Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued an interesting decision concerning the prerogative of police to order a suspect to exit a car after smelling marijuana smoke coming from within. Seems the opinion turned on the Bay State’s decision to decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of the wacky weed in 2008.
Continue reading “Odor Of Marijuana Not Enough For Probable Cause”
Jay Carney says President Obama was never against signing statements, just when President Bush “abused” them. In the press conference, Jay Carney seems to morph with John Kerry, who believed he had found safe political ground by noting that he voted for something before voting against it. For his part, Obama morphed into George W. Bush a while back on civil liberties and constitutional issues.
Continue reading “Carney: Obama Was For Signing Statements Before He Was Against Them”
In a surprise move for many critics, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed the bill that would have required President Barack Obama and other presidential candidates to prove they were born in the United States before their names could have been placed on the state ballot. We previously discussed the bill and the serious constitutional questions that it raised. A former Secretary of State, Brewer objected to one state imposing such conditions on candidates.
Continue reading ““A Bridge Too Far”: Gov. Brewer Vetoes Birther Bill”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Considering the recent and ongoing opposition of many Republicans to contraception, a review of this landmark 7-2 Supreme Court decision was conceived. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives by married couples. The Appellants were Estelle Griswold, Executive Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, and C. Lee Buxton, a licensed physician and professor at the Yale Medical School, who served as Medical Director for the League at its Center in New Haven.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
This is a question frequently asked by police officers to use the consent exception to the requirement to obtain a warrant. Note the difference compared with “Can I search you/your car?” A “yes” answer has exactly the opposite meaning depending upon which question was asked. Police officers are well aware of this fact.
In the case of J.W.E. v. State of Florida, this question, and its answer, were critical.
Arizona legislators are again wading into national politics. With the controversial immigration bill moving toward the Supreme Court, House has passed a bill that would require all presidential candidates to prove they were born in the U.S. by producing their birth certificates. It is a bill that this clearly crafted to exclude the current documents produced to show the birth of President Barack Obama. I am currently scheduled to discuss this legislation with Lawrence O’Donnell tonight
Continue reading “Arizona Bill Would Require Proof of U.S. Birth For Presidential Candidates”
A senior United Nations official is condemning a country’s refusal to allow the UN to speak to an alleged whistleblower being abused by the government. The same government recently fired a high-ranking official who denounced the treatment of the whistleblower and has openly defied international treaties requiring the prosecution of officials responsible for a torture program. Syria? Iran? China? Of course not. It is the United States of America and the administration of Barack Obama.
The hate speech trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders has resumed today amid some serious questions over the impartiality of the judge who overruled the prosecutors and a trial judge who had decided to drop the case. I have long been a critic of these blasphemy prosecutions, particularly in the West. However, these concerns are even greater in light of the actions of appeals judge Tom Schalken.
Continue reading “Blasphemy Prosecution: Wilders Trial Resumes Over Limits On Free Speech”
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is under fire for continuing her political advocacy while she continues to hear cases in U.S. appellate courts. In a prior column, I criticized the increasingly public and political profiles of current justices. O’Connor was viewed as a justice who, while on the court, maintained a “base” and an active speaking schedule. Various critics have now noted with good-faith concern that O’Connor is lending her name to political causes while sitting as a federal judge.
Continue reading “Former O’Connor Criticized for Political Activities While Continuing To Sit As Judge”
Submitted by Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger
John Thompson spent 18 years in prison, 14 of them on death row, following convictions for attempted armed robbery and murder in separate incidents. A scant month before the scheduled execution, an investigator hired by Thompson’s lawyers made a startling discovery in the crime lab archives: a lab report which completely exonerated Thompson on the attempted robbery charge. Continue reading “CONNICK V. THOMPSON AND PROSECUTORIAL IMPUNITY”
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has handed down a ruling against both a client and his lawyer for the violation of a gag order. The ruling against Don Hill, the former Dallas official, and his lawyer, Ray Jackson, could have implications for lawyers defending their clients in public against alleged governmental misconduct. Hill was given 30 days on top of the 18-year prison sentence in 2009 for corruption and Jackson was given a $5,000 fine levied by the trial court as well as a 120-day suspension from any client appointments in the Northern District of Texas
A poll released this week shows that 46% percent of Mississippi Republicans believe that interracial marriage should be illegal. That staggering number is accompanied by only 40% who believe that adults should be free to marry who they want. This poll just happens to come out on the anniversary of the argument in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), where the Supreme Court in a 9-0 vote struck down Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute.
Continue reading “Mississippi Polling: Roughly Half of Polled Republicans in Mississippi Believe Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal”
The Idaho House just passed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that grants no exceptions for rape, incest, severe fetal abnormality or the mental or psychological health of the mother. As if to avoid any question of the religious basis for the measure, the sponsor state Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, explained to the House that this was God’s will.
Continue reading “Idaho Passes Strict Anti-Abortion Measure After Sponsor Invokes “Hand of God””
There is an extraordinary ruling in Michigan where the Michigan Court of Appeals has found the defense attorney Susan Prentice-Sao rendered ineffective counsel to Jeffrey Gioglio, who was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. To her credit, prosecutor Christine Bourgeois raised concerns over the case after Pretice-Sao allegedly told her that she considered Gioglio guilty, held back on her defense, and expressed happiness with the verdict (stating “He’s toast” to the prosecutor).
There is an alarming report the FBI had a senior ABC news journalist as a confidential informant in the 1990s — a report who was actually given a confidential source designation with other snitches. The reporter appears to have passed along confidential information to the FBI including the identification of a confidential source. The reporter is identified only as informant number NY290000-SI-DT and the description as “a senior official employed by ABC News for over 15 years.”
Continue reading “Who Was The FBI Mole At ABC?”