-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.
Lorain (Ohio) Magistrate Daniel Cook may have to recuse himself from a recent theft case. It appears that two citizens who came before him decided to leave with their own measure of justice: they stole Cook’s gavel. The alleged gavel grabber is Christopher Collins, 47, who was promptly arrested in the world’s most moronic act.
Continue reading “Ohio Man Arrested For Stealing Gavel of Judge From Courtroom”
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 Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Forty-one-year old Michelle Astumian sure has moxie. Facing a sentencing hearing in a San Luis Obispo, CA court for two counts of forging drug prescriptions and one of passing a fraudulent check, she presented Judge Barry LaBarbera with a doctor’s note in an effort to delay the proceeding. The savvy Judge dispatched a deputy DA to verify the note and was quickly told it was a fake. Nonplussed, Astumian collapsed when the Judge ordered the $45,000.00 bond revoked and her into custody. No word on the nature of her mysterious ailment, but her trip to the hospital granted her wish to delay the sentencing. I’d call that winning the battle only to insure losing the war.
Source: KVEC
~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
A couple of months ago, my daughter recommended that I take a look at an adoption case that was just ruled on by the Missouri Supreme Court. I did not have a chance to look at in-depth until recently and it is both interesting and heart wrenching. It involves a Guatemalan immigrant mother whose baby was born in the United States while she was in the country illegally and the baby was adopted while the mother was in prison. Thankfully, the Missouri Supreme court ordered a new adoption hearing which could still be another hurdle for the biological mother, but she now has a chance at regaining custody of her son. Missouri Supreme Court Continue reading “Adoption Nightmare for Guatemalan Mother”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
In honor of Major League Baseball’s opening day, here’s a little item from Irvin, Texas Lawyer Darrell W. Cook who’s a huge Texas Rangers fan. Last year when the improbable happened and the Rangers made it to the World Series Cook was taking no chances. Seeing a pretrial conference on his calendar which conflicted with Game 1, Cook filed this emergency motion for continuance excerpted here:
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Spanish police are still trying to figure out how alleged kidnapper Jose Carlos Serna twice escaped from jail on the authority of a fax. Serna was arrested after police discovered him hiding in a carved out sofa in his home in a Madrid suburb. The reputed head of a kidnapping gang, Serna was freed after jailers received a bogus fax purportedly from the regional court ordering his release. A call was even placed to the jail confirming the fax. Jail officials tried to verify the order with the court but their calls went unreturned.
Before the oral argument in the Walmart case this week, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia was ticketed for causing a four car accident on the George Washington Parkway.
Continue reading “Fender Bender Leads To Question Of Whether Scalia Drives Like an Originalist”
There is a bizarre confrontation in Salisbury, Connecticut where state police have applied for a warrant to arrest Superior Court judge Corinne L. Klatt after refusing to sign a prior arrest warrant. Salisbury Resident Trooper Mark Lauretano charges that Klatt is guilty of coercion and hindering a criminal investigation by refusing to sign the warrant.
Continue reading “Connecticut Police Seek Arrest of Judge After She Refuses To Sign Warrant”
President Obama has continued his attack on basic constitutional and legal principles with an astonishing new order that allows investigators to not only hold domestic terror suspects for longer periods but to deny them Miranda rights under a strained interpretation of the public safety exception. Obama had attempted to get this change from Congress but was rebuffed. He has now again adopted a tactic of his predecessor and acted unilaterally to trump recognized constitutional rights.
Continue reading “Obama Orders Limits on Miranda Rights For Domestic Suspects”
Recently, we saw how Wisconsin Justice David Prosser is running for reelection after calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a “total bitch.” Throwing aside notions of judicial decorum, Prosser has insisted that he meant every word, including his promise to “destroy” her. Now, it has been disclosed that Prosser and three of his fellow conservative justices voted to rejected an ethics rule barring them from hearing cases of major campaign contributors and then reportedly adopted a rule drafted by corporate lobbyists.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Conservative Justices Accused Of Adopting Ethics Rules Written By Corporate Lobbyists”
The Ninth Circuit has handed down a decision affirming the earlier decision striking down the Stolen Valor Act. Passed in 2005, the Act has been criticized by civil libertarians as an attack on free speech. Here is a prior column on the Act. Now, Chief Judge Alex Kozinski has added his own voice to this debate — finding such lies protected under the first amendment. In a concurring opinion, Kozinski notes “Saints may always tell the truth, but for mortals living means lying.”
Continue reading “Ninth Circuit (En Banc) Affirms Earlier Ruling Striking Down Stolen Valor Act”
Wisconsin voters are experiencing a different judicial campaign in the bid of Justice David Prosser to remain on the state Supreme Court. The issue? Prosser calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a “total bitch.” Prosser has gone public to say that he did in fact call Abrahamson the name, but he stressed that he meant it. He also promised to “destroy” her. The controversy has now pulled other justices into the fray on both sides.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Supreme Court Erupts Into Name Calling and Finger Pointing”
Submitted By Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
I know what you may be thinking. What is that crazy title all about? It wasn’t discussed much in the Corporate Mass Media, but this past week was dubbed, Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week was supposed to celebrate “open Government practices”. I for one, wasn’t convinced that our government had any “open” practices. The Freedom of Information Act was passed in 1966 and it was designed to allow individuals the right to find out exactly what government was doing on our behalf. The Act has been amended on several occasions and it has aged with mixed results. Continue reading “Just How Sunny is Sunshine Week?”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed the Obama administration’s attempt to derail a Spanish judicial investigation into torture, here. Spanish law recognizes the principle of universal jurisdiction. Universal jurisdiction (UJ) is a doctrine of international law that holds that certain crimes are so terrible that the duty to prosecute them transcends all borders.
Continue reading “Spanish Judges Rule That U.S. Torture Case Can Proceed”