Raffi Melkonian
@rmfifthcircuit.bsky.social
Appellate lawyer at Wright, Close & Barger in Houston, with a Fifth Circuit and TX appellate practice. So-called Dean, #appellatetwitter. Host of The Appellate Wanderer podcast
Pinned
The lineup is fantastic. Both Yokozuna, Ura, kinbozan, aonishki
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
Supreme Court did not seem very receptive to the idea that a Rastafarian man should be able to seek damages under a federal law called RLUIPA from Louisiana prison officials who cut his locks in violation of his religious rights:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court skeptical of Rastafarian man's religious rights claim
Damon Landor is seeking damages after Louisiana prison officials cut off his dreadlocks in violation of his religious beliefs.
www.nbcnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:32 PM
Supreme Court did not seem very receptive to the idea that a Rastafarian man should be able to seek damages under a federal law called RLUIPA from Louisiana prison officials who cut his locks in violation of his religious rights:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
I'm a little surprised that Gorsuch was the primary justice arguing against a recovery in this case
This case has one of my favorite non-dispositive facts of all time - that the prisoner showed up to jail with a Fifth Circuit decision saying dreadlocks could not he cut, and the guards threw it out and shaved him anyway
At 10am, Supreme Court hears arguments in this religious rights case involving a Rastafarian prison inmate whose dreadlocks were cut off against his wishes:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
November 10, 2025 at 9:12 PM
I'm a little surprised that Gorsuch was the primary justice arguing against a recovery in this case
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
Vaguely amused that the SG cited Politico rather than, I don't know, the Congressional record or some primary source.
UPDATE: Trump administration confirms it continues to seek a stay to deny full food stamp benefits but says the application may soon be mooted when the government reopens
November 10, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Vaguely amused that the SG cited Politico rather than, I don't know, the Congressional record or some primary source.
Basically, the putsch ultimately succeeded, which is galling to say but that's what happened.
Let the record show that President Donald Trump issued mass preemptive pardons to those involved in his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election five years to the day since the Four Seasons Landscaping debacle in Philadelphia.
Trump Completes Jan. 6 Autocoup With Mass Preemptive Pardons
For My Friends, Everything … Let the record show that President Donald...
talkingpointsmemo.com
November 10, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Basically, the putsch ultimately succeeded, which is galling to say but that's what happened.
The whole point of insurance is that most people don't make a claim. It doesn't work otherwise.
Tell me you don’t understand risk pools without telling me you don’t understand risk pools
November 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
The whole point of insurance is that most people don't make a claim. It doesn't work otherwise.
This case has one of my favorite non-dispositive facts of all time - that the prisoner showed up to jail with a Fifth Circuit decision saying dreadlocks could not he cut, and the guards threw it out and shaved him anyway
At 10am, Supreme Court hears arguments in this religious rights case involving a Rastafarian prison inmate whose dreadlocks were cut off against his wishes:
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
www.nbcnews.com/politics/sup...
Supreme Court weighs Rastafarian man's religious rights claim over shorn dreadlocks
Damon Landor is seeking damages after Louisiana prison officials cut off his dreadlocks in violation of his religious beliefs.
www.nbcnews.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:56 PM
This case has one of my favorite non-dispositive facts of all time - that the prisoner showed up to jail with a Fifth Circuit decision saying dreadlocks could not he cut, and the guards threw it out and shaved him anyway
Lamest opposition party ever
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Lamest opposition party ever
A 50 year mortgage would just cause house prices to increase, right?
November 9, 2025 at 2:59 PM
A 50 year mortgage would just cause house prices to increase, right?
Don’t get me wrong, this is nuts, but it’s also far more cogent than I’d expect, so I doubt he wrote it.
The president seems to have been briefed on how the tariffs oral argument at SCOTUS went:
November 9, 2025 at 2:26 PM
Don’t get me wrong, this is nuts, but it’s also far more cogent than I’d expect, so I doubt he wrote it.
Pay down the debt by televising ripping these garish things off the wall in 2028 on pay per view
He was elected thanks to microplastics so it makes sense he’d decorate with macroplastics
November 8, 2025 at 11:28 PM
Pay down the debt by televising ripping these garish things off the wall in 2028 on pay per view
On a whim I picked up a role playing magazine from the early 80s, and enjoyed this letter to the editor complaining about an oped saying that computer games would never really be art. At the end, the author says “I know what computers can do, and you’ll find out soon.” Prescient!
November 8, 2025 at 10:07 PM
On a whim I picked up a role playing magazine from the early 80s, and enjoyed this letter to the editor complaining about an oped saying that computer games would never really be art. At the end, the author says “I know what computers can do, and you’ll find out soon.” Prescient!
I’ve realized one thing I’ve given the Kid by where we live is that he doesn’t exist under the constant threat of having to go Colonial Williamsburg if the weather is even ok
November 8, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I’ve realized one thing I’ve given the Kid by where we live is that he doesn’t exist under the constant threat of having to go Colonial Williamsburg if the weather is even ok
Listening to the Bankman-Fried appeal on my morning walk, and merits aside, that is very much a New York City style Appellants’ argument.
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions
United States Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov
November 8, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Listening to the Bankman-Fried appeal on my morning walk, and merits aside, that is very much a New York City style Appellants’ argument.
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions
ww3.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling?
