Courts, Politics

County Clerk Candidate Fired Over Alleged Illegal Background Checks Made Against Opponents

Submitted by Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Sarah Matheny
Sarah Matheny

Officials of Yakima, Washington reportedly asked the Washington Attorney General’s Office to investigate allegations that Municipal Court Clerk Sarah Matheny, a candidate for the elected office of Yakima County Clerk, had abused her authority to access records using her workstation attached to government databases in an effort to provide her with potentially damaging information of all other candidates in the election.

Reportedly Sarah had been previously disciplined for performing an illegal inquiry using the Washington State ACCESS telecommunication system to query Department of Licensing records on an opponent but at another point had used other systems to perform backgrounds on the other candidates, including alleged illegal use of the judicial records database.

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Academia, Constitutional Law

Poll: 64 Percent of Americans Cannot Identify All Three Branches Of Government

500px-Scene_at_the_Signing_of_the_Constitution_of_the_United_StatesIn the wake of Constitution Day, there is a truly depressing survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center that found that 227 years after the signing of the Constitution only 36 percent of Americans can actually name the three branches of government. Thus, 64 percent of Americans cannot name the three parts of our tripartite system.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Sharia Justice: Iran Sentences Seven To Be Flogged For “Happy” Video While Sentencing Blogger To Death For Insulting Mohammad

1411000473262_wps_3_A_group_of_six_Iranian_yoIran has supplied the world with another outrage from the application of its medieval Sharia law system. An Iranian court sentenced seven young adults to be flogged plus prison time for the offense of shooting a video of themselves dancing to the American pop hit “Happy.” Another court issued a death sentence for a blogger accused of simply insulting Prophet Muhammad.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Pit Stop: Teens Charged After Crash Caused By The Igniting of Driver’s Armpit Hair

180px-Armpit_by_David_ShankboneThere is a bizarre case out of Boise, Idaho where a group of five teenagers were injured when a SUV crashed. The cause of the accident was a 16-year-old boy who reportedly decided it would be funny to light the armpit hair of the driver, 18-year-old Tristian Myers, on fire. Two of the girls, 15 and 16 years of age, were thrown from the Ford Bronco.

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Bizarre, Society

Hummus Over Humidors: Farmers Reportedly Turning To Chickpeas Over Tobacco

170px-Nicotiana_Tobacco_Plants_1909px230px-Hummus_from_The_NileThere is a truly healthy development occurring in tobacco country. It appears that farmers are pulling up tobacco plants with the falling market in order to plant a crop in higher demand: chick peas. Why? Hummus, my friend, thar’s gold in them golden dips. It is the ultimate healthy trade off and one of the more promising signs of the successful campaign against tobacco use.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Politics

Got War? Yoo and Stephens Rally A Coalition Of The War Willing

220px-Bret_Stephens180px-john-yooToday I had my second debate with Berkeley Law Professor and former Bush official John Yoo. The first debate sponsored by Christopher Newport University was held in Newport News four days ago and the second was sponsored by Hillsdale College at a debate held in Washington, D.C. There is a clear theme emerging to get Americans to embrace war as a continuing reality for American policy. Equally notable is how well-connected Republicans are returning over and over to another theme: Rand Paul must be stopped. In his luncheon speech, Bret Stephens of The Wall Street Journal repeatedly mocked Rand Paul and his opposition to the United States engaging in wars around the globe. It seems that there is a real fear that Paul could gain traction with Republicans in steering the U.S. from an interventionist course. There are many positions of Paul that people of good faith can disagree with. I certainly have such differences with him. However, it is specifically his notion of limited presidential authority and a disinclination toward new wars that is the focus of these attacks.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering

High Crimes and [NFL] Misdemeanors? Members Raise Impeachment In Fuller Case

fuller-mugshotWe previously discussed the arrest of U.S. District Judge Mark Fuller in Alabama for misdemeanor battery of his wife. Now members are raising the possibility of impeachment if he does not resign despite the absence of a conviction on the misdemeanor. Rep. Martha Roby (R., Alabama) is citing a rather novel source of extraconstitutional precedent: the NFL Ray Rice case.

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Criminal law, Society

Seventeen Year Old Missouri Teen in Coma After Being Tasered By Police

26529511_BG3There is another disturbing case involving police tasering a suspect who ended up with a serious, life-threatening injury after a traffic stop. Bryce Masters was put into a medically induced coma due to injuries to his brain after an encounter with an Independence (Mo.) police officer. The brain damage was due to either hitting his head on the concrete or losing oxygen for a long period of time.

