Today I leave with one of my sons, Jack, to go on our long anticipated trip to Alaska. This has been one of my bucket list items and I am very excited about the trip. I will be speaking to the Alaska Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (AKACDL) Annual All-Star Litigator’s Conference at Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska. I will be arriving early to experience this wonderful state.
Conservative columnist and icon George Will has left the Republican Party in light of the presumptive nomination of Donald Trump and his announcement triggered another juvenile response from Trump on Twitter — followed by a reply from Will that may be one of the best put downs that I have read in years.
It has happened to us all. You quickly type an email and some auto program completes the address for the wrong person or you hit “reply all” by mistake. Indeed, most attorneys have had such misfires in case, but few have had to deal with the embarrassment of Defense attorney Bob Hinton in the high-profile case. Hinton sent an Associated Press reporter an email intended for the legal team that admits that his client former Quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel is still abusing drugs and could not pass a simple urinalysis as part of any plea bargain. Since they are trying to secure such a deal, the email is devastating for any chance that Manziel had for such a deal. To make matters worse, Manziel’s own father called him a “druggie” and said that he hoped that his son would be sent to jail to save his life.
One always hopes for the best in flooding disasters, but when your house is both burning and floating down the river, it is time to move to Plan B and call the insurance company.
Continue reading “Burning Home Captured Floating Down West Virginia River”
By Cara L. Gallagher, weekend contributor
In the first line of his 51-page dissent in Fisher v. The University of Texas at Austin, Justice Alito wrote that “something strange is going on at the Supreme Court.” Indeed, it was. I think it’s safe to say no one thought race-based admissions processes would survive after the first Fisher case in 2013. The four conservative Justices (Scalia included) have long been chomping at the bit to quash it, believing instead that the way to end race-based discrimination is to “stop discriminating on the basis of their race.” Universities have no less continued to try different ways to diversify campuses but have ostensibly been told by the SCOTUS: You’re doing it wrong.
Certainly Justice Kennedy, who authored the 4-person majority opinion in Fisher last week, seemed poised to tell the University of Texas at Austin they too were doing it wrong. Continue reading “A view from inside the SCOTUS: The affirmative action decision explained”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
In what can be seen as a prelude to future rights abuses by Turkish military and police forces engaged in countering the pro-Kurdish resistance fighters in the east, Turkey’s parliament passed laws granting immunity to its military engaged in “anti-terrorist” operations.
The government has become engaged in fighting since a cease-fire with the PKK broke down two years ago.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We have seen many incidents of lower courts ordering those convicted of crimes to endure unusual punishments: some as novel as holding signs advertising that they are criminals; requiring the cutting hair of their children; or forced attendance in Church. While these are fundamentally unusual, a case before us here fortunately never rose to these levels of miscarried justice.
An appellant argued before the Washington Supreme Court that a letter compelled by a juvenile court, mandating an apology to the victim of a sexual assault, violated his free speech rights by imposing a government mandated speech of which he objected.
Many might see the matter as a minor requirement to apologize to a victim and not “worth the trouble” on behalf of the defendant, or, perhaps representing a rather cold hearted approach by the defendant to contest such a matter out of spite. Yet, the Court likely granted review due to the compelled speech question not having been previously addressed in Washington.
Previous case law in the state tends to much favor free speech which is interpreted to be afforded greater protection within purview of the state constitution, and in most cases provides greater rights than the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Ruling on statutory grounds, Skagit County, Washington Superior Court Judge Raquel Montoya-Lewis held that a public hospital offering maternity services to women must also offer abortion services. Referring patients to Planned Parenthood, the court ruled, violates state law regarding abortion services provided to patients. The suit was brought on behalf of a plaintiff patient by the American Civil Liberties Union.
The fundamental conflict in the case litigated was ostensibly due to the defendant hospital district’s position that while agreeing to offer such services, it experienced difficulty in complying due to lack of health professionals willing to perform abortions. State law does allow heath care professionals to decline to perform voluntary abortions for personal reasons.
For other public hospital districts, the ACLU served notice requesting similar compliance with state law.
