles are very squirrely about where exactly the protestors got and who exactly shot them. Someone shot them.

apnews.com/article/paki...

But I mean we gave them our best stuff? Or is our outdated stuff also good enough to blow up our own planes?

2b: assuming they shot down the planes with our stuff, is that supposed to work?

Two stories I’m curious about:

1) did the protestors in Karachi breach the US consulate? Did we shoot them or did the Pakistani security services?

2) what did the Kuwaitis shoot down our planes with?

#AppellateSky :)

Onions don’t caramelize in 15 minutes, Part 7342.

What is the mission? I’ve no clue.

Those formules dejeuner are so incredible

Let he who has not thought this cast the first stone.

Oh, maybe it’s different now. This was a long time ago.

I had so many arguments with French people about this. It’s hilarious.

At the time maybe 8. But yeah.

“No it’s true, they are loaded.”

“Ok but how are they getting loaded selling flour at a 1% margin?”

“The sandwiches! The lunch deals!”

“My dude the lunch deal is a soda, a full adult sandwich, and a cake for 6 euros”

“A scandal!!”

I’ve had so many lunches of a 1.2 euro baguette from the bakery and a “bad” supermarket Brie.

Though I will say regular French people think bakers are rich because they do all their trade in cash and thus allegedly cheat the rapacious French tax man.

I certainly would not offer him an American baguette

For those who didn’t read my blog 20 years ago 😂 I once spent a week with a family friend working in his Boulangerie in the Paris suburbs. A hard job (for him. I did squat). But rewarding. Not financially tho

The article says his baguette is aged for 14 hours before baking for peak flavor. That’s a pretty long fermentation for a baguette.

While we sit around to find out how bad exactly it all is, a bit of cheer: the best baguette of Paris competition was won by a Sri Lankan who appears to have started as a dish washer in restaurants and eventually trained as a Boulanger.

www.paris.fr/pages/la-mei...

Very much.