Month: August 2007

Congress

Congressional Perks and Working Out the Body Politic

Published August 2001

MEMBERS of Congress have rallied around a cause that has united outraged representatives from both parties. The passion was evident in a recent hearing before the House Appropriations Committee, where Rep. Anne Northup (R-Ky.) informed a shocked committee of members that ”the fact is we have a very inferior gym.”

Northup was referring to the facility for members and their spouses that is something more than a ”gym.” The House members enjoy a public-financed athletic club with a gymnasium, Olympic-size pool, work-out rooms and other amenities. Continue reading “Congressional Perks and Working Out the Body Politic” →

Congress

Nepotism and Congress: Don’t Let Jobs Grow on Family Trees

Published 7/30/03 – USA Today

When he became governor of Alaska, Frank Murkowski had to decide who should finish the two years remaining on his U.S. Senate term. After a supposedly exhaustive search, Murkowski appointed his daughter, Lisa Murkowski.

Although the first U.S. senator appointed by a father, Lisa Murkowski is hardly unique among the children and spouses of politicians. For example, Vice President Cheney’s daughter, Elizabeth Cheney, and his son-in-law, Philip Perry, were appointed by President Bush to high-level positions: deputy assistant secretary of State and chief counsel for the Office of Management and Budget, respectively. Continue reading “Nepotism and Congress: Don’t Let Jobs Grow on Family Trees” →

Justice

Lee Malvo and the Jury Decision

With the start of the trial of accused Washington, D.C., sniper Lee Malvo, the public is being introduced to America’s most troubled teen. Unlike his father figure, John Muhammad, who was found guilty Monday of murder in one of 10 sniper killings, Malvo is not denying his role in the murders. Instead, his attorneys are developing an insanity defense that bears striking resemblance to other cases involving infamous criminal duos. Indeed, his insanity plea may be more of a tactical device than a legal defense: The lawyers for Malvo, now 18, may be using the claim to convert the guilt phase into a trial over the proper punishment of a boy-killer. Continue reading “Lee Malvo and the Jury Decision” →

Justice, Lawyering

Michael Vick and State Charges

I have received a fair number of emails on Michael Vick’s plea, which should come as a surprise to no one. This is the type of crime that puts a defendant instantly on the bad side of any jury. The most that a defense attorney could hope for is a hung jury in most such cases.

I have no sympathy for Vick who not only engaged in a cruel and medieval form of entertainment, but he threw away a career that millions of kids can only dream of. Continue reading “Michael Vick and State Charges” →

Congress, Military, Politics

Body Armor: U.S. Soldiers Lack Best Protective Gear

Published 12/17/2003

I recently received a note from one of the few husbands who knows just what his wife wants as a holiday gift. The Army sergeant (who asked to remain anonymous) e-mailed me from Iraq asking my help in finding him a store to buy body armor for his wife.

Both the sergeant and his wife are serving in Iraq, and both have seen action. But, like thousands of U.S. soldiers, his wife was not given the vital ceramic plates for her Kevlar Interceptor vest to protect her from bullet wounds. Instead, he said, she had to scavenge to find plates left behind by Iraqi soldiers — plates of inferior quality that do not properly fit her vest. Continue reading “Body Armor: U.S. Soldiers Lack Best Protective Gear” →

Academia, Columns

Non-profits’ Executives Avoid Scrutiny, Valid Reforms

Published 2/11/2004

At a time when efforts to reform the corporate world are getting all of the attention, there is another group of chief executives who remain insulated from the effects of scandals at Tyco, WorldCom and the like. They are America’s not-for-profit profiteers: the executives who cash in at universities, foundations and other tax-exempt organizations. Continue reading “Non-profits’ Executives Avoid Scrutiny, Valid Reforms” →

Justice, Lawyering

Attorney-Client Confidentiality: Valued Bond Between Client, Lawyer Eroding

Published 3/16/2004

While lawyers often are valued for such canine-like attributes as aggression, persistence and even viciousness, loyalty is their most essential attribute. With confidentiality, it represents a type of legal Hippocratic oath: that we will do no harm to our clients.
Two disturbing trends that reduce confidentiality guarantees have surfaced recently: a rise in the number of exceptions to attorney-client confidentiality and an increase in lawyers discussing cases at the expense of their former clients. Continue reading “Attorney-Client Confidentiality: Valued Bond Between Client, Lawyer Eroding” →

Columns, Politics

Bush’s Stem-cell Politics Leaves Dad to Wither

Published 5/17/2004

My father is dying from an American political disease. In a nation divided evenly between red and blue states, governmental policies have long been distorted by the gravitational pull of the extremes of the two parties.

