Raffi Melkonian

@rmfifthcircuit

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

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Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 8h

lol, Trump media's gross revenue - Revenue! Not profit! - is about what a junior biglaw associate generates a year for a firm

Trump Media & Technology Group on Monday reported a net loss of more than $238 million for its fiscal second quarter on revenue of less than $2
million.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 8h

I love when I run into descriptions of meals in primary sources. Here, a typical dinner at the English College of Rome in the 16th Century. Antipasto: anchovies or prune and raisins Soup Boiled meats, then roasted meats And a dessert of cheese and fruits

As for their fare, trust me it is very fine and
delicate, for euery man hath his owne The
Irentcher, his Manchet, knife, spoone, and variety of forke layde by it, & then a fayre white napkin and dishes,
couering it, with his glasse and pot of wine set dainti-by him. And the first messe, or Antepast (as the nesse of
they call it) that is brought to the Table, is Englishe some fine meat to vrge them haue an appetite:
mensfare.
as sometime the Spanish Anchouies, and sometime stued Prunes and Raysons of the Sun together, hauing such fine tarte sirope made to them, as I promise you a weake stomacke would very wel digest them. The second, is a certaine messe of potage of that Countrey manner, no meat sod in them, but are made of diuers thinges, whose proper names I doo not remember: but me thought they were
The order
38
THE ENGLISHE
bothe good and wholsome. The thirde, is boylde meate, as Kid, Mutton, Chickin, and
of the daintiest prouision that they can get, and sometime stewde and bakte meate, according as pleaseth Maister Cooke to order it. The first and last, is some time Cheese, some time preserued conceytes, some tyme Figges, Almonds and Raysons, a Limon and Sugar, a Pomegranate, or some such sweete geere: for they knowe that Englishmen looueth sweete meates.
And all the dinner whule one of the

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 3d

ha HA www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

PATRICK E. HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judge:
We are seeing with some frequency claims of "overdetention," now a euphemism for prisoners illegally incarcerated beyond the terms of their sentence. Unfortunately, many of these cases have come to this Court in recent years. This is yet another from Louisiana.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 3d

whyTho.gif www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/d...

Smart diners will skip the greasy gringas in favor of the brisket burgers; they’re misted with dry-aged garum

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 7d

Semi-interested in the story of a guy licensed to practice law in 40 jurisdictions

geographic happenstance.
Geoffrey Polk lives in Illinois. He is licensed to practice law in at least forty jurisdictions, including Texas, and holds title-producer licenses in twenty-four States. Texas concedes that he satisfies every requirement for an

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 7d

Ca5 enjoins sort of obviously improper Texas law that only allows you to become an escrow officer if you live in Texas or a state adjoining Texas www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

DON R. WILLETT, Circuit Judge:
Texas will license an escrow officer who lives in Aztec, New Mexico-nearly 280 miles from the Texas border. It will not license one who lives in Elkhart, Kansas—barely forty miles. Why? New Mexico shares a border with Texas and Kansas does not. Article IV requires more than geographic happenstance.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 9d

Finally got around to reading the 0 stars review of Marcel in New York, and realized that the souffle described as tasting only of empty texture is $32! Also, the sides arms race in NYC has gotten untenable. $22 side spinach! www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/d...

souffle aux cinq fromage, $10 supplement on $22 fee for sides.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 9d

What kind of district judging is this? You give the government extra time? In a criminal case? Why? (Surprise! There's no remedy) media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Hernandez argues that her trial was unfair in several re-spects. Most significantly, she challenges the district court's decision to grant the government ten more minutes for closing argument than it allotted to her. Although district courts have broad discretion to set the total amount of time for closing arguments and although this discretion extends to allocating that time between the parties the district court did not justifiably exercise that discretion here. Instead, the district court applied an unusual pre-sumption: it said that the party with the burden of proof (here, the government) should have more time for closing argument. We agree with Hernandez that the district court abused its discretion by applying this unusual presumption of unequal treatment. None-theless, we cannot say that this error was prejudicial. The difference in argument time was small, and the evidence of Hernandez's fraud was overwhelming. Accordingly, we are convinced that the court's error was harmless.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 9d

If you're interested in big law drama, NYTs piece on how Scott Barshay (a famous and also famously unpleasant deal lawyer) gobbled up Paul Weiss is pretty good. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...

At a dinner with young litigators the next year at Marea, a fancy Italian restaurant on Central Park South, Mr. Barshay belittled the litigators, saying that they were soft and didn’t know how to bring in business, according to a current Paul Weiss partner and three former partners. Some sent what amounted to S.O.S. texts to colleagues who weren’t there, said two of the former partners, who received them.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 11d

I think there is more chance that Hamas has agreed to be shot to mars by Elon than this headline being true.

Trump Claims Hamas Has Agreed to Disarmament Deal in Gaza

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 12d

Judge Willett says - as clear as you can say it - the First Amendment does not allow for liability for being famous and in a protest, and he calls for SCOTUS to act.

The Court should grant review and restore the constitutional line
between advocacy and violence. Political speakers may be held to account for
violence they commit, authorize, direct, ratify, or intentionally incite. But
they may not be conscripted as insurers of a crowd—or as substitute
defendants for an unknown assailant—simply because they were visible,
prominent, and nearest the microphone.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 12d

A strong dissent from denial of rehearing by Judge Willett in McKesson - the case where the Fifth Circuit upheld liability for a Black Lives Matter leader when there is no evidence he had anything at all to do with a police officer's injury. 1/ www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

Strip away the euphemisms, and the rule is stark: a freestanding tort
of negligent protest—liability imposed on Mckesson not for causing Ford’s
injury, but for failing to foresee that someone else might cause it.
Nor will the rule remain confined to Mckesson, Black Lives Matter, or
protests against police conduct. It will govern every cause and every
viewpoint. The most visible speaker may become the ready-made defendant
whenever an unidentified person in the crowd—even an interloper or
provocateur—turns violent. The predictable consequence is self-censorship.
Citizens will think twice before organizing, promoting, attending, or lending

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 12d

What is the breakdown? Do the beavers get a rebuttal?

