Civil libertarians have been objecting that liberals are ignoring the Obama Administration’s continuation of a number of Bush programs and policies — in contradiction to President Obama’s presidential campaign promises. From torture to unlawful surveillance, Obama has continued the positions of President Bush in federal courts in seeking to dismiss lawsuits and claim sweeping executive privilege authority. Now, the Obama Administration is seeking to get a court to dismiss a lawsuit by gay married couples from Massachusetts who are challenging the denial of federal marriage benefits.
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Category: Courts
Goodhue County District Judge Timothy Blakely, 46, is accused of being a rainmaker from the bench. He was found by a state investigation to have been referring parties in his court to his own divorce lawyer, “Super Lawyer” Christine Stroemer who allegedly gave him a discount on his own bill for fees.
Fawziya Abdullah Youssef, 12, is the latest victim of the tradition of child-bride under Sharia law in some Muslim countries. She died after three-days of labor trying to give birth to a child that was the result of her marriage to a 24-year-old man in Yemen. She was eleven at the time. The baby also reportedly died.
Continue reading “Twelve-Year-Old “Child-Bride” in Yemen Dies in Labor”
Suddenly, it appears that most extreme elements of our political debate have discovered the Tenth Amendment in arguing for either secession or a type of state independence that borders on separatism. This video of a Texas secessionist rally is shocking given the chants of “we hate the United States” but it is most telling in recognition that “legal secession” it no longer a serious claim. Others do not want to secede but rather to use the Tenth Amendment to bar such things as the national health bill from closing their borders. I discussed this story last night on this segment of the Rachel Maddow show.
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Judge John Doyle is facing accusations that he is a latte-hating, cigar-smoker baiting jurist or worse. Doyle recused himself after losing his patience with a bank lawyer, Farzad Milani, and telling him that he could not allow the lawyer to sit in his office “smoking his Cohiba cigars and drinking his lattes” while the court does all the work. He should be less worried about playing around with judicial ethics as ticking off those jackbooted, over-caffeinated thugs at Starbucks.
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Last night I discussed the growing speculation that Justice John Paul Stevens, an icon of the Court with over three decades of service, may be preparing to retire (here). On both a personal and jurisprudential level, Stevens remains one of my favorite judicial figures. He is a man who had a transformative impact on his country. His place in history will likely be discussed for years to come. With this news and the justices returning to the city for the new term, this story may be of interest. Below is my cover article in the American History Magazine on my choices for the top nine justices — as well as my list of the Supreme failures on the Court.
Continue reading “The Supremes: Picking the Top Nine Justices of All Time”
Due to its cultural insularity and secrecy, legal commentators often have to act like old Sovietologists who would predict shifts in power by who in the Politburo was standing where on top of Lenin’s tomb. For Supremologists, there are other common indicators: the most prominent is the reduction of judicial clerks. Speculation over Stevens’ retirement is now at its peak with news that he has selected only one clerk for next year. I will be discussing this story on tonight’s Rachel Maddow.
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There is a mass arrest story. As has been discussed earlier, we have an ongoing arrest case in Washington, D.C., here. In May 2007 police arrested dozens of young people who police alleged were basically rioting through the streets. The students insisted that they were on their way to a funeral for a murdered friend. Now, there has been a settlement of the case with all charges dropped and the payment of damages.
Continue reading “New York Settles Mass Arrest Case — Drops Charges”
Harris County Criminal Court-at-Law judge Donald W. Jackson, 59, has been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of official oppression – allegedly offering to get a DWI defendant help in dismissing her case in exchange for a sexual relationship. Notably, he allegedly insisted that he was not interested in “a one-night stand” in seeking to secure counsel for Ariana M. Venegas. If so, it is a new variation on past judicial pick-up lines that simply offer to trade sex for rulings.
The controversy continues over the District’s alleged destruction of evidence and withholding of documents in the World Bank protest case. The case deals with the mass arrests conducted without probable cause during the World Bank/IMF protests of 2002. Under orders from Judge Sullivan, D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles filed a declaration explaining his actions and that of his staff. It has now been challenged by members of the city council and the litigants.
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Raneen Albaghdady, a Muslim in Detroit, is suing ayne Circuit Judge J. William Callahan who told her to remove her hijab or scarf in his courtroom (like the one shown to the left of a different woman). She alleges denial of her freedom of religion as well as denial of access to the courts. She is also suing Wayne County.
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For months, many Democrats and civil libertarians have complained about the disconnect between what President Obama says and what he does as President. One area of the greatest criticism has been the effort of the Obama Administration to block public review of embarrassing pictures, White House logs, controversial memoranda, or disclosure of governmental actions — despite his promise to guarantee transparency in government. One such person who appears to have lost patience with the Administration is Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska. Judge Preska has rejected efforts by the Obama Administration to withhold information on who received $2 trillion dollars in bailout funds. The Obama administration argued that the public has no right to know such information. Given today’s news that the federal debt level will be reach $9 trillion, many people would like to look a bit closer at what Congress and the White House has been doing with the public fisc.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Loses Bid to Keep Secret the Recipients of $2 Trillion in Stimulus Money”
The former Pennsylvania judges charged in the “kids for cash” corruption scandal — Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan — have withdrawn their guilty pleas and demanded a trial. They took the step after Senior U.S. District Judge Edward M. Kosik refused to accept their plea agreement with prosecutors in light of their failure to take responsibility for their actions.
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An Australian man is opposing child support on novel grounds: that payment would violate the Trade Practices Act. The man insists that he paid a prostitute for sex and that the sex was a “consumer transaction” and was confined by its terms to the sexual act.
Continue reading “Small Change: Man Opposes Child Support that Resulted From “Consumer Transaction” With Prostitute”
Criminal defense attorney and television commentator Robert Simels, 62, has been convicted in Brooklyn of plotting to kill witnesses. Also convicted was attorney Arienne Irving, 31, who was convicted of witness tampering. The jury only acquitted Simels on one count dealing with false statements after deliberating for seven days.
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