For President Bush, policies often have been shaped by his fundamentalist and conservative religious base. While controversial, many of these policies are largely symbolic, such as his unheeded call for an amendment to ban gay marriage. The president’s policy opposing stem-cell research, however, presents a far more deadly concession — one that might secure votes, but at a prohibitive cost of human life. Continue reading “Bush’s Stem-cell Politics Leaves Dad to Wither” →

Justice, Military, Politics

372nd Unit Deserves Better Homecoming

Published 8/8/2004

The soldiers of the 372nd Military Police Company recently came home from Iraq — and some are pretty angry. Made infamous by the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison, they have been caricatured as a bunch of thuggish yahoos from the hills of West Virginia and Maryland. Now their entire unit may be deactivated.
They seem, however, unwilling to go quietly, taking their infamy into self-imposed exile. Continue reading “372nd Unit Deserves Better Homecoming” →

Constitutional Law, Justice

Polygamy Laws Expose Our Own Hypocrisy

Published 10/3/2004

Tom Green is an American polygamist. This month, he will appeal his conviction in Utah for that offense to the United States Supreme Court, in a case that could redefine the limits of marriage, privacy and religious freedom.
If the court agrees to take the case, it would be forced to confront a 126-year-old decision allowing states to criminalize polygamy that few would find credible today, even as they reject the practice. And it could be forced to address glaring contradictions created in recent decisions of constitutional law.

For polygamists, it is simply a matter of unequal treatment under the law. Continue reading “Polygamy Laws Expose Our Own Hypocrisy” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics

Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Constitutional Ban on Foreign Born Presidents

Published 11/22/2004

It is the most glaring contradiction in our Constitution: a nation of immigrants that excludes anyone who is not born in the United States from becoming president. While long criticized, it went largely unchallenged until Arnold Schwarzenegger became governor of California and his fans discovered that he couldn’t become “The Presinator” because of his Austrian birth.
It is hardly the stuff that inspiring constitutional movements are made of, but, then again, one takes what one can get when it comes to constitutional reform. Continue reading “Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Constitutional Ban on Foreign Born Presidents” →

Columns, Congress, Politics

It’s All Legal in the Bizarre World of Congressional Ethics

published 12/27/2004

Orientation week can be a daunting and confusing process for any freshman, particularly for the nine new senators and 38 new House members of the 109th Congress. During the recent orientation week on Capitol Hill, one freshman, Representative-elect Al Green, D-Texas, noted “as a neophyte trying to find his way, you need as many people to direct you as you can.”
Indeed, that education is about to begin in earnest, starting with the ethics book included in their orientation kits. On their face, the ethics rules would seem to bar any self-dealing or profit-taking by members. In reality, they actually legalize conduct that would be viewed as grossly unethical or corrupt in the other government branches. For Green and the other neophytes, therefore, the following are four easy lessons on how to earn millions on a government salary. Continue reading “It’s All Legal in the Bizarre World of Congressional Ethics” →

Columns, Lawyering, Politics, Torts

The Lawn Mower Guy and Other Legal Myths in the Tort Reform Movement

Published 1/30/2005

By Jonathan Turley
Have you heard about the guy who injured himself while using his lawn mower as a hedge clipper, and then won $500,000 in a lawsuit against the lawn mower company? How about the woman who threw a soft drink at her boyfriend, slipped on the wet floor, and then won $100,000 in a lawsuit against the restaurant? These are only two of the common examples of lawsuit abuses that are fueling the call for “litigation reform.” They are also completely untrue — part of a growing collection of legal mythologies that are appearing widely in the national media. Continue reading “The Lawn Mower Guy and Other Legal Myths in the Tort Reform Movement” →

Columns, Justice

The Other Jonathan Turley: How My Identity was Stolen and I Brought Two Luxury Cars

Published 2/21/2005

For the past month, a detective has been trying to arrest me in New York. Most people in such a position would be highly distressed, but I am frankly delighted. Perhaps an arrest will bring an end to a criminal life that began for me in December, when I started buying luxury cars for friends in the Bronx.
Of course, when I first learned that I was on the lam, I was more than a little surprised because I was in Washington at the time, driving a beat-up green Volvo wagon. I had become the latest victim of identity theft, joining tens of millions of other victims across the country. Continue reading “The Other Jonathan Turley: How My Identity was Stolen and I Brought Two Luxury Cars” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Politics

Terri Schiavo and How Temptation Can Top the Constitution

Pubished 3/22/2005
By Jonathan Turley
During the drafting of the Constitution, the Framers often spoke of the interests of the “body politic” — a term that took on a new and chilling meaning this week in the fight over Terri Schiavo. Laying in a persistent vegetative state in Florida, Schiavo has literally become the body politic — a transcendent symbol claimed by rivals in an ongoing cultural war. Ironically, as each side has struggled to embrace her cause, she has become less real, more personification than person. Continue reading “Terri Schiavo and How Temptation Can Top the Constitution” →