W&M 3Ls Jon Gharib, Jack Kerdasha, and Raahim Zaidi did excellent work on this brief. My immense thanks to them.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Somewhat relatedly, there was also a recent decision from the Seventh Circuit on the deadline for seeking a partial judgment under Rule 54(b).

finaldecisions.org/the-timeline...

A few years ago, it looked like courts were starting to re-examine whether district courts can "re-certify" orders after a party misses the deadline for seeking permission to appeal.

finaldecisions.org/another-cour...

See: finaldecisions.org/new-article-...

I saw this decision, too, and I think it's seriously mistaken—and not in the way the panel seemed to think. This looks like a case of conflating the existence of a "final decisions" (which give appellate courts jurisdiction) with the entry of a "final judgment" (which starts the appeal clock).

My quick read suggests that this makes the common mistake (at 15–16) of thinking that a defense's being an immunity is sufficient for the collateral-order doctrine. But a defense still needs to be separate from the merits, which many (most? all?) defenses aren't.

finaldecisions.org/immunities-t...

I wrote a bit about this a few weeks ago, when Judge Oldham mentioned it in a footnote that the other panel members didn't join.

finaldecisions.org/questioning-...