Year: 2012

Bizarre, Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Lawyer Poisons Himself In Court After Being Found Guilty Of Arson

Michael Marin was the very image of a powerhouse lawyer: a Yale Law School graduate who went on to find success as a Wall Street trader who climbed Mount Everest, collected valuable art works and supported charities. The bon vivant seemed to be living the life of legend until he was charged with burning down his own Biltmore Estates mansion in Arizona. Shortly after being convicted of arson in court, Marin was seen putting something in his mouth. He promptly collapsed and died.

Continue reading “Lawyer Poisons Himself In Court After Being Found Guilty Of Arson” →

Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Writer Loses Literary Award After Arab League Discovers That He Attended Conference In Israel

Algerian writer Boualem Sansal have been stripped of his literary prize of 15,000 euros after the Arab sponsors of the award learned that he had visited Israel. Originally, the Editions Gallimard Arabic Novel prize was withdrawn entirely, but under pressure Sansal was given the prestigious French literary award but not the cash. The incident has tarnished the image of the award and undermined its commitment to artistic expression.

Continue reading “Writer Loses Literary Award After Arab League Discovers That He Attended Conference In Israel” →

Animals, Bizarre, Environment, Politics, Society

Fur Flies: PETA Accuses Olson Twins Of Marketing Fur Backpack For “Shock Value”

For years, some of us who support the general mission of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have criticized the organization for bizarre publicity grabbing moves from women making love to Pamela Anderson butcher posters to using a robotic groundhog in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to bizarre taunting Thanksgiving messages. It was therefore a bit surprising to see PETA denouncing the Olson twins — Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen — for using animal pelts to create their latest backpack. PETA objected that “[w]hat the Olsons lack in creativity, they try to make up for in shock value.” I would have thought the $17,000 for the world’s ugliest backpack would have been enough to deter sales.

Continue reading “Fur Flies: PETA Accuses Olson Twins Of Marketing Fur Backpack For “Shock Value”” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Supreme Court

Et Tu, Roberts II: Chief Justice Reportedly Switched Sides After Originally Voting To Strike Down The Health Care Law

When many of us were covering the decision from the Supreme Court, one thing that was immediately noted was the the decision of Associate Justice Anton Scalia read like a majority opinion. The opinion not only referred to “the dissent” as if it were the majority opinion (though sometimes justices even in dissent can refer to other dissents). Reports are now indicating that Chief Justice John Roberts initially sided with the Supreme Court’s four conservative justices to strike down the Affordable Care Act. The report is a serious breach in the normally secretive court in its internal deliberations and contains considerable detail showing a hard effort by the Court’s swing justice Anthony Kennedy to convince Kennedy to return to the fold. The report is likely to increase the feeling of betrayal by those who felt that opinion harmed federalism by reaffirming the taxing power as an easy avenue to circumvent state rights. That was the subject of my column the day after the ruling.

Continue reading “Et Tu, Roberts II: Chief Justice Reportedly Switched Sides After Originally Voting To Strike Down The Health Care Law” →

Uncategorized

Rick Scott’s Little List

By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger

         If someday it should happen that a victim must be found

          I’ve got a little list, I’ve got a little list

          of society offenders who might well be underground,

          who never would be missed, who never would be missed.

     W.S. Gilbert, The Mikado

The current legal battle between Florida governor Rick Scott and the Justice Department over the purging of voter rolls is only one of many examples of efforts undertaken in recent years to tighten registration requirements and restrict voting eligibility.  The 2011 Florida legislative session produced no fewer than 80 amendments to election laws, including mandatory photo identification, the reduction of early voting from two weeks to one and a 48 hour deadline for submission of completed forms by voter registration groups.  Gov. Scott also reversed his Republican predecessor’s efforts to simplify restoration of civil rights for persons convicted of non-violent felonies by imposing an arbitrary five year waiting period following completion of a convict’s sentence.

The professed purpose of these efforts is to protect the sanctity of the voting booth.  A U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee report published in 2005 warned that “voter fraud continues to plague our nation’s federal elections, diluting and cancelling out the lawful votes of the vast majority of Americans.”  The report cited no studies or statistical evidence to support such a terrifying conclusion, but no matter.  Gov. Scott insists that his motives are pure, that he is driven solely by a desire to preserve the integrity of the electoral process.  And what fair-minded person can argue with that?

But no political leader has ever acknowledged less than noble objectives.  Therefore, it is always necessary to go behind the public statements. How serious a problem is voter fraud?  What are the opinions of rank and file members of the constituencies pushing for new laws?  When the governor’s actions are examined under these lenses, the conclusion is inescapable that the overriding concern is not electoral, but political. Continue reading “Rick Scott’s Little List” →

Criminal law, Society

Houston Police Arrest Woman Who Warned Drivers of Speed Trap

We have previously seen cases involving the arresting of citizens who merely warn others of a speech trap. Despite rulings that correctly recognize such acts as free speech, the arrests continue. The latest is a woman in Houston, Texas, Natalie Plummer, who was jailed for 12 hours after she held up a sign to warn drivers about a speed trap.

