Category: Courts

Courts, Justice, Politics

The Tea Party and the Florida Supreme Court

Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger

Barbara Pariente graduated with highest honors from Boston University, finished fifth in her law school class at George Washington University and served on Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal for almost fifteen years prior to her appointment to the Florida Supreme Court.  Peggy Quince earned a zoology degree from Howard University, a law degree from the Catholic University of America and was a judge on the Second District Court of Appeal for five years, the first African-American woman ever appointed to an appellate court in Florida.  She has been a Florida Supreme Court Justice since 1998.  R. Fred Lewis is an honors graduate of Florida Southern College and was named outstanding senior in his class for his academic, athletic and service accomplishments.  He received his law degree, also with honors, from the University of Miami and served as a law review editor.  He joined the Florida Supreme Court in 1999.

These three jurists, with over thirty years of combined experience on Florida’s highest court, have received numerous awards for their commitment to the law, to their profession and to their communities.  All have received favorability ratings of 90% from members of the Florida Bar.  And all have been targeted for removal in next month’s merit retention election. Continue reading “The Tea Party and the Florida Supreme Court” →

Academia, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Society, Uncategorized

The Department of Justice Sues Mississippi…Again!

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

I guess I should not be surprised that the State of Mississippi is once again in the news because the Federal Government has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against it.  The Department of Justice has filed a suit against the State of Mississippi, and the City of Meridian, along with the county and various state agencies, alleging that the defendants have worked to operate a “school to prison” system that allegedly violated the rights of African-American students and students with disabilities.  Continue reading “The Department of Justice Sues Mississippi…Again!” →

Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

Murder at Kent State

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

This blog post is the result of our well known regular contributor Blouise sending me a link, sent to her by one of our other long time contributors GBK. I thank them for not only the vital information they shared with me, but also for the inspiration it gave me. When people ask me what kind of blog to I write for, I explain to them that it is the creation of the well-known Constitutional Law Professor and Civil Rights Advocate Jonathan Turley. The common thread that links most of us here is our support for Jonathan’s work and our belief in upholding the Constitution. The topic raises is vital to all of those purposes.

On May 4th, 1970 I was twenty-six years old. I worked for NYC’s Department of Social Services (welfare) as a caseworker in Brooklyn. Was active in the Peace Movement and had in the last year lost in my bid for the Presidency of the radical welfare caseworkers union. Long haired, full bearded and habitually wearing shirts open to almost my waist, with tight-fitting bell bottom jeans. I was a happy and carefree imbiber of psychedelics and had a great social life. I had failed my Draft physical four years prior due to high blood pressure, which would later turn into severe heart trouble requiring me to have a transplant, but back then I was just grateful that I didn’t have to make the choice between my ideals and the Selective Service Law. So many young men whose lives were drastically changed for the worse by being drafted into that conflict, were less lucky than I because they were my contemporaries, I felt I needed to help bring them home.

Even with the 60’s decade of assassinations, Civil Rights protests ending in violence, Nixon’s election and the Viet Nam escalation, I was still hopeful that my generation would really change things for the better in this country and that the future would bring great changes in economic freedom and social justice. So hopeful was I, that I was attending my first year of Law School at night and envisioned myself becoming a Legal Aid attorney in the future. Then I heard the news about Kent State, the murder of four students and shooting of nine during what was a relatively peaceful protest. Suddenly, this brought home to me the reality of what we were facing in our country. My optimism for change died that day, but not my commitment to fight for it.

As the news proliferated the story just didn’t add up. Supposedly the young National Guardsmen heard sniper shots and in a panic returned fire. That the students shot were at a distance of at least three hundred feet and the ammunition was armor-piercing rounds. It was claimed that there was no order to fire given and that the young National Guardsmen thought they were firing in self defense. As it turned out these were lies and propaganda foisted to cover the fact that those in power in the administration and their follower, the Republican Governor of Ohio, wanted to send a message to those opposing the War, that we were in mortal danger if we dared to try to thwart their murderous rampage in South East Asia. Continue reading “Murder at Kent State” →

Bizarre, Courts, Lawyering

Shame on You: Commission Sanctions Michigan Judge Who Sent Shirtless Photo To Bailiff

We previously discussed the case of Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade H. McCree who sent a shirtless photograph of himself to a Sheriff’s Office employee. McCree is now famous for proclaiming that “I’ve got no shame in my game.” Perhaps, but the Michigan Supreme Court found some shame for the court system and accepted a recommendation from the Judicial Tenure Commission and publicly censured Judge Wade H. McCree.

