The Texas State Commission on Judicial Conduct had imposed remarkably light punishment in the admonishment of Justice of the Peace Gustavo “Gus” Garza. While the act was in the mid range of the possible discipline, it is disturbing that this Commission would consider Garza to be competent to continue on the bench after he ordered physical punishment to be carried out in his courtroom.
Continue reading “Slap on the Wrist for “Spanking Judge”: Texas Commission Fails To Remove Judge Who Ordered Spankings In Courtroom”
Category: Courts
Now this take a bit of hubris. Disgraced former Pennsylvania judge Mark Ciavarella has moved to discuss federal lawsuits from juveniles who sent to jail after accepting bribes. tax evasion and depriving the public of their honest services for accepting more than $2.6 million in kickbacks in exchange for rulings that benefited the Pa Child Care and Western Pa Child Care centers. In a motion written by himself, Ciavarella demanded dismissal on . . . you guessed it . . . judicial immunity.
Continue reading “Judge Claims Judicial Immunity After Being Sued for Judicial Corruption”
It is well-known that, as a Torts professor, I have made my share of anti-contracts statements — part of a long-standing feud between common law Torts and Contracts faculty. However, to make up for decades of badmouthing contracts, I give you a really interesting contracts case worthy of . . . well . . . a torts class. In Stuttgart, Germany, Demetrius Soupolos, 29, is suing his neighbor Frank Maus, 34, for breach of contract. It seems that Soupolos hired Maus for $2500 to impregnate his wife, a former beauty queen named Traute, but to his surprise Maus desperately tried 72 times without success.
In a major ruling, the Iowa Supreme Court has struck down a state law that confines marriage to heterosexual couples. The decision moves the current national debate from the East and West coasts to the heartland.
Continue reading “Iowa Supreme Court Strikes Down Ban On Same-Sex Marriage”
Ward Churchill, the controversial former professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder, has won an important verdict in court. A jury found that he had been wrongly terminated by the university after his public repudiation for referring to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks as “little Eichmanns.”
Continue reading “Ward Churchill Wins Major Verdict of Wrongful Termination”
The Washington Post has revealed that an internal review has found that the D.C. Voting legislation is indeed flagrantly unconstitutional. However, Attorney General Eric Holder overruled the view of career lawyers and declared that the law is constitutional — thereby avoiding an embarrassing confrontation with Democrats. I waited to post this story because it could so easily be confused with an April Fool’s spoof yesterday. Holder’s actions, once again, show that political pressure and influence remains a problem at Justice. Rather than follow the dictates of the Constitution, Holder “corrected” the legal analysis by simply declaring the opposite conclusion to conform with political needs. Sounds like a prior attorney general.
Continue reading “Justice Department Finds D.C. Vote Bill Unconstitutional — Holder Reverses Conclusion and Declares Bill Constitutional”
In a major decision, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that he has found that the Justice Department has acted improperly in barring any criminal investigation of well-documented war crimes committed by the Bush Administration in the torture program. To punish the failure of the Department to act in a timely fashion, he has announced that no criminal charges will be pursued regarding torture to teach prosecutors a lesson that “justice delayed is justice denied.”
Continue reading “Attorney General Eric Holder Announces Justice Department Will Not Investigate War Crimes Due to Prosecutorial Misconduct”
Problems continue to mount for Judge Sharon Keller, Chief Judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She is already facing a serious ethics charge over her decision to order the Clerk’s Office not to remain open after hours to allow for a final death row appeal. Now, a new complaint has been filed against her for failing to report nearly $2 million in real estate assets. She is also facing an impeachment effort in the Texas legislature.
Continue reading “Judge Sharon Keller Faces New Ethics Charge”
Former Mobile, Alabama judge Herman Thomas has been arrested in a bizarre criminal case alleging that he used the local jail as a type of personal stable of victims for beatings and sexual abuse. His lawyer — who goes by the moniker Robert “Cowboy Bob” Clark — has charged racism targeting the county first black judge.
Continue reading “Alabama Judge Charged in Prisoner Abuse Case”
In Philip Morris USA v. Williams, the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal as “improvidently granted” in a long struggle with the Oregon Supreme Court. The Court had previously sent the case back twice to tell the Oregon court to review its huge punitive award. In this staring contest, the U.S. Supreme Court just blinked after the Oregon Supreme Court refused to consider the issues sent back on remand — instead upholding its $79.5 million punitive award million award on state grounds. With interest, that award may have doubled.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Dismisses Major Tobacco Case”
Prosecutors in Maryland appear to have cut a bizarre deal with a former religious cult member. Ria Ramkissoon, 22, agreed to plead guilty in the murder of her 1-year-old son, Javon Thompson, but, if he is resurrected, the deal is off.
Continue reading “The Lazarus Clause: Judge and Prosecutors Secure Plea From Deranged Mother With a Resurrection Clause”
An interesting case has emerged from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals which removed Judge Dean Whipple of the Western District in Kansas City, Missouri for bias in a contract case. The judge insists that he was pushed over the edge in an exchange with Fred Starrett of Lathrop & Gage in Overland Park, Kansas who represented Sentis Group Inc., and owner Alan Barazi, regarding a contract with Shell Oil Co. to operate 29 mini-mart gas stations in Kansas City.
Continue reading “Federal Court Throws Judge Off Case After Sharp Exchange With Counsel in Court”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid insisted this week that it was not the fault of the Democrats in confirming John Roberts and not using their power to block the nomination. Rather, they were tricked by Roberts who lied to them in suggesting that he was a moderate and that we are now “stuck” with him as chief justice.
Continue reading “Reid Says Chief Justice Roberts Lied to Congress in Confirmation Hearings”
As ex-Judge Ann Lokuta tries to force her own reinstatement after the jailing to two of her former colleagues on the Pennsylvania courts, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has overturned as many as 1,200 juvenile convictions.
Continue reading “Pennsylvania Supreme Court Overturns Hundreds of Juvenile Convictions”
Former judge Ann Lokuta has an intriguing claim for reinstatement: her accusers turned out to be criminals. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a stay of the Court of Judicial Discipline’s ruling to remove Lokuta and directed the Secretary of the Commonwealth not to place her judicial seat on the May ballot. Lokuta was removed after several weeks of testimony from dozens of witnesses about her abusive behavior toward courthouse staff and attorneys. However, she claims that the witnesses were part of the recent criminal conspiracy by former president judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, who took kickbacks to send kids to jail.