As counsel to older pilots around the country challenging the Age 60 Rule, I have been litigating the FAA’s orders forcing hundreds of experienced pilots into retirement upon turning 60 years old. The recent enactment of the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act merely replaced one Age 60 regulatory rule with an even more arbitrary and capricious Age 60 statutory rule. Below is our contesting the enforceability of the act in our ten pending appellate cases. Continue reading “Airline Pilots Challenge the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act”
A recent video shows a drunk soldiers taking a Russian tank out of a spin, hitting a house and terrorizing a family. As these videos indicate, however, tanking for fun is not just a Russian past time. Continue reading “Tanks Don’t Kill People . . . : Videos Show the Potential of Tank Torts”
Former USA Today reporter (and now West Virginia journalism professor) Toni Locy faces financial ruin after an extraordinary order from U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton. The court imposed $5000 a day on her personally for refusing to disclose her sources in the case filed by former Army scientist, Steven J. Hatfill related to the 2001 anthrax attacks. The question is whether this order will finally prompt Congress to pass a need federal shield law. Continue reading “Federal Judge’s Order Could Financially Ruin Former Reporter for Protecting Sources”
Representatives of the Sikh faith have been barred by the Secret Service from participating in a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI next month because they wear the Kirpaan, or ceremonial knife. Given the fact that these would be leaders of the Sikh faith, the Secret Service appear like perfect morons in barring the Sikhs. Continue reading “Secret Service Bar Sikh Leaders From Meeting with the Pope over Ceremonial Knife or Kirpaan”
President Bush waited until Saturday to veto the ban on waterboarding, hoping to diminish press and congressional attention. He had nothing to fear. Both democrats and republicans have already guaranteed that Bush will not be held accountable for the torture program. After effectively decriminalizing torture, the objections heard from Democrats should be met with a healthy degree of scorn. Continue reading “Bush Vetos Ban on Waterboarding — Democrats Feign Shock”
Pensacola News Journal faces possible insolvency if the Florida Supreme Court upholds an $18 million judgment against it for publishing true facts in a false light case. At issue is the inclusion of true facts about how Joe Anderson, the owner of one of the state’s largest paving companies, killed his wife. The inclusion of those facts in a series on the paving company was viewed as actionable false light — an allegation that a Florida jury accepted. Continue reading “Newspaper Appeals $18 Million for Publishing True Story in False Light Case”
Samantha Power is an award-winning and respected academic has served as Mr Obama’s key foreign policy aide. She has now resigned after the Scotman newspaper published an off-the-record comment about Hillary Clinton, calling her a “monster” who will do or say anything to get elected. What I find most disturbing is the complete absence of journalistic ethics on the part of this newspaper. Years ago, I had a run in with the Scotsman over their publication of an interview or column that they attributed to me. I never gave them an interview or spoke with them. Continue reading “Beware of Scotsman: Aide Fired After Newspaper Publishes Off-Record “Monster” Comment”
If you are hiring a lawyer in Brazil, you may want to be sure to call before Dora the Explorer comes on. Joao Victor Portellinha recently passed the entrance test for law school despite the fact that he is in the fifth grade. Continue reading “I’ll File, You Drive: 8 Year Old Passes Law School Entrance Exam”
Arkansas Robert Steinbuch won an appeal to the Eighth Circuit in his case against former Senate aide to Mike DeWine, Jessica Cutler — the so-called Washingtonienne. Steinbuch sued after he was identified by initials by Cutler in her account of sexual affairs in Washington. It is a case of some significance for bloggers and those who keep online diaries that could be challenged as defamatory or violations of privacy. Continue reading “Grapes of Wrath: Law Professor Steinbuch Wins Appeal Over Book Detailing Alleged Affair with the “Washingtonienne””
In what seems like a scene out of the movie “The Big Easy,” New Orleans police are accused of beating and using a taser on Steven Elloie on June 23, 2006 and then losing the critical police tape showing the incident. The two officers, Jason Samuel and Hans Ganthier, are defendants in another such brutality case that occurred at another bar on Mardi Gras. Continue reading “New Orleans Cops Allegedly Beat and Tase an Innocent Man; Then Lose Video of Incident”
PGA Tour golfer Tripp Isenhour has been charged with intentionally killing a red-shouldered hawk (pictured below) after it forced him to do a re-take while filming his series “Shoot Like A Pro.” John Henry Isenhour III, his real name when he is not depopulating nature, now faces 14 months in jail if convicted.
Continue reading “Shoot Like a Con: Golf Pro Tripp Isenhour Criminally Charged with Killing Migratory Bird”
Imagine this. The country is fresh from a close presidential election when the Supreme Court is asked to decide who will be president. If you are thinking about the 2000 election, think again. The expected nomination of John McCain for president could trigger a fight over a relatively obscure provision in the Constitution: the requirement that president and vice president be “natural born” citizens. McCain is certainly a citizen, but there is a legitimate question of whether he is a “natural born citizen” given his birth in the Panama Canal. Continue reading “The Supreme Redux: Is John McCain Ineligible to Be President?”
It often seems like school officials are waging a war on the first amendment. Only recently, school officials in Alaska prevailed in the “Bong hits 4 Jesus” case, a major rollback of student rights and free speech interests. Now, school officials are seeking to extend their reach not only to public demonstrations like the Alaskan case but the Internet and extracurricular speech. Avery Doninger, a student as the Lewis S. Mills High School in Connecticut is being punished for calling school officials a name on the Internet and saying that an administrator is “pissed off.” She appears to be right, they barred her from serving in a student government position because they do not like what she writes at home. Now there is a valuable lesson — it just belongs to a different political system. Continue reading “School Officials Punish Student for Saying Bad Things About Them on Her Home Computer”
In what could be an important first amendment case, a Nebraska police officer, Robert E. Henderson, is fighting to keep his job after being fired for his associations with a group affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan. It is only the latest such action taken against officers over their private lives or views. Continue reading “Nebraska Police Officer Fired Over Assocation With KKK-Linked Group”
SwissMiniGun has made the world’s smallest working revolver at just 2.16 inches long (5.5cm) with bullets that can kill. They are small enough for earrings or even a lovely lapel pin. They are also illegal in the United States. Continue reading “At Last, A Gun For the Tiniest Felons: Company Makes a Lethal 2.16 inch Gun”