Continue reading “Shame on You: Commission Sanctions Michigan Judge Who Sent Shirtless Photo To Bailiff” →

Courts, International, Politics, Society, Things That Tick Me Off, Uncategorized

Did Romney Profit from the Auto Bailout?

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

If he said it once, Mitt Romney has said it a thousand times.  President Obama should have let GM and Chrysler go bankrupt instead of “bailing” them out. (paraphrased)  Of course, the discussion usually revolves around how Unions allegedly made out like bandits in the bailout to the detriment of the country and our economy.  What has been selectively left out of the discussion was the role played in the bailout by vulture capitalists in reaping an enormous profit from the bailout.  According to Greg Palast, the bailout created an opportunity for the vultures to swoop in and make huge profits.   All at tax payer expense! Continue reading “Did Romney Profit from the Auto Bailout?” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Lawyering

Abdullah al-Kidd and the FBI

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

In a case that didn’t receive too much publicity, the federal district court in Idaho recently struck a blow against the FBI’s misuse of the material witness statute which is designed to allow for the government to arrest and detain witnesses who will be used to testify in court cases against third parties.  The case in question involved a United States citizen who converted to the Muslim faith during college and was arrested, detained and abused in jail in 2003.  The man in question was born in Kansas and was a college football star and his name is Abdullah al-Kidd. Continue reading “Abdullah al-Kidd and the FBI” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

THE DEATH OF FREE SPEECH

Below is my column today in the Washington Post on the decline of free speech in Western countries. Speech is being balkanized into prohibited and permitted areas by redefining speech in terms of its social impact. Increasingly, it seems that the West is re-discovering the tranquility that comes with forced silence. What is fascinating is that this trend is based on principles of tolerance and pluralism — once viewed as the values underlying free speech.

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Continue reading “THE DEATH OF FREE SPEECH” →

Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Society, Supreme Court, Testimony, Uncategorized

Double Jeopardy

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger

One of the main problems with any legal principle is that we humans are so complex in our interactions that even the most hallowed of legal principles are bound to run into conflict with a real life situation that turns it on its end and leaves even the most principled among us at a loss. This is why the timeless practice of training lawyers to be able to argue both sides of a case arose. Even those who are most respectful of our legal system and our Constitution, recognize that with the variety of human situations, sometimes the legal process leads to results that are far short of the mark of what a person might consider to be justice. Recently, while watching a TV real life murder show called “Unusual Suspects” I came across a case, whose resolution, left me confused as to whether the result was correct in a Constitutional sense. The first ten amendments to our Constitution that are known as “The Bill of Rights” are legal principles that I hold sacrosanct. Historically, the founders put them in place to safeguard the people from the tyrannies that often flowed from autocratic systems of government. These were principle that history and experience had taught them were necessary to protect and preserve the freedom of citizens.

The Fifth Amendment became famous in the 40’s and 50’s when it was invoked at congressional hearings striving to root out “communists”. People in the glaring spotlight of Congressional Hearings, sworn under oath, would be forced to invoke the Fifth Amendment to assert their right not to incriminate themselves. What was unfortunate about these “witch-hunts” was that according to legal procedure, if the person under oath answered any kind of question it was deemed that their Fifth Amendment Rights had been forfeited, since any answer, no matter how innocuous could be considered to have opened up a line of questioning. Thus if one was asked to discuss where they worked they would have to invoke the “Fifth”, or otherwise be opened to questions on who they worked with. The result of this was that by exercising their Constitutional Rights, these witnesses were made to seem guilty of hiding something, merely by asserting their right to remain silent. People’s careers were destroyed having been guilty of nothing more than associating with people who believed in a different economic system, that wasn’t inherently illegal. As the title indicates I’m writing about another aspect of the Fifth Amendment and the result of a particular murder case that left me intellectually and emotionally conflicted. Continue reading “Double Jeopardy” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media

