Year: 2014

Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Torts

Citizen Files Lawsuit Alleging Police Stopped And Unlawfully Searched His Vehicle For Marijuana Based On Colorado License Plate

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Idaho State Police Shoulder PatchAccording to Courthouse News an Idaho state trooper arrested and searched a 70-year-old Washington man solely because of his license plate from Colorado, where marijuana is legal, the man claims in a federal lawsuit.

Darien Roseen lives in Washington and has a second home in Colorado. He was driving east on I-84 the morning of Jan. 25, 2013, and had just crossed the Idaho-Oregon Border, when he passed Idaho State Police Trooper Justin Klitch, who was in the median observing eastbound traffic. “Immediately after Mr. Roseen passed his location, Trooper Klitch pulled out from the Interstate median, rapidly accelerating to catch up with Mr. Roseen’s vehicle,” according to the 25-page complaint. Roseen, who is retired from Weyerhauser, says he changed from the right lane to the left, and exited the Interstate to a designated rest area. Klitch followed him to the parking lot, which Roseen says made him “uncomfortable,” though “he did not perceive that he had done anything wrong.”

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, International, Media, Society

Turkish Courts Rule Against Government By Reversing Two Twitter Bans

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Flag of TurkeyTwitter LogoWe recently reported of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdoğan’s effort to silence the social media service Twitter to repress dissent within Turkey. HERE. Now, the courts in Turkey are beginning to reverse some of these efforts. Turkish Twitter users are expected to regain access to the microblogging platform after a local court issued a stay of execution on last week’s decision by a local telecommunications authority to ban the website.

According to some local media reports, the ban will be lifted as soon as the administrative court in Ankara informs Turkey’s Telecommunications Authority of the ruling.

In a first official remark, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinç said the Turkish government would implement the court ruling. “We will implement the court’s decision. We might not like the court decision, but we will carry it out,” he told reporters.

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Environment, International

Japan And The United States Sign Agreement To Dispose Of Nuclear Material

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Flag of JapanRadioactive SymbolThe promise to reduce Fissile Material and Weapons Grade Plutonium made a good step from Japan in a recent agreement between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Barrack Obama duing a meeting in The Hague.

CNN reports Japan and the United States have co-signed an agreement to remove and dispose of hundreds of kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and separated plutonium from the Asian nation.

The fissile material will be transported from the Fast Critical Assembly (FCA) at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) in Japan to a “secure facility” in the United States, according to a statement released by the White House, and “fully converted into less sensitive forms.”

“This pledge complements the significant role that both Japan and the United States are playing in finding new ways to continue improving global nuclear security … Japan has demonstrated its leadership by resolving to remove all special nuclear material from the FCA.

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Constitutional Law, Environment, Free Speech, Media, Politics

State Senator Accused Of Retaliatory Legislation Against Newspaper Critical Of His Actions

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Columbian Newspaper Logo

Washington Senator Don Benton
Senator Don Benton

In what many see as a sign of attempting to control the press through legislative penalties a Washington state newspaper is crying foul after a state senator singled out a local newspaper by making it pay a $150,000-a-year fine for being “one of the top polluters in the county.” It just so happens that the lawmaker, state Senator Don Benton, had been the subject of a series of critical articles in the same newspaper.

The editor of The Columbian newspaper is now accusing Benton of playing hardball. Editor Lou Brancaccio said it is clear Benton’s “nonsensical” proposal is “silly on its face and in our view, retaliatory.”

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Bizarre

Man Allegedly Threatens Neighbor With Ax For Stealing Underwear

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Ax BladeA 51-year-old Puyallup, Washington man was reportedly charged with harassment Thursday after allegedly threatening to cut his neighbor’s “nuts off” with an ax for, in part, stealing his underwear.

According to the charging documents filed with Pierce County Superior Court, the victim was outside his home around 4 p.m. Wednesday when Daniel Urton yelled across the yard to him, asking if he had his car keys. When the victim told Urton he didn’t know what he was talking about, Urton fetched an ax from his house and started walking toward the victim, according to the charging documents.