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
190. SNAP WTF?
A very quick explainer on what (and why) Justice Jackson issued an "administrative stay" in the SNAP case late on Friday night, and on what's likely to happen next
www.stevevladeck.com
November 8, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Trying to figure out what #SCOTUS just did with #SNAP, and why Justice Jackson temporarily froze the district court's ruling?
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
Via "One First," me on what's going on—and why I think Jackson's move was savvy, notwithstanding the awful circumstances that forced it:
www.stevevladeck.com/p/190-snap-wtf
Nice to see a per curiam win from SCOTX this morning for our firm on a Rule 702 issue. Could be useful for anyone fighting about expert admissibility.
www.txcourts.gov/media/146151...
www.txcourts.gov/media/146151...
![[T]he expert witness paints a powerful image on the litigation
canvas,” possessing a “vast potential for influence.” In re Christus
Spohn Hosp. Kleberg, 222 S.W.3d 434, 440 (Tex. 2007). The expert in
this case is a former family court judge who opined on the central
disputed issue in the case, testifying before the jury that, in her view,
the parties were informally married. She expressed that opinion
repeatedly and emphatically, though none of the relevant evidence was
technical, specialized, or otherwise beyond an ordinary person’s
understanding. Compounding the problem, she lent her opinion
credibility by explaining that she formed it using the same methodology
she employed when she presided over informal-marriage cases as a
judge. Unsurprisingly, the jury was persuaded and found an informal
marriage existed.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:b2zlnxrfackjw5h3lbemyqg5/bafkreia4bjp72kxytiyplyfvuhksrs5b6hmv4ssdikggranflm2k3zcxxi@jpeg)
November 7, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Nice to see a per curiam win from SCOTX this morning for our firm on a Rule 702 issue. Could be useful for anyone fighting about expert admissibility.
www.txcourts.gov/media/146151...
www.txcourts.gov/media/146151...
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
FTW
Some lawyers get all the best closing arguments.
This stuff never happens in international arbitration. Sigh.
This stuff never happens in international arbitration. Sigh.
Asks, “Would a man genuinely injured, genuinely offended by having a sandwich thrown at him proudly, happily, joyfully” keep a plush sandwich on his shelf and a “Felony Footlong” patch on — yes! — his lunchbox?
November 6, 2025 at 8:11 PM
FTW
November 6, 2025 at 7:35 PM
The funniest thing happening in Houston is that the personal injury Pusch-Nguyen has broken up in spectacular fashion,and Pusch replaced Nguyen with a guy named Wynne.
I can't find my pics of the more obviously "we could be a yaoi-bait TV show teehee" themed ones, but here's this snap from when I was back on Htown for a funeral a couple months ago:
November 6, 2025 at 2:20 AM
The funniest thing happening in Houston is that the personal injury Pusch-Nguyen has broken up in spectacular fashion,and Pusch replaced Nguyen with a guy named Wynne.
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
Got an email this morning with an article about AI potentially hallucinating metadata. Now here's a thread about a lawyer who used AI that hallucinated statements in an affidavit. Everyone should be aware, it's not just about fake authorities.
#LegalEthics Tidbit: OK, #AI is not reliable for legal research. But it’s really good at accurately summarizing documents, right? RIGHT!?
In response to a summary judgement motion, a TX plaintiff’s lawyer wanted to submit a witness affidavit that compared ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/ePra8vFB
#lawsky #law
In response to a summary judgement motion, a TX plaintiff’s lawyer wanted to submit a witness affidavit that compared ... (cont.)
lnkd.in/ePra8vFB
#lawsky #law
November 5, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Got an email this morning with an article about AI potentially hallucinating metadata. Now here's a thread about a lawyer who used AI that hallucinated statements in an affidavit. Everyone should be aware, it's not just about fake authorities.
My thread for my not-so-live skeet of the tariff arguments.
/1
/1
November 5, 2025 at 8:35 PM
My thread for my not-so-live skeet of the tariff arguments.
/1
/1
I've been saying the Pope is just saying standard catholic teaching on immigration, and he is, but at this point I have to admit he's repeating it a little more & with more force than can be attributed to "he's just Popeing."
“How did you receive the foreigner? And did you receive him and welcome him or not?”
Pope Leo XIV challenges us to reflect on the moral cost of policies that target deeply-root immigrants and families.
Pope Leo XIV challenges us to reflect on the moral cost of policies that target deeply-root immigrants and families.
November 5, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I've been saying the Pope is just saying standard catholic teaching on immigration, and he is, but at this point I have to admit he's repeating it a little more & with more force than can be attributed to "he's just Popeing."
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November 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
So that's a really good question.
sdklfj Gorsuch asked a question like, so if the pres unliterally declared a 50% tariff on all gas-powered vehicles to respond to the unusual & extraordinary threat of global warming?
DOJ says well we'd say that's a hoax & not a threat
Gorsuch dripping w condescension goes I'm sure you would lmao
DOJ says well we'd say that's a hoax & not a threat
Gorsuch dripping w condescension goes I'm sure you would lmao
November 5, 2025 at 6:09 PM
So that's a really good question.
Right. This is the thing Sauer doesn't get, in part because he's performing for an audience who doesn't care about that sort of persuasion (imo).
General advice for oral advocates (not only Sauer): The goal is not to win debaters' points or to stuff in as many answers as you can before an interjection--it's to have the sort of conversation you would have with a trusted, wise friend or colleague if you were actually trying to convince them.[7]
November 5, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Right. This is the thing Sauer doesn't get, in part because he's performing for an audience who doesn't care about that sort of persuasion (imo).