So I have returned from Macedonia (if you want to know how to harmonize your regulatory framework with the EU Electricity Directive, give me a call). Here are a few items I find of current interest.
1. Planners' conference
Well, of course the most interesting thing is what I'll be doing, of course, and Thursday I am off to Belfast to talk about two of my favorite topics, administrative appeals and takings cases:
http://www.nnecapa.org/resource_files/presentations/2009_2009-08-17%20Registration%20Packet.pdf
This gives me the opportunity to do some comparing and contrasting among NH, ME and VT. I plan on talking about Vermont deeryards and New Hampshire home rule and the wacky world of physical v. regulatory takings, with Helen Edmonds of our office talking first about what happens at the administrative level before you get to the appeal.
2. The Supremes
They are, of course, back at work, with the first Monday in October coming up, and various issues on their calendar. One interesting case is Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Co. Oversight Bd, 537 F.3d 667 (D.C. Cir.) http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200808/07-5127-1134687.pdf The issue is separation of powers – whether the Sarbanes-Oxley Act violates the Constitution's separation of powers by vesting members of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board with executive power while stripping the President of authority to appoint or remove those members or otherwise supervise or control their exercise of that power. As I've mentioned before, the Maine Constitution is more of a stickler on separation of powers than is its U.S. counterpart, so if we get a finding of excessive delegation on the federal front, that could mean interesting developments in the Maine context.
3. A public hanging
Mark your calendars for the hanging of the portraits of Justices Dana and Calkins in the SJC court house October 1 (which also happens to be Julie Andrews' birthday, so lots to celebrate!).
