Steve Klepper
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mdappeal.bsky.social
Steve Klepper
@mdappeal.bsky.social
1K followers 180 following 75 posts
Baltimore-based MD & DC appellate lawyer. Founder of MdAppBlog. Editor, Appellate Practice for the Maryland Lawyer. 2024 MSBA Litigator of the Year. Advocate for singular “they.”
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Reposted by Steve Klepper
dnazarian.bsky.social
The Appellate Court of Maryland holds it monthly Conference today. Stay tuned for new reported opinions!
a cartoon illustration of a red circle with a white background .
Alt: a cartoon illustration of a banging gavel
media.tenor.com
October 28, 2025 at 12:45 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
What a difference a day makes! The Supreme Court of Maryland appears yo have switched to black robes except for special occasions (like yesterday’s opening day)

mdappblog.com/2025/09/05/m...
Maryland’s justices wearing red robes on Thursday and black robes on Friday
September 5, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
dnazarian.bsky.social
The Appellate Court of Maryland holds its monthly Conference this morning. Watch for new reported opinions!
a man in a bowling alley says " yeah well that 's just like your opinion man . "
ALT: a man in a bowling alley says " yeah well that 's just like your opinion man . "
media.tenor.com
August 26, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
stevevladeck.bsky.social
In “things I’ve never seen before,” the Trump administration is suing Maryland’s federal district judges—challenging the standing order the district court put in place that briefly bars removals of migrants after they initially file habeas petitions there:

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
storage.courtlistener.com
June 25, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
brendannyhan.bsky.social
McSweeney's: New York Times’ Style Guide Substitutions for "The President Violated the Constitution" www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/new...
June 4, 2025 at 12:22 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
WOW
Fourth Circuit holds that a jurisdiction-stripping statute depends on a functioning Merit Systems Protections Board and Special Counsel. Because we don’t have those, the Court remands to decide whether court has jurisdiction
www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/232...
www.ca4.uscourts.gov
June 3, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
benjaminjs.bsky.social
Target's bold "Pride" collection this year features a colorless hoodie with the words "Out Loud & Proud" written teeny tiny only the string.
May 30, 2025 at 8:11 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
daniellecitron.bsky.social
UVA’s President Jim Ryan is an exemplary leader and educator and I’m so proud to work here. Please sign on to show your support and combat the absurd disinformation that UVA is in decline. The opposite under President Ryan’s leadership is true. We are thriving. form.jotform.com/251478017358...
UVA Sign-On Letter
Please click the link to complete this form.
form.jotform.com
May 29, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
pfandrews.bsky.social
Seeing as Emil Bove personally fired me from DOJ in retaliation for prosecuting January 6 rioters, I don’t think he should be confirmed to a lifetime seat as a federal judge. But that’s just me.
leahlitman.bsky.social Leah Litman @leahlitman.bsky.social · May 28
And ... this (Emil Bove nominated to a court of appeals) appears to be happening?
Trump post on X nominating Bove
May 28, 2025 at 10:30 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
It’s my annual
roundup of the Maryland certiorari statistics that matter: grant rates that exclude pro se petitions

mdappblog.com/2025/05/27/m...
Maryland Certiorari Statistics, 2024 Term
By Steve Klepper The judiciary’s annual statistical reports give the overall grant rate for civil and criminal certiorari petitions. But, because unrepresented (pro se) parties file the majority of…
mdappblog.com
May 27, 2025 at 1:01 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
Maryland federal court issues a standing order automatically staying removals for two business days upon filing of a habeas petition with name and alien ID number