Schedule
Date: Aug 1, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM
Duration: 1 hour
1 Hour.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 12d

OK, but listen, Acadia national park is nice, but I would like to have a beaver mock trial here. (from a friend)

Beaver Court: The Beaver on Trial
Acadia National Park

Aug 1, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Free
Join a Ranger at Blackwoods Campground Amphitheater to participate in a family-friendly mock trial activity about the history and future of beavers in the park. Learn about the changes we see beavers creating in the forest and how they're essential to Acadia’s ecosystems.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 13d

For Fed Courts types, this is really interesting from CA7: If you sue someone, but don't really try to pursue them, that isn't fraudulent joinder. I think that is consistent with what SCOTUS has been saying in this space (see Hain Celestial, etc.) media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...

Next, the district court concluded that
the plaintiffs had not actively pursued their claims. The court
noted that the plaintiffs had conducted only a single ninety
minute deposition in support of their case against Pennsylva
nia Hospital, and only at the apparent urging of the state
court.15 This conduct, the district court concluded, was suffi
cient to support a determination of fraudulent joinder.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 13d

We had our first moot in our new office's moot court room today. Should have brought sparkling apple juice!

A conference room with a judicial bench and lectern

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 15d

Sigh.... CA10 reverses a jury verdict that assigned the tractor company 60% fault. www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 17d

Every single fact about the Trump orbit is, individually, the dumbest fact I've ever heard about an administration. That shouldn't be possible as a matter of physics and yet. www.ms.now/news/jd-vanc...

It hasn't hurt that Trump has been privately complimentary about Vance's weight loss, according to two people familiar with the comments. At an event in Michigan last month, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he and Vance were among several administration officials following a sauerkraut-heavy diet devised by the physician Dr. Sean O'Mara. The Wall Street Journal renorted

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 21d

OSHA lacks authority to regulate mental illness, under statutory authority to regulate workplace "illness," says CA5. www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub...

We must determine whether the best reading of 29 U.S.C.
§ 657(c)(2), which grants OSHA authority to "prescribe regulations requiring employers to maintain accurate records of ... work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses," confers upon OSHA the power to promulgate its mental-illness recording rule. Exxon contends that § 657(c)(2) does not delegate OSHA sufficient authority to authorize the rule; OSHA disagrees. 3
Tho

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 23d

My new house words: (Yes, I know it doesn't mean what it seems to mean)

A medieval coat of arms with the motto "mediocritas"

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 27d

I liked this on a wall for visitors to Houston for the World Cup. Poor Jon.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· 29d

I often have to walk by this facial shop and I can’t not laugh because all I am think of is the idea of dwarven smiths hammering faces deep under Erebor.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 10

I also was curious what the mitigation was supposed to have been. It's really an argument that the jury should have been instructed about mitigation - the appellants don't say how much the mitigation would have mattered - but I was startled to find this included that she should have taken drugs.

she failed to fill her prescription for an antipsychotic drug

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 10

Trying to explain why such a defense was made, I went to the briefs to see if maybe this was an issue of many millions of dollars. Not an explanation, but at least a reason. No, however.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 10

The behavior was disgusting and unacceptable. There's worse in the opinion if you want to read it yourself.

Sarah Budd worked as a Parts Clerk for SkyWest Airlines, eventually
transferring to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. While there, she
was subjected to demeaning sexual comments from her coworkers. For
example, maintenance supervisor Dallin Hansen asked her “if [she] liked
whips and chains and leathers” and if so, she would “get along just great
[t]here.” Hansen continued making similar comments and sexual jokes
towards Budd and would call her into his office to ask her personal questions.
At one point, he suggested “tak[ing] her and sell[ing] her out there [so they
could] make some money off of her.” Budd understood him to be referencing
the red-light district near the airport and implying that they should sell her as
a prostitute.
Other employees followed Hansen’s lead and made other innuendo
laden jokes and comments towards Budd. These included comments about
sex positions, using lube, and rape. She discussed the harassment with her
husband and told him about some of the comments in text messages.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 10

Geeze Louise. A woman won a suit against her employer for extremely nasty sexual harassment. I'll put what was said in the next post if you are interested. On appeal, the employer said she was required to *mitigate* her emotional harms (how, the opinion doesn't really say). 1/

yWest next argues that the duty to mitigate emotional damages is
such a well-established common law principle that we must presume
Congress meant for it to apply. But, while the duty to mitigate damages
generally is firmly established in the common law, the duty to mitigate
emotional damages specifically is not.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 9

It turns out Judge Ho was on that Panel, and he jumps in to say that judges make mistakes, maybe he made a mistake there. "A black robe is no guarantee of gray matter." /e

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 9

As he goes, Judge Smith also says there's this other "errant" unpublished making the same mistake. /5

The revised panel opinion joins an equally errant unpublished opinion on which
it relies, De Leon v. Munoz, No. 24-40215, 2025 WL 957500 (5th Cir. Mar. 31, 2025) (per
curiam) (unpublished). As a matter of meaningless coincidence, De Leon was decided the
same day as the district court order à quo.

Raffi Melkonian@rmfifthcircuit· Jul 9

Judge Smith dissents. He says that the defendants are trapped in groundhog day - their right to appeal denial of their qualified immunity has been frustrated. Note from me: QI appeals shouldn't be appealable as collateral orders anyway. But anyway, everyone disagrees with me. /4