Continue reading “Houston Police Arrest Woman Who Warned Drivers of Speed Trap” →

Constitutional Law, Religion

The Myth Of Religious Charity

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The concept of charity most people have in mind is “serving the people’s physical needs.” How do religions stack up in performing this work? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon Church), which touts its charitable work, spent 0.7% of it overall revenue on charitable causes. Compare that figure with the American Red Cross which spends 92.1% of its revenue on the physical needs of those it helps.

The other side of this coin is the estimated $71 billion in annual government subsidies that are granted to religious establishments.

Continue reading “The Myth Of Religious Charity” →

Academia, Criminal law, Justice, Society, Things That Tick Me Off

Down In The Valley II: What Did They Know And When Did They Know It?

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The conviction of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky on 45 counts of child molestation and abuse seemed like the worst storm residents of Happy Valley could have endured. Now it seems that was just the opening gust of the hurricane. A series of emails recently turned over to investigators from a secret file in AD Tim Curley’s office suggests that university president, Graham Spanier, was more involved in the cover-up that previously thought and that former PSU head coach, Joe Paterno, was just as involved as many of us thought. Just 16 days after grad student, Mike McQueary, walked into the showers at the Penn State’s football temple athletic facility to find Sandusky behind a ten-year-old making “slapping noises,” an email issued from university vice president, Gary Shultz, to Spanier setting forth the agreement to report Sandusky’s actions. On February 26, 2001, Shultz wrote the three-part plan was to “talk with the subject [Sandusky]… contact the charitable organization [Second Mile]… and contacting the Department of Welfare.” In Pennsylvania, the Department of Welfare is required to investigate all allegations of child abuse. It works hand-in-glove with the law that requires educators and those working with children to report allegations of child abuse.

Continue reading “Down In The Valley II: What Did They Know And When Did They Know It?” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Justice, Military, Politics, Things That Tick Me Off

Georgia On My Mind

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

With apologies to the writers of the famous song by the same title, I came across a small news item that didn’t make the big headlines this past week.  Our friends in Georgia just don’t seem to get the idea that their citizen soldiers deserve the same right to vote that on military members enjoy.  In the upcoming primary elections and general election cycle, Georgia has violated the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) by not providing military members the minimum amount of time between elections in order to assure that their absentee ballots arrive in time to actually be counted in the respective elections.  At least the Justice Department thinks Georgia does not have the military on its mind! Continue reading “Georgia On My Mind” →

Congress, Criminal law, Media, Politics

Walking Back On Gun-Walking

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Katherine Eban of Fortune has published the results of a six-month investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal that turns the previous narrative on its head. Eban notes a fundamental misconception at the heart of the scandal: while no one disputes that straw purchasers repeatedly bought guns that fell into the hands of criminals, “five law-enforcement agents directly involved in Fast and Furious tell Fortune that the ATF had no such tactic.”

Eban points out the irony of Republicans, who support the National Rifle Association’s attempts to weaken gun laws, chiding the ATF for not interdicting enough guns.

Continue reading “Walking Back On Gun-Walking” →

Academia, Society

“Un-Civil” Wars

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Like many of us, I’ve read the back-and-forth exchanges between our host, Professor Turley, and Wisconsin law professor, Ann Althouse, about Prf. Turley’s Washington Post (WaPo) article proposing an expansion of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS)  to nineteen members. It’s been a fascinating glimpse into what passes for dialog among American intelligentsia. Professor Turley reiterates a proposal he’s made years before, suggesting SCOTUS needs to keep up with the times and expand to reduce the power of a lone swing voter. Prf. Althouse responds that the reasons for the proposal cited by Prf. Turley are pure BS and that she knows better what’s in JT’s heart. Prf. Turley responds by saying her research into his position and attitude is deficient and laments the loss of civility among colleagues. Althouse replies that she’s just “plain talking” and that her real point was the manipulation of  the timing of Turley’s article by the newspaper even as it drives its own pro-Obama agenda.

Continue reading ““Un-Civil” Wars” →

Bizarre, International, Society

Pure Genius: U.S. Immigration Officials Give Special Visa To Former Playboy Bunny As An “Individual of Extraordinary Ability”

Immigration officials have declared Shera Bechard former Miss November and girlfriend of Playboy Enterprises founder Hugh Hefner to be pure genius. Bechard was allowed a visa by immigration officials as an “individual with extraordinary ability.” The specific extraordinary ability was left unstated on immigration forms but it is believed that the matter was fully researched by officials.
Continue reading “Pure Genius: U.S. Immigration Officials Give Special Visa To Former Playboy Bunny As An “Individual of Extraordinary Ability”” →

Academia, Lawyering, Supreme Court

Now Let’s Turn To Our Other Guest On What He Thinks Chief Justice Roberts Intended . . .

Someone sent me this screen shot from yesterday’s coverage and asked how I was able to join Chief Justice John Roberts in discussing the health care ruling. Frankly, I thought arriving at the studio in his robe was a bit much but I appreciate his participation in the coverage. It is, however, a bit unfair to reply to analysis by your co-panelist with “well, that is not what I meant.” I think I have a slightly better handle on his own intentions, fears, and feelings after doing this type of work for a couple decades. Indeed, I have been known to go into a deep trance on television and channel the thoughts of James Madison (as well as Thomas Paine’s bartender).
Continue reading “Now Let’s Turn To Our Other Guest On What He Thinks Chief Justice Roberts Intended . . .” →