A federal investigation has found that Bradley Schlozman, the former acting head of the civil rights division, made false statements to Congress and violated federal law in overseeing the agency’s civil rights division. However, he will not face charges in a continuation of the Bush Administration’s record of barring prosecution of its own officials.
Continue reading “Report: Bush Official Violated Federal Law in Overseeing Civil Rights Division and Lied To Congress — But Will Not Be Charged”
Category: Lawyering
Grant County in Washington has settled an exceptionally disturbing case involving false allegations of child abuse, allegedly ineffective representation by a public defender (later disbarred), and the holding of an innocent man for seven months after allegations were disproved. The $250,000 with Felipe Vargas seems quite modest given the abuse that he encountered in Grant County, which seems to maintain a criminal justice system on a model from the Thirteenth Century.
Tim Kay is close to becoming a legal system unto himself. In the town of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Tim Kay defended Robert John “R.J.” Manders, a businessman, on his third drunken-driving conviction. One week later, he was prosecuting Manders for trespass. That’s right, Kay is both a defense counsel and prosecutor in the town.
For those who insist that the American jury system is simply pro-plaintiff, you need to look at the case of Lisa Strong, 44. The mother of two went to a hospital for kidney stones and ended up losing both her arms and legs. A jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida rule in favor the defendant doctors and South Broward Hospital District across the board.
Keeping with the developing matrimonial theme this morning, an odd case has emerged from New York involving personal injury lawyer Joseph Rosenzweig, who has been blocked by a court from foreclosing on a loan to his wife, Radiah Givens, due to bigamy. Justice Karla Moskowitz has ruled that there is a possible argument that the money was a gift.
Continue reading “New York Lawyer Accused of Bigamy and Blocked From Evicting Ex-Wife”
Steven J. Lever, a former associate at Kirkland & Ellis has been given a suspension of just three year from practice by the New York appeals court in a 3-2 decision. Lever was nailed in a sting operation where he attempted to have sex with a 13-year-old girl. Many object to the suspension of surprising light under the circumstances.
Continue reading “Leverage: New York Lawyer Given Three Years Suspension for Attempted Sex with Minor”
Lawyers across the nation are beaming with pride this morning after one of our own was awarded the coveted title of the best lie of 2008. The The Burlington Liars Club award in Milwaukee went to lawyer Garth Seehawer, 71, of Oconto Falls, who told a whooper about his grandson: “My grandson is the most persuasive liar I have ever met. By the time he was 2 years old he could dirty his diaper and make his mother believe someone else had done it.”
Fairway Oaks, Florida was the scene of a moving demonstration of volunteerism. There was former President Jimmy Carter and 10,000 volunteers building the entire house estate in a 17-day blitz. Residents have now gone to court to complain that the volunteers did a poor job and that the charity never disclosed that it was building the home over a garbage dump. They claim finding garbage under their floors and developing mysterious skin rashes. Lawyers for Humanity have yet to respond publicly.
Marcus J. Suhn was not happy about bars closing at 2 a.m. on Sept. 2, 2007. So, when a cruiser passed by in Brookings, South Dakota, he screamed “f—ing cop” and let loose with a stream of profanities at the police. He was arrested for his potty mouth, but the South Dakota Supreme Court has now declared such language to be protected speech under the First Amendment.
Well, the results are in and weeks of defamatory attacks on our opposing bloggers and the unrestrained use of the politics of personal destruction have paid off: the Turley blog was voted the Number One law professor blog and legal theory blog in the annual survey of the American Bar Association’s survey. Earlier, it was selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs overall. That is not bad for a blog that is only roughly a year old and it is entirely due to our regulars at the cyber bar we called the Turley blog. Your overindulgence, obsessive compulsiveness, and general lack of restraint have made us what we are today, a group of dysfunctional miscreants. But we are now the Number One dysfunctional miscreants in our category. Well done Team Turley (if I may be so bold). Not to overplay the victory, but this is the first key step to total blogosphere domination and eventual control of the time space continuum.
Continue reading “TURLEY BLOG WINS TOP SPOT IN ABA JOURNAL SURVEY”
Happy New Year to everyone on the Turley blog. This has been an extraordinary first year of the blog which is approaching two million hits annually. The success of the blog is due largely to our regulars who continue to make this one of the smartest and most fun blogs on the web. Even with the invasion by trolls and a few uncivil moments, the blog has remained a special forum for intelligent, civil, and often witty discourse. Our impressive monthly growth (and the obvious irritation of trolls) is a testament to the fact that there remains many people who want to engage in such dialogue. 2008 was our first full year in operation and I am very grateful for the contributions of all of the regulars on this blog.
Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has defied his critics and selected Roland Burris to replace Barack Obama. There is now speculation that the Secretary of State will not certify the appointment or that the Senate will use its inherent powers to block Burris. I just finished an interview with CBS stating that I believe both efforts would be an abuse of power. As the sitting governor of Illinois, Blagojevich is entitled to make this appointment.
Continue reading “Balgojevich Makes Senate Pick, But Will Burris Take the Oath?”
The voting continues on the top blogs. The Turley blog was selected as one of the 100 top legal blogs by the good people at the ABA Journal. It currently holds the number one spot for law professor and legal theory blogs. The tally shows the Turley blog with 387 votes with Mirror of Justice with 234 votes. The voting ends on January 2nd. You have done well Turley bloggers.
Continue reading “The Turley Blog Leads in Vote on Best Law Professor and Legal Theory Blogs”
The highly controversial sheriff from Maricopa, Arizona, Joe Arpaio may be facing serious charges of civil rights abuses and discrimination, but Hollywood considers him such a laugh that they are giving him his own reality show. He intends to use suspects as props for scenes written by comedy writers and staffed by actors. It is the latest sign of the decline of our criminal justice system as our judges, prosecutors, and sheriffs vie for notoriety on television and in the press.
Continue reading ““Smile: You’re Under Arrest: Arpaio Goes Hollywood”
Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Our kids get to double dip on both holidays in a play to spread our bets between the two religions of the parents. We have just finished placing the last present under the tree in Chicago. We can now look forward to three hours of sleep before the C-Day invasion. As my gift to you, I have linked a truly inspirational holiday video: Jingle Bells played on microwave ovens below.
Continue reading “Happy Holidays!”