The Illinois Supreme Court today reversed the decision (below) of the appellate court and reinstated former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to the mayoral ballot in Chicago. As discussed earlier, the Supreme Court hit on the burden in overturning a factual finding of the lower court.
Continue reading “llinois Supreme Court Puts Emanuel Back on Chicago Ballot”
The Missouri Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling on reverse discrimination — upholding an award of more than $2 million for a white prosecutor, Melissa Howard, who was denied a judgeship in 2006 because the Kansas City Council wanted a minority in the position.
For civil libertarians, the gradual de-evolution of our criminal justice system just got a bit more medieval. Virginia Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger is upset about the prison budget so he has found a way to trim costs by simply castrating sexual offenders. This is the same proposal vetoed four years ago, but there is now a conservative Republican governor in office and some believe it could pass.
Continue reading “Sen. Hanger Proposes Castration for Sex Offenders”
With surprisingly little coverage from the media, Justice Clarence Thomas has amended his financial disclosure after Common Cause exposed his failure to report his wife’s income for many years — including her payments from conservative organizations.
Continue reading “Justice Thomas Amends Disclosure Forms To Reveal Wife’s Income”
Here is today’s column in the Washington Post on the controversy over Justice Scalia’s appearance on Monday in a Tea Party Caucus event for new House members. I view the issue as having broader implications for the Court.
Continue reading “Scalia and the Rise of the Celebrity Justice: Should Justices Have a Political Base?”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Lei Li, a Chinese Christian whose request for asylum in the United States was denied by an immigration judge in 2005, should be given another chance.
Lei, who became a Christian in 1999, said he was persecuted in China for practicing his faith. He claims he was arrested and beaten “for hosting an underground Christian church in his home.” After his release from police custody, Lei says he lost his job. In 2001, he came to the United States on a visitor visa—but he violated its terms by working.
In 2003, Li applied for asylum in the United States. He filed a petition for withholding from removal under the Convention Against Torture. In 2005, immigration judge Renee Renner rejected Lei’s petition for asylum because she felt he hadn’t answered “basic” questions about Christianity correctly. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Renner didn’t have evidence to make such a judgment.
Continue reading “Appeals Court Rules Religious Test Improper in Asylum Case”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Last week, the Fourth District Court of Appeal of the state of Florida issued a ruling denying the motion to suppress. Ruiz v. State of Florida is a drug case dealing with “consent” to search. Freddie Ruiz, charged with trafficking in cocaine and possession of cannabis, moved to suppress, alleging that the evidence was seized unlawfully.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
Earlier this week I read on the ACLU website the Appellate Court decision in ACLU, et al v. Department of Defense, et al, which decided you and I are not entitled to learn how our government tortured detainees illegally. “A federal appeals court today ruled that the government can continue suppressing transcripts in which former CIA prisoners now held at Guantánamo Bay describe abuse and torture they suffered in CIA custody. The ruling came in an ACLU Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to obtain uncensored transcripts from Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) used to determine if Guantánamo detainees qualify as “enemy combatants.” http://www.aclu.org/national-security/court-rules-government-can-continue-suppress-detainee-statements-describing-tort-0 It didn’t surprise me that the ACLU lost this appeal, but what surprised me is the lack of attention this case got in the main stream media. Continue reading “Americans Don’t Have the Right to Learn Just How Detainees Were Tortured”
Common Cause has sent the letter below to Justice Clarence Thomas raising concerns over his failure to report his wife’s income in prior years. For full disclosure, I have conferred with Common Cause on this nondisclosure issue and participated as an independent expert in the press conference yesterday on the absence of binding ethics rules for the members of the Supreme Court.
Continue reading “Justice Thomas Accused of Reporting Violations”
I just participated in a press conference (with Stanford Professor Deborah Rhode) dealing with Common Cause’s letter (below) asking the Justice Department to look into alleged conflicts of interest related to Justices Scalia and Thomas in the Citizens United case. Common Cause identified extremely serious issues related to the participation of Scalia and Thomas in events organized by Koch Industries CEO Charles Koch as well as Ginny Thomas’ involvement in Liberty Central.
Continue reading “Should Scalia and Thomas Be Retroactively Recused From Citizens United?”
Justice Gerard Hogan of Ireland’s High Court held a novel hearing on December 27th in his own home. Hogan ordered that the government give a lie-saving blood transfusion to a baby boy born in August 2010. His parents are both Jehovah Witnesses and had refused the procedure to save their son.
Continue reading “Irish Justice Orders Baby Saved Over Objections of Religious Parents”
Hugo Chávez continues his assault on political and legal protections in Venezuela. In a move that has been denounced internationally, including by Amnesty International, Chávez demanded the arrest of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni after she granted bail to an accused banker. He is demanding 30 years in prison even though his prosecutors could find no bribe (as he originally alleged on the radio). Instead, they found “spiritual corruption” and threw her in jail with many convicts that she previously incarcerated.
Continue reading ““Spiritual Corruption”: Chávez Jails Judge Who Granted Bail To Banker”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
I realize that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter, but when organizations are added to the Federal government’s list of Terrorist Organizations, the Supreme Court has determined that any assistance to that organization is a criminal act. Even a speech in support of that particular group can be a criminal act. http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1498.pdf http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/opinion/03cole.html?_r=1 It seems that in December of 2010, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey along with former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge and Rudy Giuliani, a former Mayor of New York City and a former Presidential candidate, all spoke at a conference in Paris in support of the Mujahedeen Khalq. The Mujahedeen Khalq is an Iranian dissident group that the State Department has labeled as a terrorist organization. http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm
Continue reading “Are Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge and Rudy Giuliani Aiding and Abetting the Enemy?”
U.S. District Judge John McBryde of Fort Worth, Texas has issued a massive opinion holding attorneys S. Tracy Long, Melvin K. Silverman, Joseph F. Cleveland, Jr., and John P. Gillig liable for ethical breaches and recommending criminal prosecution after they challenged his impartiality and temperament in a case. The lengthy opinion below details the case against the lawyers in litigation over golf club patents. What is most striking about the case is the decision of the judge to conduct the inquiry himself — rejecting obvious concerns over his own conflict of interest in eliciting testimony on his own conduct. [See the update below]
While the legal profession debates the propriety of his decision to participate in the educational sessions for conservative new members of Congress, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia is also causing a stir over his public statement that the 14th Amendment does not prohibit discrimination against women or gays.
Continue reading “Scalia Publicly Rejects the Use of the 14th Amendment to Bar Discrimination Against Women and Gays”