I have two significant cases pending at the moment:
- Corbett v. City of New York, 18-CV-7022 (S.D.N.Y.), challenging New York City’s requirement that one must give a “good reason” and answer invasive, irrelevant questions, when applying for a license to carry a handgun.
- Corbett v. Transportation Security Administration, 15-15717 (11th Cir.), challenging the TSA’s assertion that it may refuse to allow passengers to “opt out” of the nude body scanners as it sees fit.
My readers regularly ask me (in comments, on Twitter, by e-mail, etc.) for updates, and my answer is always the same: I’ll post them as soon as I have them. The gun rights case above has had the government’s motion to dismiss pending before the court, fully briefed (that is, all parties have been completely heard and we are just waiting on a ruling), for 5 months. Especially considering the government shutdown earlier this year, that’s not abnormal.
However, yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of the TSA case being fully briefed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which has neglected the case for that amount of time. This is not the usual amount of time to wait on an appeal, so I sent that court an anniversary card this afternoon. I wouldn’t exactly say that courts “appreciate” reminders that they are taking too long, but at some point, the prejudice to my case and our rights outweighs the risk of offending a judge’s feelings.
There is no statutory limit to how long a court can take, although courts often rule within 6 months because they have to report to Congress when cases take longer. Be patient with me — and I promise I’ll post updates as they come.
Professional Troublemaker ® 
Oh yes, Federal courts are fun to play law in, but I view them as our “file and forget” courts. So I usually stick with our North Dakota courts with Federal law. Still not likely to win, but it is cheaper, easier and I get to see my results while I am still alive and walking the Earth. Anyway, keep up the good work Jonathan.
I just have to wonder, why is the TSA case being held up for so long? It’s like they are scared to rule on it for some reason.
While at it, is there a way to get notified of comments without me having to post a comment? I sometimes want to read the comments because some are interesting but I can’t figure out how to do that without posting a comment. Am I missing a button somewhere?
Viewing from a computer (not a phone), on the right side of the page, there should be a blue “Follow Professional Troublemaker” button.
I tried the one right below that, it subscribes me to the blog itself which I did long time ago. I didn’t realize the one above that was clickable tho. I’ll try to remember to try that on your next blog. Maybe that will do the trick.
Thanks much.
Ah, you want to receive every comment on every post? Unfortunately there’s no easy subscribe feature to do that, but I’m sure there’s an RSS reader or something that does such a thing.
That was my thought, also–he doesn’t want to ignore the facts in making a ruling and he doesn’t want to rule against the government so he’s simply not saying anything.
Thanks for continuing to fight to get the facts out of TSA. A lot of folks appreciate your hard work and savvy on this cause.
With respect to the licensing case, I’m surprised the court has not issued a stay until other proceedings are complete. There is a case pending in the Supreme Court, NYSRPA v NYC, regarding transporting of guns. This has caused the 9th circuit to issue a stay on an open carry licensing case. Several other 2A cases seem to be “on hold” regarding certiorari decisions as well.
Although the SCOTUS case does not directly bear on yours, the courts might be waiting to see what kind of guidance regarding interest balance testing and the “core of 2A” vs using text and historical basis is given. So, I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for a decision here.
If I were a betting person, SCOTUS will rule narrowly on the NYSRPA v NYC (because the transportation rule is SO stupid and out of the mainstream), and find a better vehicle to rule more expansively on 2A… Rogers v Grewal is a much better vehicle for that (to be considered on May 23), and that would have direct implications on your case. If Rogers is granted cert, you can be pretty sure that a stay pending the outcome of that case will be issued.