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Constitutional Law, Society, Torts

Associated Press Moves To “Rectify” False Story On National Report

screen-shot-2014-09-01-at-8-36-57-am-e14095751988281In a previous posting, I published a warning about another malicious fake news story by National Report which showed a picture identified as an Associated Press photo of Paul Horner, 15, allegedly was given 25 years to life for “swatting” — calling in a fake police report on an online gaming opponent. The problem is that the story is entirely untrue. I discussed how this article went further then prior juvenile postings by National Report designed to trick news organizations and blogs into posting false stories. There is nothing funny about the stories. These are just mean-spirited efforts to embarrass media and bloggers. However, on his occasion they used a picture of a real person and tied Associated Press to their story. At the time, I asked why anyone has not sued these editors, particularly Associated Press. I have now spoken with Associated Press about the incident.

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Media

23,000,000

We only recently passed the 22,000,000 mark last July but a few minutes ago we just hit 23,000,000. It continues to be a banner year for the site with a continuing increase in traffic, links on other sites, and new voices on the blog. These milestones are coming faster and they give us a chance to look at the spread of our regular readers and commentators. As always, I want to offer special thanks for our weekend contributors: Mark Esposito, Mike Appleton, Larry Rafferty, Charlton Stanley, Darren Smith, and Kimberly Deines. The increasing traffic on the site is gratifying and reaffirms that there are many people looking for mature and civil debate. Even among the top ten sites, I believe that we offer a unique forum of different views and backgrounds in the discussion of law and politics (and a few quirky items).

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Media

“Geauxjudge” is Gone: Judge Maggio Removed From Court For Anonymous Postings

article-charlize8n-5-0307We previously discussed the bizarre case of Faulkner County Circuit Judge Mike Maggio who was identified as an anonymous commenter known as “geauxjudge” in a an an interesting controversy in Arkansas where Maggio was was outed from online sites. Maggio previously apologized and withdrew from a race for the appellate court. The controversy raised the question of whether such comments should be a subject for ethical discipline and whether judges should have the right to comment anonymously on such sites. Now Maggio has been permanently removed from the bench for his discussion of a confidential adoption of a child by actress Charlize Theron. He agreed with the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission about the lifetime ban. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected the recommendation because it included Maggio being suspended with pay until the end of the year when his term expires.

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Former Judge Sentenced To 40 Years In Prison As Meth Manufacturer and Dealer

628x471A Little Rock courtroom was the scene of a truly sad fall from grace as former Arkansas Judge Bob Sam Castleman was given 40 years for methamphetamine manufacturing and distribution conspiracy. Some ten years ago, Castleman and his son were sent to jail after they mailed a live poisonous snake to a man with whom they had a dispute. There was a real Breaking Bad quality to the trial that included a demand for life in prison after prosecutors were allowed to argue that Castleman killed a witness in the drug case even though he was never criminally charged in the case. The defense had a compelling argument that it was improper to put the death of the witness, Travis Perkins, (who was also a codefendant) into the trial. Perkins was found shot to death in an apartment in Pocahontas, Arkansas just days before he was set to testify against Castleman.

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Academia, Constitutional Law

Utah Valley University Holds Major Conference on Free Speech

200px-UVU_SealI am in Orem, Utah after speaking at the Constitution Day celebrations at Utah Valley University and its conference on privacy in America. I will be returning today but hope to catch one of the panels today at this extraordinary event of the Utah Valley University’s Center for Constitutional Studies. Yesterday, I spoke twice on free speech issues. My first speech was on private actors limiting free speech, the “little brother” problem. The speech (and those of my panelists) was followed by a panel discussion with with New York University and University of Chicago professor Richard Epstein and UCLA professor Eugene Volokh. Later I spoke again on media and free speech followed by a panel with New York Times columnist Stanley Fish.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Politics, Society

Drumbeat: Senator Graham Warns That “We All Get Killed” If We Do Not Go To War While Ex-NSA Director Compares Air Attacks To “Casual Sex”

250px-Michael_Hayden,_CIA_official_portrait225px-Lindsey_Graham,_official_Senate_photo_portrait,_2006This was beginning to sound too familiar. A president is calling for a new war based on his inherent authority while members of Congress warn that it is war or death for America. However, former NSA director (and my neighbor) Michael Hayden added a new element: explaining that air power is like “casual sex” and that we need greater commitment than the military equivalent to a one night stand. Of course, this one night stand is expected to last months and cost billions. President Obama has already asked for $500 million to just arm Syrian rebels despite the fact that we are now facing our own weaponry in the hands of ISIS (captured from our past supply of rebels and the Iraqi military). Sort of like Warren Zevon’s song to send “Lawyers, Guns, and Money” except we are leaving the lawyers behind on this one.

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