Motion Practice for Dummies

If a judge gives an order that, for example, early voting in the State of Ohio is to be restored for all persons for the final three days prior to Election Day (in effect, the last weekend before the election), and states in the order that he "expects" the defendant in the case to take the appropriate steps to make it so, then it's a safe bet he won't be pleased to learn that the defendant has sent out a directive to his subordinates, ordering them not to take steps to carry out the judge's order, but to wait until the case has been heard on appeal.

Now, in law school, they taught us some lessons that weren't in the casebooks, one of which was: "Don't get the judge angry with you."

Because angry judges just might send out orders like this:

Motion Hearing set for 9/13/2012 @ 10:00 AM before Senior Judge Peter C Economus. The Court ORDERS that Defendant Secretary of State Jon Husted personally attend the hearing.

Now, if this were purely procedural, then the Secretary of State would be adequately represented by his legal counsel. That order for a personal appearance? It's a probable indication that the judge is thisclose to throwing the Secretary of State into the clink for contempt.

Now, imprisonment for contempt can be a nebulous thing. It can be a few hours, or days, or longer - the judge has a lot of discretion in that regard. I always figured that contempt sentences were basically "until the judge is satisfied you get the point".

So if I were the Ohio Secretary of State's counsel, I'd advise him to either prepare to set a new world record for groveling, or bring a toothbrush and several changes of underwear with him.