Ninth Circuit Rebukes Judge for Blocking Out-of-State Attorneys

Here is some interesting legal news from last month:

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rebuked a Nevada district court judge for denying pro hac vice admission to Department of Justice lawyers based in Washington, D.C., The National Law Journal's Zoe Tillman reports.

Tillman reports that U.S. District Judge Robert Jones had concerns about the "'ethical commitments'" of out-of-state government lawyers, but the Ninth Circuit opined that "'generalized doubts about all government attorneys’ ethical commitments are not valid grounds for denying an individual attorney’s application for pro hac vice admission."'

Even though Jones reversed his previous order denying the the U.S. attorney permission to appear in USA V. USDC-NVR, the panel held that this did not render the controversy moot because it was reasonable to expect that Jones might issue such an order again.

The case was one of first impression.