Civil libertarians are alarmed by Sunday’s interview with the House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, suggesting that the House may surrender on the telecom immunity question. For a short period of time, it appeared that for once members of Congress would actually stand on principle and refuse immunity. Now, Reyes is saying that he is open to “compromise” and that a deal may be close. Continue reading “House Intelligence Chairman Indicates that House May Capitulate on Telecom Immunity”
Category: Justice
A divided Virginia Supreme Court upheld the conviction Jeremy D. Jaynes under the state’s 2003 Anti-Spam Act. While many of us hate to admit it, he may have a point that the law is constitutionally flawed. This is one that may be heading to the Supreme Court. Continue reading “Spam and the First Amendment: Virginia Supreme Court Upholds Anti-Spam Law”
In a remarkable ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman has ordered firebrand attorney Geoffrey Fieger to pull TV commercials critical of the Bush Administration. Borman ruled that such ads threatened to influence the jury pool in Fieger’s upcoming trial for making illegal contributions to the John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign. It is an extremely rare ruling that pits judicial administration against the first amendment. Continue reading “Federal Court Orders Geoffrey Fieger to Pull Anti-Bush Administration Ads from TV”
Attorney General Michael Mukasey waited until late Friday to announce that he will block any prosecution of Bush officials for contempt of Congress. Mukasey’s protection of White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers could trigger a major inter-branch fight and advances yet another extreme legal interpretation of executive authority by the Bush Administration. It is not surprising, therefore, that he waited until late on a Friday to try to minimize media scrutiny of this controversial decision. Continue reading “Mukasey Blocks Any Prosecution of Bush Officials for Contempt of Congress”
The Connecticut Supreme Court has issued an interesting ruling that bars the widow of a judge from suing under a law designed to benefit her alone. It is like a reverse bill of attainder ruling: barring selective special benefits as opposed to punishment in legislation. Continue reading “No Special Compensation for Widow of Worked-To-Death Judge”
After YouTube blocked a video posted by a human rights activist on Russian prison abuse, the company has yielded to international objections and restored the video. The video shows the chronic abuse that occurs within the Russian prison system. Continue reading “YouTube Restores Russian Prison Abuse Video”
Roger Clemens’ decision to testify before Congress without immunity was a considerable risk designed to protect his legacy. He may now lose both his legacy and his liberty. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking for a criminal investigation into whether Clemens gave false information to Congress in the investigation in to the use of performance enhancing drugs. Continue reading “Congress Refers Clemens Matter to the Justice Department for Criminal Investigation”
Michael Ray, a federal inmate, could rightfully claim some confusion. A “jailhouse lawyer,” Ray convinced the United States Supreme Court to accept an important prisoner case this term — an achievement unmatched by the vast majority of practicing lawyers. Now, however, the South Carolina State Attorney General is reportedly investigating Ray for possible charges of practicing without a license. What is particularly curious is that this is the same state that recently admitted well-connected applicants for the bar after they flunked the exam. South Carolina appears to have entered some parallel universe where success in the law is failure while failure in the law is success. Continue reading “South Carolina Moves Against Successful Jail House Lawyer While Allowing Unsuccessful Bar Applicants to Become Lawyers”
Only recently, the Saudi police arrested an American businesswoman who sat down at a Starbucks next to a man who was not a family member. Now, a university professor has been sentenced to eight months in jail and 180 lashes for having coffee with a female student in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested by the religious police for being in a state of khulwa – seclusion – with an unrelated female. Continue reading “Saudi Coffee Police Strike Again: Professor Sentenced to Prison and 180 Lashes for Having Coffee With Student”
Karyn Galila, 24, has been given a 90 day jail sentence for her false report of being raped at gun point by five men in San Mateo, California. What is most striking about this story is the lack of consistency in the treatment of such false accounts, particularly the refusal of prosecutors to pursue charges against the two women behind the false rape charges in the Duke Lacrosse case. Continue reading “California Court Jails Woman Who Made False Rape Claim”
A Tortured Defense;
The guessing game is over. We know the U.S. government OK’d and utilized waterboarding. So what — if anything — are we going to do about it? Continue reading “The Tortura De Bush and the Administration’s Taste for Khmer-Style Waterboarding”
Defense Department General Counsel William Haynes has resigned after a disclosure by the former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, Col. Morris Davis, involving Haynes’ view of the true function of the military trials: to blindly impose guilty verdicts. Davis revealed that Haynes insisted that the military tribunals only produce convictions and no acquittals — leading to the demand of various military lawyers to be transferred. Haynes is the very same person that the White House and GOP fought to be made a federal judge. Continue reading “Top Bush Official Resigns After Reports that He Demanded Only Convictions from the Military Tribunals”
Zacarias Moussaoui is back. The self-confessed terrorist has filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit, contesting the trial court’s refusal to give him his choice of lawyers and the denial of information to him in his defense. While it is extremely unlikely that he will prevail in the Fourth Circuit, the arguments being made by Arnold and Porter are not nearly as crazy as their client. Continue reading “Moussaoui Returns: Appeal Claims Violations of His Sixth Amendment Rights”
After proclaiming that the nation’s security was in imminent danger due to the refusal to give telecommunication companies immunity, the Bush Administration has backed off the claim and now says that there has been no interruption in intelligence. Nevertheless, the Administration has continued to argue that that it is ultimately a choice between giving financial protection to corporations or risk a massive terrorist attack. Continue reading “Administration Backs Off Claim of Imminent National Security Threat in Bid to Get Immunity for Telecom Companies”
Angela Nellany has pleaded no contest to assault with a deadly weapon in California . The alleged weapon: a can of wasps. Despite the testimony of a man who alleged that Nellany tried to hire her to kill her estranged husband, Paul Nellany, and testimony on the attempt to use a can of wasps (Paul is highly allergic), she did not admit guilt in her plea and will receive only a few more months of prison on a two-year sentence. Continue reading “Wife Pleads Guilty in Case of Assault by Wasp Case”