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
Aonishiki elevated to Ozeki!
In case there was ever any doubt - Aonishiki is now officially an ōzeki. Since the banzuke require two ōzeki to keep from teetering over its welcome 🤗 Possibly temporary cuz he’ll most, including Boss Hakkaku, surmise he’ll be yokozuna by next year. #hatsubasho2026
November 26, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Aonishiki elevated to Ozeki!
I really hope this incompetent and unethical "Habba" person hasn't gone on to do anything of import.
NEWS: A federal appeals court pane upholds the $1 million sanction against Trump and Habba for a "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton, Comey, et al.
"Many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments were indeed frivolous," Judge Pryor wrote.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
"Many of Trump’s and Habba’s legal arguments were indeed frivolous," Judge Pryor wrote.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 26, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I really hope this incompetent and unethical "Habba" person hasn't gone on to do anything of import.
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
NEW: An unanimous appeals court panel — authored by conservative Judge William Pryor and joined by Trump appointee Andrew Brasher — upheld a $1 million sanction againt Trump/Habba for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
November 26, 2025 at 3:50 PM
NEW: An unanimous appeals court panel — authored by conservative Judge William Pryor and joined by Trump appointee Andrew Brasher — upheld a $1 million sanction againt Trump/Habba for filing a "frivolous" lawsuit against Hillary Clinton
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
w/ @joshgerstein.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/11...
Me: The Colorado Appellate Rules are a direct analogue to the FRAP, I wonder why they're not just called the Colorado Rules of Appellate Procedure?
November 26, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Me: The Colorado Appellate Rules are a direct analogue to the FRAP, I wonder why they're not just called the Colorado Rules of Appellate Procedure?
I love old menus, but man is our food better.
"Thanksgiving Menu at the Plaza Hotel in New York City (1899)" www.openculture.com/2025/11/than...
"Philadelphia chicken would be $66.65. So, the cheapest thing on the menu is Sweet buttermilk for $.10, but today would be $3.33."
"Philadelphia chicken would be $66.65. So, the cheapest thing on the menu is Sweet buttermilk for $.10, but today would be $3.33."
November 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I love old menus, but man is our food better.
He’s said this for a long time and it’s closely related to what he thinks about tariffs (countries have only a certain amount of money and you’ve got to keep it inside)
The thing about Trump stories is that they always have that extra layer of stupidity that you’re not expecting. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/u...
November 26, 2025 at 2:58 AM
He’s said this for a long time and it’s closely related to what he thinks about tariffs (countries have only a certain amount of money and you’ve got to keep it inside)
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
🌊🌊🚢🌊🌊
ALL HANDS ON DECK. The Fifth Circuit has issued another maritime pun.
November 25, 2025 at 10:58 PM
🌊🌊🚢🌊🌊
I'm so glad Thanksgiving food discourse is starting up on here.
(Pecan#1)
(Pecan#1)
November 25, 2025 at 10:47 PM
I'm so glad Thanksgiving food discourse is starting up on here.
(Pecan#1)
(Pecan#1)
ALL HANDS ON DECK. The Fifth Circuit has issued another maritime pun.
November 25, 2025 at 10:34 PM
ALL HANDS ON DECK. The Fifth Circuit has issued another maritime pun.
"Raffi I don't understand why you hate depositions"
And, here is Bovino's third day of depositions, November 4: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The lawyers:
Locke Bowman for the plaintiffs.
Sarmad Khojasteh for the government.
The lawyers:
Locke Bowman for the plaintiffs.
Sarmad Khojasteh for the government.
November 25, 2025 at 4:04 PM
"Raffi I don't understand why you hate depositions"
In one of my corporate governance classes, the Professor's response to the argument that CEOs should be paid a lot for performance was "Did Wellington fight for stock options?"
Some things, you can't really encourage with money.
That's sort of where I think all this fertility stuff is.
Some things, you can't really encourage with money.
That's sort of where I think all this fertility stuff is.
Hungary, like Russia, has adopted ambitious policies intended to raise the birth rate, but both efforts have fizzled after early seeming gains [Vanessa Brown Calder, AEI]
Hungary’s Fertility Outcomes Highlight Pro-Natal Policy Limitations
Increasing fertility is an objective for many countries worldwide, but Hungary’s pro-natal policies have received an outsized amount of attention in recent years. Hungary is unique because its pro-nat...
cosm.aei.org
November 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
In one of my corporate governance classes, the Professor's response to the argument that CEOs should be paid a lot for performance was "Did Wellington fight for stock options?"
Some things, you can't really encourage with money.
That's sort of where I think all this fertility stuff is.
Some things, you can't really encourage with money.
That's sort of where I think all this fertility stuff is.
Every part of what this describes ("jumbo" offers, recruiting for 2L in the first weeks of 1L, etc) is terrible.
The biggest law firms’ intensive recruiting of first-year students has spread to smaller rivals, with some making offers even before first-semester grades are in.
Big Law’s Pushy Recruiting Pressures First-Semester Students
The biggest law firms’ intensive recruiting of first-year students has spread to smaller rivals, with some making offers even before first-semester grades are in.
bit.ly
November 25, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Every part of what this describes ("jumbo" offers, recruiting for 2L in the first weeks of 1L, etc) is terrible.
Both the threats against Senator Kelly et. al. and the attempt to impose a pro-Russian peace on Ukraine are huge scandals, and they're just what these people have done *this week*
November 25, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Both the threats against Senator Kelly et. al. and the attempt to impose a pro-Russian peace on Ukraine are huge scandals, and they're just what these people have done *this week*
I wonder if this indicates that law firms have been more enthusiastic about back to office than other kinds of firms.