www.mdd.uscourts.gov/sites/mdd/fi...
The All Writs Act permits courts to “issue all writs necessary or appropriate in aid of their respective jurisdictions and agreeable to the usages and principles of law.” 28 U.S.C. § 1651(a). Further, the Supreme Court recognizes “a limited judicial power to preserve the court’s jurisdiction or maintain the status quo by injunction pending review of an agency’s action through the prescribed statutory channels.” F.T.C. v. Dean Foods Co., 384 U.S. 597, 604 (1966) (citing cases). Accordingly, in order to preserve existing conditions and the potential jurisdiction of this Court over pending matters while the Court determines the scope of its authority to grant the request relief; to ensure Petitioners are able to participate in the adjudication of their requests for habeas relief, including participation in court proceedings and access to legal counsel for such purpose; to ensure the Court is able to evaluate their respective claims for relief based on their in-court testimony that may be offered; and to ensure the Government has a fulsome opportunity to brief and present arguments in its defense, it is hereby ORDERED by the United States District Court for the District of Maryland that upon the filing of a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241 on behalf of an alien detainee, the Government/Respondents, including all those acting for them or on their behalf, are ENJOINED and RESTRAINED from removing Petitioners in such cases from the continental United States or altering their legal status, provided that Petitioner’s full name and A# have been provided to the Court, either in the Petition or in a separate sealed filing
May 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
davidjbier.bsky.social
Cato has published my comprehensive review of the ~240 Venezuelans the US government renditioned 2 months ago to Salvador’s notorious prison. We identified FIFTY who came legally, never violated any immigration law, but are imprisoned at the US government’s request and at US taxpayer expense.
May 19, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
walterolson.bsky.social
Trump admin in Judge Xinis’s courtroom is like a poorly programmed contempt chatbot.
annabower.bsky.social Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · May 16
Xinis: Anything else before a go back to Rossman?

Guynn: Nothing further on state secrets.

Rossman strides to the lectern now for Abrego Garcia.

"My head is spinning" based on what I've heard from the government. They've told us nothing. Zero. Nothing.
May 16, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
mjsdc.bsky.social
BREAKING: The Supreme Court holds that the Trump administration violated the due process rights of Venezuelan migrants last month in its rushed effort to expel them to El Salvador in the middle of the night (which SCOTUS blocked). Alito and Thomas dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
May 16, 2025 at 7:51 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
annabower.bsky.social
HAPPENING NOW: Hello from Greenbelt, MD, where a federal judge will hear arguments over whether the Trump administration can invoke the state secrets privilege to withhold information about what it has done to facilitate Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the US.

I'm here for @lawfaremedia.org 🧵
Supporters of Kilmar Abrego Garcia outside the courthouse in Maryland
May 16, 2025 at 4:53 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
Back in March, the Kleppers brainstormed potential Sunrise on the Reaping casting, and so far we got one right! Love love love Maya Hawke as Wiress
- [ ] Wiress: Maya Hawke - [ ] Haymitch: Walker Scobel - [ ] Magno: Titus Burgess - [ ] Effie: Chloe Fineman - [ ] Drusilla: Parker Posey - [ ] Lenore Dove: Jenna Ortega
May 14, 2025 at 9:50 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
Related?
Two push alerts, one about new pope chosen, one about Trump replacing US Attorney pick Ed Martin
May 8, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
chrisgeidner.bsky.social
BREAKING: The full D.C. Circuit, on a 7-4 vote, requires the government to pay Radio Free Europe’s April contract, as well as a handful of other obligations.