The victim asked Urton what he was doing, and Urton reportedly replied, “I am going to cut your nuts off” and, “I’m going to…kill you.”

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Justice

Police Department Sued Over Alleged Harassment Of Citizen Posting Speed Trap Warning

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Speed Trap Warning SignAn Oklahoma citizen took his small town’s police department to federal court, claiming police clamped down on him when he put a sign on the curb warning of a speed trap ahead.

James Goad, of Meeker, Oklahoma, says the harassment that followed his action amounted to a violation of his First Amendment right to freedom of speech. In the suit against the Meeker Police Department and Police Chief Sam Byrd, Goad claims police arrested him and violated his civil rights to get back at him for his sign stunt.

“Mr. Goad was exercising his constitutional right to free speech when he posted the speed trap warning sign on the property,” Goad’s attorney, Jack Dawson, wrote.

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Environment

UN To Declare Biofuels Cause More Harm Than Benefit To The Environment

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Biodiesel Fueled BusAccording The Telegraph the United Nations will officially warn that growing crops to make “green” biofuel harms the environment and drives up food prices, The Telegraph can disclose. A leaked draft of a UN report condemns the widespread use of biofuels made from crops as a replacement for petrol and diesel. It says that biofuels, rather than combating the effects of global warming, could make them worse.

The draft report represents a dramatic about-turn for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Its previous assessment on climate change, in 2007, was widely condemned by environmentalists for giving the green light to large-scale biofuel production. The latest report instead puts pressure on world leaders to scrap policies promoting the use of biofuel for transport. The summary for policy makers states: “Increasing bioenergy crop cultivation poses risks to ecosystems and biodiversity.”

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Bizarre, International, Society

Controversy In Great Britain Over Aborted And Miscarried Fetuses Incinerated As Medical Waste

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

national-health-service-logoThere is a disturbing and somewhat macabre report out of Great Britain where the bodies of thousands of aborted and miscarried fetuses were incinerated as clinical waste, with some even used to heat hospitals, an investigation has found.

Ten National Health Service (NHS) trusts have admitted burning fetal remains alongside other rubbish while two others used the bodies in ‘waste-to-energy’ plants which generate power for heat. Department of Health issued an instant ban on the practice which health minister Dr Dan Poulter branded ‘totally unacceptable.’

At least 15,500 fetal remains were incinerated by 27 NHS trusts over the last two years alone, according to British news agencies.

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Constitutional Law, Justice, Politics

Three California Legislators Suspended For Alleged Criminal Activity

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

California Senate SealAccording to an article in the Associated Press the California Senate voted Friday to suspend three lawmakers caught up in separate criminal cases after the latest one to be hauled into court refused to step down, the most serious house-cleaning action the chamber has taken in more than a century.

Friday’s 28-1 vote in the 40-member chamber came amid one of the most severe ethical crises in modern times for the Legislature in the nation’s most populous state. Later in the day, Gov. Jerry Brown also called on the three lawmakers to resign.

The resolution prevents Democratic Senators Ron Calderon and Leland Yee, who face federal corruption charges, and Democratic Sen. Rod Wright, who is awaiting sentencing in a voter fraud case, from exercising any power of their office until the criminal cases against them have been resolved. Even so, they will continue receiving their $95,291 annual salaries. Senator Leland Yee was the subject of an article on the Jonathan Turley website HERE

The actions of the California Senate is laudable in many ways, but is this also a sign of a greater or endemic problem in the California legislature and formerly lax oversight of some unsavory dealings of legislators?

