In high-profile cases, clients will sometimes ask defense counsel how they should look in a mug shot that will be plastered across the media. There are different schools of thought, but John Edwards clearly went with the smiling “I Can’t Believe These Guys Are Doing This” shot.
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Author: jonathanturley
Today, I have the honor of representing ten members of the United States House of Representatives in challenging the constitutional basis for the Libyan War — and the underlying claims made by President Obama. These members include Democrats and Republicans from across the political spectrum. They share a belief that Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution expressly requires the authorization of Congress before a president can commit the nation to war. The lawsuit will be heard in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. We filed this afternoon and held a press conference with the members in front of the courthouse. A copy of the complaint (which will be heard by Judge Reggie Walton) is below.
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Chief Judge James Ware of Federal District Court for the Northern District of California has rejected a motion for disqualification of Judge Vaughn Walker (shown left) because of his longtime relationship with his partner. Judge Ware noted that there was no evidence that Judge Walker intended to marry his partner.
If George Santayana was correct that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” there are a lot of surprises in store for the raising generation of Americans. A new study shows a shocking lack of knowledge about U.S. history among our school children, including the fact that only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence. The results of the study are part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
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House Speaker John A. Boehner sent a letter to President Obama on Tuesday informing the President that the Congress now views him in breach of the War Powers Resolution absent authorization from Congress for his military deployment in Libya.
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We have been following the trend against free speech rights of students and the disciplining of students for speech outside of school. This includes the opinion in Doninger v. Niehoff with then Judge Sotomayor. Now, the Third Circuit has handed down a major victory for free speech in rejecting a parody on MySpace as the basis to discipline two teenagers in Pennsylvania. The case is J.S. v. Blue Ridge Mountain School District, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 11947 (June 13, 2011).
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Police in Los Angeles are searching for a stolen 780-year-old religious relic of St. Anthony of Padua. What is fascinating is that I cannot find a single article saying what the relic was — clothing, teeth, bone, or other object. I would love to read the police report under description of property. In the meantime, Catholics are praying to the patron saint of lost and missing items . . . St. Anthony of Padua.
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After the disclosure that heroic Amina Arraf, a Syrian lesbian blogger, was actually a guy from Georgia, many believed it could not get weirder on the blogosphere. Then Bill Graber came forward to admit that, like Tom MacMaster, he is also a guy masquerading as a lesbian blogger. With the search for an actual lesbian on the blogosphere, I want to put to rest a growing rumor that I am actually an Iranian lesbian masquerading as a middle-aged professor. It may indeed that all of the actual lesbians are pretending that they are middle-aged men as middle-aged men pretend they are lesbians. However, I am not an Iranian lesbian. That should do it.
There is an interesting torts case in Palm Harbor, Florida where four diners were burned by the banana foster at Ozona Blue Grilling Co. The waiter accidentally added too much rum to the bananas foster causing burns to the people around the table, including one severe burn case of a woman whose dress caught fire.
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It appears that President Barack Obama is having a severe meteorological effect on the nation, according to Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN). Cardoza-Moore has warned that, after Obama’s speech in support of the Palestinian border claims, tornadoes ravaged the United States and weather patterns changed. A coincidence? Not in Cardoza-Moore’ world.
Many of us have been objecting for years that we are closing down essential programs and selling off public lands on the state and federal level while we gush billions to fund wars like the one in Iraq — an oil rich country. The Iraqis, however, have called for billing the United States for damage to their country from the war. When Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, went to Iraq with a delegation he caused a diplomatic incident when he politely suggested that Iraq might want to pay some of the costs back now that it is again selling oil at record high prices. The response was a statement from the government that the entire delegation was not welcomed in the country after making such a “stupid” proposal.
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In New Hampshire, Wendy Bordeleau and her neighbors are up in arms over the repeated tasering of a 500-pound 1-year-old heifer that had escaped from her herd in Dracut, Massachusetts. People were trying to herd the cow back into the fenced area when police were called and began to taser the animal over the objections of onlookers.
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Charles DuBose, 55, is accused of the heinous act of shooting Ivhan`e Merritt, 11, for the offense of playing on his front lawn in Cleveland at 10:40 p.m.
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China has released the details of the latest food scandal case. Gao Yanjun wanted his meat to look fresh when it wasn’t so he added industrial nitrate used in fertilizer. It produced better color and texture . . . and at least one death. The pig intestine meat cost only 5 yuan or 75 cents and, of course, your life.
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For over a week, an international campaign has grown — with growing media coverage from CNN, NPR, and other outlets — to support Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, a self-described 35-year-old lesbian who had been abducted in Syria after blogging about her life and dreams. The American-born Amina’s disappearance led to the creation of websites and set off demands for governmental inquiries and sanctions. She has now been found alive and well . . . and a man from Georgia with a rather twisted view of advocacy and integrity. Tom MacMaster, 40, a graduate student has now admitted that there is no Amina, no abduction, and only a very pathetic story about a man from Georgia.
Continue reading “Syrian Lesbian Advocate Amina Abdallah Is Alive And Well . . . And Living As A Man In Georgia”