The en banc court issued an administrative stay of several of the panel’s rulings below — putting Judge Lamberth’s orders back into effect.
United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT September Term, 2024 1:25-cv-00966-RCL Filed On: May 7, 2025 Middle East Broadcasting Networks, Inc., Appellee v. United States of America, et al., Appellants No. 25-5151 1:25-cv-00907-RCL Radio Free Asia, Appellee v. United States of America, et al., Appellants USCA Case #25-5144 Document #2114884 Filed: 05/07/2025 Page 2 of 14 United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT September Term, 2024 No. 25-5150 No. 25-5158 1:25-cv-00799-RCL RFE/RL, Inc., V. Appellee Appellants BEFORE: Srinivasan, Chief Judge, and Henderson*, Millett, Pillard, Wilkins, Katsas*, Rao*, Walker*, Childs, Pan, and Garcia, Circuit Judges ORDER Upon consideration of the emergency petition for rehearing en banc in Nos. 25-5150 and 25-5151, which requests en banc reconsideration and vacatur of the court's May 3, 2025 order entered in Nos. 25-5144, 25-5145, 25-5150, and 25-5151 granting the government's motions for stay pending appeal in those cases, and the response thereto; the emergency petition for initial hearing en banc in No. 25-5158, which the court construes as a petition for rehearing en banc requesting en banc reconsideration and vacatur of the court's May 7, 2025 order entered in No. 25-5158 granting the government's motion for stay pending appeal in that case, and the response thereto; and the Rule 28(j) letter in No. 25-5158, it is ORDERED, on the court's own motion, that the following parts of the court's May 3, 2025 order in Nos. 25-5144, 25-5145, 25-5150, and 25-5151 be administratively stayed pending further order of the court: In No. 25-5144, staying provision (2) of the district court's preliminary injunction filed April 22, 2025; In No. 25-5150, staying the district court's preliminary injunction filed April 25, 2025; USCA Case #25-5144| Document #2114884 Filed: 05/07/2025 Page 3 of 14 United States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT No. 25-5150 September Term, 2024 In No. 25-5151, staying the district court's preliminary injunction filed April 25, 2025. It is FURTHER ORDERED, on the court's own motion, that the court's May 7, 2025 order entered in No. 25-5158 be administratively stayed pending further order of the court. The purpose of this administrative stay is to give the court sufficient opportunit • consider the emergency petitions and should not be construed in any way as a ruling on the merits of those petitions. See D.C. Circuit Handbook of Practice and Internal Procedures 33 (2024). Per Curiam
May 8, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
rickhasen.bsky.social
My new one @theatlantic.com: When judges act as partisan hacks, it is important to condemn their conduct. But just as important is lauding the Republican judges who stand up against election subversion, including the Trump-appointed federal judge Myers

www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...
America Needs More Judges Like Judge Myers
He did the right thing in North Carolina’s Supreme Court fight, and he deserves praise.
www.theatlantic.com
May 7, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
mjsdc.bsky.social
HUGE ruling—by a conservative judge—that is almost certain to be affirmed by the 4th Circuit and is unlikely to be disturbed by SCOTUS. Justice Riggs’ final victory draws much closer.
bryanranderson.bsky.social Bryan Anderson @bryanranderson.bsky.social · May 5
BREAKING: U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers orders the NC State Board of Elections to certify a 734-vote win for Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and rejects all of Griffin's election protests. Judge stays order for one week so Griffin may appeal. #ncpol
May 5, 2025 at 10:54 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
mikescarcella.bsky.social
US judge orders North Carolina to certify Democrat winner of court election www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
US judge orders North Carolina to certify Democrat winner of court election
A federal judge ordered North Carolina's election board on Monday to not throw out any ballots cast by voters in November in a close race for a seat on the state's Supreme Court and to certify a sitting Democratic justice's electoral victory.
www.reuters.com
May 6, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
jessbravin.bsky.social
Paul Clement is perhaps the most sought-after conservative lawyer in the country. Increasingly, those seeking him are clients in litigation against the Trump administration. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/... w/@janwolfe
How This Conservative Lawyer Became One of Trump’s Toughest Foes in Court
The former star of the George W. Bush administration adds conservative credibility for clients in litigation against the administration.
www.wsj.com
May 5, 2025 at 6:47 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
daralind.bsky.social
Shoutout to Daniel Bice of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, who’s been on the Judge Dugan story all week. You can catch up on his coverage here www.jsonline.com/staff/264800...
Daniel Bice
Daniel Bice is a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Watchdog team.
www.jsonline.com
April 25, 2025 at 3:15 PM
mdappeal.bsky.social
Maryland cert grants are up!
mdappblog.com/2025/04/25/a...
April 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants Include Climate Change Litigation
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted two civil petitions, including in climate change litigation. Both matters have been scheduled for argument in October.
mdappblog.com
April 25, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Reposted by Steve Klepper
shannonwlocke.bsky.social
Watching a Federal sentencing. Defense attorney raises an objection to his client being affiliated with MS13 in the pre-sentence report. The judge asks, how do you know that? They could say that about anyone. Response: It's just in the system
April 24, 2025 at 2:37 PM