Cara L. Gallagher, Weekend Contributor
Backsliding. Justice Ginsburg warned of this in her famous Shelby County v. Holder dissent in 2013. Eliminating Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the pre-clearance requirement for states that had a history of suppressing minority votes, would result in a return to racial discrimination and disenfranchisement, Ginsburg said. Prior to Shelby, states with such records had to get approval from either the Department of Justice or the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals before changing any voting laws under Section 5 of the VRA.
Was her warning heeded?
Not in North Carolina. This is a state that didn’t even wait to read her dissent, or likely the entirety of the majority decision, as they radically changed voting laws on the same day Shelby was decided. Continue reading “Backsliding & voting rights post-Shelby”
As discussed this week by the TechDirt, new evidence is further contradicting the account of Hillary Clinton as her former aides have increasingly refused to answer questions in depositions or, in one case, invoked the Fifth Amendment over 125 times. New evidence shows that the State Department was faced with an incompatible use of an unsecured server in sending emails to State Department staff. Efforts to convince Clinton to use the secure State Department system were rejected. Instead, the State Department “solved” the problem by removing security protections — essentially lowering the communications to the security level of the the private server. Moreover, as reported by CBS, it is now clear that Clinton did not turn over a critical email expressing her desire to deny access to “personal” emails despite assuring the country that anything remotely connected to the State Department or email system was turned over before her aides deleted tens of thousands of emails.
Our close ally, Saudi Arabia, is again showing that it is as extreme as countries like Iran in its application of Sharia law and Islamic practices. Ramadan has triggered a crackdown on clothing deemed “unIslamic” ranging from ripped jeans, Crocs shoes, shorts, necklaces and Western hair styles. Up to 50 men have been arrested off the streets by the infamous Saudi “Mutaween,” or the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia Arrests People For Wearing Ripped Jeans and Crocs As “UnIslamic””
Prime Minister David Cameron has stated that he will step down after the historic vote yesterday for the UK voted to leave the European Union. It is a blow for President Barack Obama who put everything on the line to push the British to stay in the EU, including seriously overplaying his hand (and role) in issuing dire warnings to the British people as did other world leaders. The warnings backfired and only reaffirmed the feeling that there is now a world order that will not tolerate traditional democratic controls over national policies and practices.
Continue reading “BREXIT: Cameron Announces Resignation As Brits Reject Obama’s Dire Warnings”
We previously discussed the case of Casey Nocket, a New York-based graffiti artist, who proudly posted pictures of her defacing surfaces in at least six national parks: Death Valley, Colorado National Monument, Canyonlands, Zion and Crater Lake. Thanks to Reddit (one of my favorite sites), she was tracked down by irate viewers who helped the national park investigators. She has now been sentenced to 200 hours of community service but also banishment from all national parks and other federally administered lands. We earlier discussed the fine and probation as facially insufficient. The banishment element is an important advance, even if the lack of jail time is disappointing. For years, I have advocated such a ban for those who deface our national and state parks. Nocket is now banned from 20 percent of the United States and that is a good thing.
Continue reading “Graffiti Artist Nocket Banned From All Federal Parks”
It often seems that when the world is grieving some terrible tragedy, there are some religious extremists who will celebrate the loss. Stepping immediately into that role was Sacramento pastor Roger Jimenez of the California-based Verity Baptist Church who praised Omar Mateen’s murder of gays and lamented that he did not “finish” the job. It appears however that Jimenez will have to find another place to peddle his religious-based hate. Harsch Investment Properties has decided not to renew the church’s lease and wants Jimenez out by next March.
Continue reading “Sacramento Pastor Praises Omar Mateen and Says That God Will Finish The Job”
It was something out of a whodunit story. A man is murdered but a suspect was under constant surveillance at the time of the murder. The GPS placed on Quincy Green, 44, showed that he remained at home. However, the twist is that his leg remained at the home with the tracking device on it, but the leg was a prosthetic that he removed. According to police, he left the leg and limped to another location to murder Dana Hamilton.
Continue reading “D.C. Man Accused Of Committing Murder While Being Monitored With Ankle Bracelet . . . By Removing His Prosthetic Leg”