Law firms now make up more than a tenth of all leasing activity for U.S. office space, doubling their share since the pandemic as other sectors have pulled back, according to newly released data from brokerage Savills reut.rs/3KaTfeS
November 25, 2025 at 1:37 PM
I wonder if this indicates that law firms have been more enthusiastic about back to office than other kinds of firms.
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
It says a lot about the modern American economy that law firms are taking up 10% of all office space.
Law firms now make up more than a tenth of all leasing activity for U.S. office space, doubling their share since the pandemic as other sectors have pulled back, according to newly released data from brokerage Savills reut.rs/3KaTfeS
November 25, 2025 at 1:33 PM
It says a lot about the modern American economy that law firms are taking up 10% of all office space.
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
My aunt who famously can’t cook tried to make a pumpkin pie. She didn’t know what cloves were, so she put garlic cloves in it. Whole.
November 24, 2025 at 11:59 PM
My aunt who famously can’t cook tried to make a pumpkin pie. She didn’t know what cloves were, so she put garlic cloves in it. Whole.
So for Thanksgiving we do 100% American food, but for Christmas it's beef + Armenian stuff (stuffed grape leaves, boreks, kibbe, all the dippy mezes, baklava and knefe for dessert).
it fascinates me how most everyone in the U.S. does turkey for Thanksgiving, but we are all over the map as to what we eat for Christmas (as is proper for a hugely diverse nation).
I come from a Christmas prime rib roast family, myself.
I come from a Christmas prime rib roast family, myself.
I also use the bacon method. Although turkey is Christmas dinner where I come from.
November 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
So for Thanksgiving we do 100% American food, but for Christmas it's beef + Armenian stuff (stuffed grape leaves, boreks, kibbe, all the dippy mezes, baklava and knefe for dessert).
Reposted by Raffi Melkonian
NEW: Judge Currie finds that Lindsay Halligan was UNLAWFULLY APPOINTED and dismisses the James Comey and Letitia James indictments without prejudice. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
November 24, 2025 at 5:54 PM
NEW: Judge Currie finds that Lindsay Halligan was UNLAWFULLY APPOINTED and dismisses the James Comey and Letitia James indictments without prejudice. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
lol, I was wondering if they were going to address the Rams’ kicker’s chunkiness, and of course his nickname is “the thicker kicker”
November 24, 2025 at 2:38 AM
lol, I was wondering if they were going to address the Rams’ kicker’s chunkiness, and of course his nickname is “the thicker kicker”
Decided to test my pate sucrė for Thanksgiving with a chocolate tart. Good!
November 23, 2025 at 11:43 PM
Decided to test my pate sucrė for Thanksgiving with a chocolate tart. Good!
Incredible work from Aonishiki
Day15
And here is our sumo’s first Ukrainian sumo champion receiving the Emperor’s Cup.
Aonishiki, Вітаємо!"
🏆🏆🏆
(Above is pronounced “vitayemo”, congratulations in Ukrainian of course!)
And here is our sumo’s first Ukrainian sumo champion receiving the Emperor’s Cup.
Aonishiki, Вітаємо!"
🏆🏆🏆
(Above is pronounced “vitayemo”, congratulations in Ukrainian of course!)
November 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Incredible work from Aonishiki
I hadn’t visited Tiny Champions - the Houston pizza place - in a while, and I’d missed this potato pizza topped with pickle flavored chips. It was great.
November 23, 2025 at 2:58 PM
I hadn’t visited Tiny Champions - the Houston pizza place - in a while, and I’d missed this potato pizza topped with pickle flavored chips. It was great.
My mentor Professor in history sat me down and said “have you looked at the salaries for full professors in history?”
November 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
My mentor Professor in history sat me down and said “have you looked at the salaries for full professors in history?”
!!!!!!! Ozeki, now, surely!
Day15 Playoff!
Yz Hōshōryū (L)
Sw Aonoshiki (R)
For all the marbles! Ao already soundly beat Hoss ystrdy, Hoss so far has just not been able to find a way to beat Ao in their few meetings. To top it off Hoss lost a playoff to Ōnosato last basho - all things that must really have stuck in his craw.
Yz Hōshōryū (L)
Sw Aonoshiki (R)
For all the marbles! Ao already soundly beat Hoss ystrdy, Hoss so far has just not been able to find a way to beat Ao in their few meetings. To top it off Hoss lost a playoff to Ōnosato last basho - all things that must really have stuck in his craw.
November 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM
!!!!!!! Ozeki, now, surely!
I always say I don’t have the skills to be a deal lawyer - the detail orientedness.
This AM my dad pulled out a color coded chart of everything he’s eaten since starting to wear a blood sugar monitor, which he printed on 23 sheets of paper and taped together.
It skipped a generation I guess.
This AM my dad pulled out a color coded chart of everything he’s eaten since starting to wear a blood sugar monitor, which he printed on 23 sheets of paper and taped together.
It skipped a generation I guess.
November 22, 2025 at 11:11 PM
I always say I don’t have the skills to be a deal lawyer - the detail orientedness.
This AM my dad pulled out a color coded chart of everything he’s eaten since starting to wear a blood sugar monitor, which he printed on 23 sheets of paper and taped together.
It skipped a generation I guess.
This AM my dad pulled out a color coded chart of everything he’s eaten since starting to wear a blood sugar monitor, which he printed on 23 sheets of paper and taped together.
It skipped a generation I guess.