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Society

New Jersey Student Suspended For Confederate Flag On Truck

3434786_GI recently wrote about the declining free speech rights of students in the United States. There is another such case out of New Jersey this week where Gregory Vied, 17, has been suspended for refusing to remove a Confederate flag on his truck. In my view, it is a clear violation of free speech and an abuse of the rights of this student to express his views and associations by the administrators of Steinert High School in Hamilton Township.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Military, Politics, Society

United Nation’s Report Condemns The United States For Human Rights Violations, Including Blocking Prosecution Of Those Responsible For Torture

President_Barack_Obama150px-OHCHR_logoThe United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has issued a report slamming the United States on torture and surveillance — the last international condemnation of the United States that is now viewed by many as a threat to civil liberties and international law. This follows international reports condemning the Obama Administration for its attacks on the free press and Internet freedoms. The demand for action on torture revives one of the greatest failures of the Obama Administration when the President, shown after taking office, assured CIA employees that no one would be investigated or prosecuted for torture despite the existence of international treaties obligating us to carry out such prosecutions. The President has admitted (as is clear from domestic and international rulings) that water boarding is torture. What is fascinating is that those who continue to defend this Administration dismiss the criticisms of respected international public interest groups, award-winning journalists, and even United Nations organizations in such condemnations. It is part of what has become a blind loyalty for an iconic president over long-standing principles. As noted by a widening array of organizations and experts, Obama has proven a perfect nightmare for civil liberties — once a core and defining area for Democrats and liberals alike.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Society

Fifth Circuit Upholds Texas Abortion Restrictions In Major Ruling With Supreme Court Potential

Edith-Jones-Judge-Edith-H-Jones-Edith-Hollan-JonesWhile predicting that a case will be accepted by the Supreme Court is a dubious form of fortune-telling (I just had a case denied review this week), the decision yesterday in the Fifth Circuit upholding the Texas law imposing restrictions on abortion clinics has the highest possible chances for such a review. It could also represent a major opportunity for those seeking to limit the pro-choice cases extending back to Roe v. Wade. The decision (written by Judge Edith Jones) is Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas v. Abbott, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 5696.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech

Please Don’t Attack The “Outsiders”: California University Official Issues Letter In Miller-Young Controversy

photo_youngmilleryoungincident2 We recently discussed the controversy surrounding a confrontation between Thrin Short, 16, and her sister Joan, 21, and Feminist Studies Associate Professor Mireille Miller-Young. Miller-Young has now been charged with criminal conduct including Theft of Person; Battery; and Vandalism. However, even that charge does not appear to have prompted an express and clear statement from the University denouncing Miller-Young or calling for the review of her academic position. To the contrary, in the first statement from the university, Michael D. Young, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, appears to spend more time alluding to the victims as the problem than addressing the allegedly criminal abuse by a member of the faculty. The letter below contains a series of backhanded references to those engaging in free speech demonstrations on campus. The problem it would seem is not Miller-Young as much as these troublesome “outsiders” and “evangelical types” who come to “create discord” and “promote personal causes and agendas.” In the end, you are not sure if Miller-Young was the culprit or a victim in these alleged criminal acts. While there are good sentiments expressed in this letter, I can understand why the pro-life community would view this letter as basically saying “please don’t beat the protests no matter how much they may deserve it.”

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Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Media, Society

A Wake Up Call For Good Morning America Or Just Another Fall From Grace?

I have previously discussed my views about Nancy Grace and her genre of legal commentary. (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). This week Grace is being mocked for another controversial appearance on Good Morning America where she shouts “porn” repeatedly in an interview on the the Oscar Pistorius murder trial. She was appearing with ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams and appears upset that neither the anchor nor Abrams want to talk about porn as opposed to the developments in the case.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law

Michigan Man Sues Police Over Christmas Eve Arrest After Officer’s Account Is Contradicted By Videotape

-e7e7901c5b6b9359There is an interesting lawsuit out of Flint Township, Michigan over the arrest of John David McMorris who was arrested for a concealed weapon on Christmas Eve. McMorris, 21, was walking alongside a road when he was stopped by a Flint Township police officer. The officer arrested him for concealing a handgun. It is legal to openly carry a handgun. However, the video below shows the gun clearly in the open and McMorris even turned with his hands up to show the officer his .40-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol on his hip.

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