Throwing Prosecutors Under The Bus

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

In the case of Fourtin v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court of Connecticut overturned the conviction of Richard Fourtin. Fourtin was convicted of sexually assailing a twenty-five year old woman with significant mental and physical handicaps including cerebral palsy, mental retardation and hydrocephalus. The Court, in affirming the Appellate Court’s judgement, found that the woman could have used “gestures, biting, kicking and screaming” to indicate “her lack of consent to sexual intercourse at the time of the alleged sexual assault.”

Continue reading “Throwing Prosecutors Under The Bus” →

Courts, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Pennsylvania Judge Reprimanded Over “Grooming” and Displaying Photo of Genitals To Court Worker

The Pennsylvania’s Court of Judicial Discipline has found that Traffic Court Judge Willie F. Singletary is guilty of bringing his office into disrepute in a bizarre case involving the judge holding “photo sessions” with his genitals . . . and then showing the picture on his iPhone to a Traffic Court cashier. It was not the first time that Singletary has run afoul of standard of judicial decorum. However, his alleged “grooming” of his member for the photo display appears to have been enough to force his resignation. He is shown here in his other job — as pastor at a West Philadelphia church that he founded.

Continue reading “Pennsylvania Judge Reprimanded Over “Grooming” and Displaying Photo of Genitals To Court Worker” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

No Sweat: Scalia Publicly Declares Abortion, Death Penalty, Criminalizing Homosexuality “Absolutely Easy” Questions

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is again making headlines with controversial public statements. I have previously written about Scalia and the advent of the celebrity justice. Scalia clearly relishes the public attention, even though his public controversies likely cost him the Chief Justice position on the Court. Continuing his celebrity tour before conservative groups, Scalia thrilled his “base” by declaring that the criminalization of homosexuality, abortion, and the death penalty are “absolutely easy” questions.

Continue reading “No Sweat: Scalia Publicly Declares Abortion, Death Penalty, Criminalizing Homosexuality “Absolutely Easy” Questions” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Society

Federal Appellate Court Allows Innocent Man To Sue LAPD After Serving 19 Years For Murder He Did Not Commit

Calling a case “exceptional,” a panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that Harold C. Hall can sue the Los Angeles Police Department after serving 19 years for murders that he did not commit and allegedly confessed to under coercion by the police. The panel began its presentation with the understatement of a lifetime: “Some might call Hall an unlucky fellow.”

Continue reading “Federal Appellate Court Allows Innocent Man To Sue LAPD After Serving 19 Years For Murder He Did Not Commit” →

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Politics, Religion, Supreme Court, Uncategorized

Pastors Take on the IRS

Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

In light of the ever-increasing influence on National and local politics by churches and clergy, I was interested in the recent news that over 1,000 churches will be challenging the IRS by telling their parishioners who they want them to vote for in the upcoming national elections.  The event is dubbed “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” by its organizers and it is designed to challenge the IRS on its prohibition of churches from intertwining politics and religion, as a requirement of maintaining their tax-free status. Continue reading “Pastors Take on the IRS” →

Courts, Politics, Society

Federal Appellate Court Rules Medical Marijuana Law Does Not Protect Worker In Use of Medical Marijuana

There is an interesting case out of Michigan concerning medical marijuana — and the basic requirements of drafting a medical marijuana law. We previously discussed the case of Joseph Casias. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled (in the opinion below) that Wal-Mart was allowed to allegedly fire an employee for using medical marijuana. That would seem a curious ruling given state law protecting people in the use of medical marijuana. However, the court found that the drafting of a key line left workers without protection for termination.

Continue reading “Federal Appellate Court Rules Medical Marijuana Law Does Not Protect Worker In Use of Medical Marijuana” →