Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Obama Administration Confirms Massive Surveillance Program Of U.S. Citizens

President_Barack_ObamaWhile the media in the United States (with some notable exceptions) have been criticized for relatively soft coverage of attacks on civil liberties by the Obama Administration, the British press appears to be filling the gap. The Guardian is reporting on a massive surveillance program by the Obama Administration where the government has ordered Verizon (and presumably other carriers) to turn over all calls made within the United States and calls between the United States and other countries. The surveillance was conducted under an order from our controversial secret court, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, and demanded by the Justice Department and the FBI. The Administration has confirmed the existence of the program — another blow to civil liberties under Attorney General Eric Holder and this president. It also adds another area where Obama officials appear less than candid with Congress. [Update: USA Today first revealed aspects of this program in 2006]

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Media, Politics

Sen. Lindsey Graham Questions Whether Bloggers “Deserve First Amendment Protection”

Graham-080106-18270- 0035Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., shocked many yesterday when he went public to muse over the question of whether bloggers “deserve First Amendment protection? These are the issues of our times.” Actually, it may be a question for Lindsey Graham but it is not a question of our time. Bloggers are clearly entitled to first amendment rights as are other citizens. Graham appears to be trying to raise the question of whether they are entitled to protections accorded journalists under a federal shield law.

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Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Holder Tells Intelligence Community Lawyers That He Wants Crackdown On Media Sources To Continue And Remain “Aggressive”

holderericFor those who believe that Attorney General Eric Holder is in any way repentant for the crackdown on journalists and whistleblowers, think again. If you recall, while Obama sacked the head of the IRS for its scandal, he only sent Holder to a confab with the media. After Holder insisted on the meeting being off the record, principled media organizations refused to attend. Holder proceeded to propose meaningless changes that actually would allow the very same investigation of reporters. Now, Holder has given a speech and his people made sure to leak it to the media. Holder told top lawyers in the Administration to continue their scorched earth campaign against leakers. This Administration has surpassed even Nixon in its pursuit of people who speak to the media and Holder wanted people to know that it will continue unabated.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Society

Judge Edith Jones Subject To Ethics Complaint Over Alleged Bizarre Comments At Federalist Society Meeting And Judicial Bias

Edith-Jones-Judge-Edith-H-Jones-Edith-Hollan-JonesThere have long been complaints about the temperament and civility of Judge Edith Jones of the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Indeed, when I clerked on that court, Jones was rather infamous for her run-ins with colleagues and others.  Jones has been criticized for her extremely conservative views and, more importantly, her perceived intolerance (and hostility) for opposing views and colleagues.  This includes telling another judge to “shut up” in oral argument. Now, she is facing a formal complaint over a Federalist Society speech given at the University of Pennsylvania where she allegedly said that certain racial groups are predisposed to crime and that defenses like mental competence and actual innocence are “red herrings” among other bizarre claims.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

New Jersey Woman Sues W Hotel After Beat Down By Prostitutes In Miami

Starwood_Hotels_and_Resorts_Worldwide_logo220px-10.3010_Torino-nightlife.v2There is an interesting tort case out of Miami where a New Jersey woman, Anna Burgese, is suing W Hotel (owned by Starwood) after a beat down by prostitutes outside of the hotel. Burgese says that the hotel is widely known as catering to a large prostitution business and failed to protect guests. Police believe that the prostitutes assumed that Burgese was a “working girl” intruding on their territory.

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International, Religion, Torts

Lawyer Sues Church For “Religious Malpractice” In Failing To Rid Home Of Flatulent Demons

220px-The_Papal_BelvedereThere are demon infestation problems and then there are problems like the one in the home of lawyer Madalin Ciculescu, 34. Ciculescu went to four priests to rid his home of farting demons that he and his wife insist are making their life miserable. When the flatulence continued, they sued the Bishop and church for “religious malpractice.” Putting aside the chance that this could be an “inside job” of one of the couple, it does highlight the fact that, even though money is exchanged, it is virtually impossible to hold religious officials to any objective standard for malpractice. Ciculescu was denied and hit with costs by the court.

