Category: Society

Court: Judge Allowed To Speak Publicly Against Federal Law and “Institutionalized Racism”

Ninth Circuit Chief Judge Alex Kozinski (left) has written an order (below) absolving a magistrate judge (believed to be Magistrate Judge Edward Chen) of ethical charges after he spoke out publicly against “institutionalized racism” and the criminalization of immigration laws.
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Cuccinelli To Seek Expedited Review By Supreme Court on Health Care — Bypassing The Fourth Circuit

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced this morning that he will file a Petition for Certiorari Before Judgment today requesting that the U.S. Supreme Court review the Commonwealth v. Sebelius decision without waiting for a ruling from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

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Health Care and Federalism: A Response to Professor Charles Fried

I have received a significant number of emails after my earlier stated views on the national health care legislation were raised in the hearings this week before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Unfortunately, I am plowed under this week in litigation, but I wanted to offer a brief response to Harvard Law Professor and former Reagan Solicitor General Charles Fried who disagreed with my views on the danger to federalism.

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Redskins Owner Threatens Newspaper With Libel Suit After Unflattering Article

Dan Snyder is reportedly planning a defamation action against Washington’s City Paper for a scathing story about his controversial time as owner of the Washington Redskins. The case could prove an interesting battle over first amendment rights and defamation law.

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The Ford Pinto Act: Is The White House Claim of “Activism” Fair?

Here is my column in USA Today (which was posted yesterday but will run in print on Monday) on the charge that Judge Vinson is an activist after his striking down of the entire health care plan. While I did not view the opinion as particularly strong in its substantive analysis and did not like the rhetoric flourishes (as discussed with Lawrence O’Donnell this week), I find the charge of activism to be a bit forced over the issue of severability.
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Where Do You Find Gender Discrimination? Professor Says It Is The National Geographic Bee

Minot State University professor emeritus Eric Clausen has filed his second federal complaint alleging that he was retaliated against by the National Geographic Society after he complained that the contest discriminated against girls because virtually no girls have won the national title.

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High School Student is Expelled and Criminally Charged For Spitballing

Spotsylvania High School student Andrew Mikel II, 14, is the latest kid to be swept up in the zero tolerance/zero logic campaign against toy guns in school. (For earlier stories, click here and here and here). Mikel was expelled and criminally charged after he used a pen casing (the tube of preference for spitballers) to spit plastic pellets at other students at lunch. He was charged with use of a “weapon” in school. The Spotsylvania Knights may carry a lance

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Chicago Candidates Debate Whether One is a Crack Head or The Other is a Carpetbagger

Sometimes I really miss Chicago. While other cities have mayoral debates over taxes and teachers, Chicago’s debate at the Trinity United Church of Christ recently turned on whether one candidate is a crackhead. The video below shows an exchange between Mayoral candidate Carol Moseley Braun and Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins where Watkins accuses Braun of disappearing for the last few years while Braun accuses her of being in a narcotic haze.
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Illinois Court Rules Man Can Sue Over Deceptive Use of Sperm By Girlfriend To Impregnate Herself

We have been following a series of paternity cases (here and here and here and here) where courts have rejected claims of lack of consent or knowledge by a parent in forcing child support payments. I just ran over a case that, while now a bit dated, is remarkable. The case involves a Chicago doctor who was forced to pay child support after his girlfriend, without his knowledge, saved sperm from oral sex and arranged to be impregnated with it. The case came to public attention after an appellate court ruled that Dr. Richard O. Phillips could sue Dr. Sharon Irons for emotional distress in the case.

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Canadian Company Kills 100 Sled Dogs Due To Dip in Business

Officials are investigating a Canadian man’s claim of post-traumatic stress disorder after he was awarded compensation for stress from his job with Outdoor Adventures Whistler near Vancouver. The man says that he was ordered to kill 100 healthy sled dogs by his employer due to the dip in business after the Olympics.
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Live Free (Elsewhere): New Hampshire Moves To Strip Voter Rolls of College Students

New Hampshire Rep. Gregory Sorg (R- Grafton County) is being accused of trying to prune the voter rolls of presumed liberal voters by barring college students from voting. His “Voters Attending Institutions of Learning” would tell students to vote back home.

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