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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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Latest posts by Raffi Melkonian @rmfifthcircuit

BG3 is *really* good. I haven't played a game through twice since I was 12, and this one I'm on run 3.

06.03.2026 22:25 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I wonder if there's an arbitration provision?

06.03.2026 20:44 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

what is this writing (again)

06.03.2026 19:36 πŸ‘ 10 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Sorry, y'all. I was focused on the lying part and didn't think about procedural posture. Same point, though!

06.03.2026 19:30 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It's sort of an opposite "With this affliction I will not contend."

"With your failure to surrender I will not contend."

06.03.2026 19:28 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Seriously, we're just leaving wins on the table, Carl.

06.03.2026 19:24 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

"The judgment below is reversed when I am in a position to not pay it."

Man, this appellate stuff is easy.

06.03.2026 19:23 πŸ‘ 12 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

This is actually brilliant: you can end infinity wars if you just keep starting wars.

06.03.2026 19:19 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

lol

06.03.2026 19:00 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 9 πŸ“Œ 0

That's the thing. They wanted to both say the refunds were easy (when they needed a stay to allow the tariffs to continue) and that the refunds were hard (when they need to pay them back).

06.03.2026 18:30 πŸ‘ 121 πŸ” 20 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

Note of frivolity: The other day at the supermarket, I thought I'd found one of my old shopping lists in the cart. It wasn't; it was someone else's, but was on the same paper.

But for a moment I thought about what kind of adventures my list might have had while I was away and this delighted me.

06.03.2026 18:28 πŸ‘ 59 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

It doesn't read, to be fair, that they are refusing to pay, they're saying it will take a while. Which may well be fair.

06.03.2026 15:53 πŸ‘ 39 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

1. So sad too bad.

2. I think smoking out the implementation problems is a really good reason for the Judge to have entered his order requiring refunds immediately.

3. I'd forgotten about interest!

06.03.2026 15:51 πŸ‘ 111 πŸ” 17 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 0

And as everyone else has pointed out, we have extracted "unconditional surrender" from large countries in the past, and, uhh, I'm not sure we're ready for that level of commitment.

06.03.2026 15:31 πŸ‘ 39 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 0

The "unconditional surrender" stuff is *probably* Trumpian nonsense rather than policy but again - and I posted about this a few days ago - I'm pretty confident that a country that sustained hundreds of thousands of dead fighting in Iraq isn't going to "surrender" all of a sudden.

06.03.2026 15:28 πŸ‘ 73 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0

Paging @jdotj.bsky.social for her thoughts on how this interaction with the legal team went.

06.03.2026 14:27 πŸ‘ 60 πŸ” 4 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 0

No one will know how or why this is so, just that you need to do it

06.03.2026 04:01 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Mr. Trump announced the change on social media, along with a new, and previously nonexistent, role for Ms. Noem inside the administration: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which he said would be a new security initiative for the Western Hemisphere.

Mr. Trump announced the change on social media, along with a new, and previously nonexistent, role for Ms. Noem inside the administration: special envoy for the Shield of the Americas, which he said would be a new security initiative for the Western Hemisphere.

You know how you can’t resign a seat in the UK parliament, so you get appointed to a sort of fake office, which disqualifies you for parliament? (the Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds)

Decades from now people will resign their jobs in favor of being special envoy to the shield.

06.03.2026 04:01 πŸ‘ 105 πŸ” 11 πŸ’¬ 6 πŸ“Œ 0

Yep, right at the south most tip of Texas, at the Mexican border.

06.03.2026 03:33 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

TFW you are reminded again that Yooty is the coolest person

06.03.2026 01:07 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I saw a new twist on a plaintiff’s lawyer billboard today in Harlingen: a Spanish language billboard where the lawyer’s face was superimposed over actively sparkling gold stars. Not even sure how he got them to do that.

06.03.2026 00:35 πŸ‘ 13 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
A dancer of the ballet folklorico in a colorful dress

A dancer of the ballet folklorico in a colorful dress

Post image

As I head back to Houston, let me tell you something: UT RGV’s Mariachi Aztlan and its ballet folklorico are amazing!

05.03.2026 21:41 πŸ‘ 22 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The students attending have just been told that if they have questions for the Q&A portion, they need to stand at the podium! Much terrified chattering ensued.

05.03.2026 17:30 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The first case is about SpaceX use of public beaches in Texas as a blast zone.

05.03.2026 16:03 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
UT RGV performing arts center set up for oral argument.

UT RGV performing arts center set up for oral argument.

The scene down here.

05.03.2026 15:16 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

Really happy to be visiting the RGV today to attend the SCOTX sitting here in Edinburg, Texas. I’m here as part of the State Bar’s involvement with the event, but I love mobile #Appellateplaces

05.03.2026 15:01 πŸ‘ 33 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0

That’s the one. I read it every so often, but it’s so dense I can only manage a chapter or two at a time

05.03.2026 04:24 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
and sapped trust. The powerful supranational institutions that today provide a framework for defining tasks, mediating conflicts and identifying remedies were conspicuously absent in 1914. Moreover, the

and sapped trust. The powerful supranational institutions that today provide a framework for defining tasks, mediating conflicts and identifying remedies were conspicuously absent in 1914. Moreover, the

I’m on a flight rereading the conclusion of Sleepwalkers, the great study of the beginning of World War I, and… well. Hmm. The powerful supranational organizations that mediate conflicts have been swept off the scene.

05.03.2026 03:23 πŸ‘ 48 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

Hang on, this is week 1.

05.03.2026 03:21 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

That is definitely true

05.03.2026 02:49 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0