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Bizarre, Religion, Society

Sole Searching: Television Prophet Discusses Miracle Shoes and Pasta Sauce

Cindy Jacobs is not just some other television prophet selected by God to guide mankind. Jacobs not only walks in the path of God, she wears magical shoes with holy soles that do not get holey. In explaining how the faithful are given miracles in her 10 Minute Prayer School, Jacobs explained “I mean, I remember one time that I had a pair of shoes that I wore and wore and wore and wore and it just — for years, these shoes did not wear out. And I wore them years and years and years.” She also describes how in having friends of her kids over, God would multiple food in jars as she spooned out lunches and snacks.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Society

Supreme Court Approves Involuntary DNA Samples From Suspects And Opens The Door To A Massive DNA Databank

225px-Anthony_Kennedy_Official220px-DNA_OverviewIn a blow to civil liberties, the Supreme Court yesterday voted 5-4 to allow police to collect DNA from suspects arrested in serious crime cases. The decision by Justice Anthony Kennedy opens the door for the collection and retention of a massive DNA databank by the states and federal government. The decision produced a strange lineup with Justice Antonin Scalia writing a dissent (with Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan) and normally liberal Justice Stephen Breyer joining Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. It is a disastrous case for Breyer to lose his bearings. His switch denied the creation of a bright line rule protecting privacy and forestalling such a databank.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

India Leaders Face Rape Crisis . . . By Banning Lingerie Mannequins

220px-LingerieThere are some obvious answers about the cause of the epidemic of rapes in India. There is the religious and culture treatment of woman in traditional areas. There is hostility of police to rape victims. However, the municipal council in Mumbai sees the cause elsewhere . . . lingerie mannequins. The council voted overwhelmingly to ban the ceramic vixens to prevent rape in the city.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics

Egyptian Activist Convicted Of Insulting President Mohammed Morsi

220px-MohamedMorsiPThe crackdown on free speech continued this week under President Mohammed Morsi (left) with a conviction of Ahmed Douma for insulting the leader. It is only one of a variety of cases against Egyptian journalists, bloggers, and others charged criminally for their criticism of Morsi and the imposition of authoritarian measures and Islamic laws in the country.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Politics, Society

New Jersey Man Appears In Court In A Full Nazi Uniform To Reclaim Visitation Rights

article-2335367-1A21B5DB000005DC-470_634x582We previously discussed the bizarre case of Heath Campbell, who ran into a bit of trouble when he tried to get a store to prepare a birthday cake for his son Adolph Hitler Campbell. It turns out that the parents gave all of their kids Nazi-related names. After the “mein cake” controversy, the state appears to have placed the couple under investigation and then took away their children. The New Jersey neo-Nazi is now fighting to get back his kids. He did it however in a curious way — he and his new fascist Frau showed up in full Nazi uniforms to court. This raises a significant free speech issue. Most of us view this Nazi obsession to be weird and unbalanced. However, it is also a form of political expression. While the state insists that there is a history of violence in the family (including an “anonymous complaint”), there have been no details of the extent of this history. Should this bizarre conduct and hateful belief system be considered on the custody question.

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Bizarre, International

Farewell Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz

220px-Schulen_WegweiserRindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz is now kaput. Germany has officially removed its longest word from us. Without the 63-letter word, it is not clear how people will refer to a law regulating the testing of beef in sentences like “just looking at the sizzling steak, you hardly needed a rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz to know this was a fine piece of meat.”

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Criminal law, International, Society

Thirteen-Year-Old Girl Gang Raped In Pakistan . . . Village Elders Order Her Killed As “Black Virgin”

pakistanrapestoryWe have yet another story of a rape victim subjected to a demand for an honor killing in a traditional Muslim area. Kainat Soomro was gang-raped by four men at the age of 13. According to their religious and cultural traditions, her village classed her as a “Kari” or “black virgin” and ordered her killed. The family was attacked by the four men and other villagers and one of the sons was murdered after they refused to carry out the “honor” killing.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Media, Politics

The One-Eyed Man In the Land Of The Blind: James Comey Set To Be Next FBI Director Despite Past Civil Liberties Controversies

Jcomey-100The Obama Administration has once again reaffirmed the new relativism controlling Washington in the nomination of James Comey as the next director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, even as it struggles to put out the controversy over its attack on free press principles. Comey was a critical player in the abuse warrantless surveillance program of the Bush Administration and will now be put in charge of the people carrying out such surveillance. The Administration has been spinning the nomination by pointing out that it was Comey who opposed efforts of the Bush White House in a famous confrontation by the hospital bed of the Attorney General John Ashcroft. However, while that was admirable, Comey did what all officials in his position are duty bound to do (though few in the Bush Administration fulfilled that obligation). Comey however also was critical in other abuses of warrantless surveillance as well as the abusive treatment of Jose Padilla and Plamegate. He is no hero for civil libertarians by any measure.
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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion, Society

Tennessee U.S. Attorney Under Fire For Suggestion That Offensive Speech May Violate Federal Law

Bill Killian. Photo by Alex McMahan Photography (423) 504-6423The Obama Administration is currently struggling to deal with disclosure of its attack on the free press under Attorney General Eric Holder. Now, it’s U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Bill Killian, suggesting an equally disturbing attack on free speech. Killian told a meeting with local Muslim citizens that he wants to “educate” people about how civil rights laws can be used against anti-Muslim speech. He made these comments along side of the FBI special agent in charge of the Knoxville office.

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