Equilibrium for Christmas.

The Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure have received a beauteous facelift! (See http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/.) Federal Courts may no longer forbid citations to cases "designated as unpublished, not for publication, non-precedential, not precedent, or the like," beginning with cases "issued on or after January 1, 2007." 2007 Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure, Rule 32.1(a)(ii), available at www.ca10.uscourts.gov/downloads/2007_Rules_Changes.pdf.

This is important to me for two reasons:
(1) My teeth grow weary of being gnashed when the only cases I can find on point are unpublished. Granted, the 10th Circuit has heretofore been kind in allowing citations to unpublished opinions when necessary, but sometimes one simply needs an unnecessary, gratuitous citation to an unpublished opinion to prove that at least sometimes the courts are on your side and when they are the sky does not fall.
(2) The Supreme Court of the United States is no longer able to appoint the President and then turn and say "but you can't use this decision as binding precedent. Do as we say, not as we do." Et voila - at least for now the Judicial Branch is once again its own branch of government. Its stint as a mere department of the Executive is over. God save the King.