Columns, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Holiday Hazards And The Hope For A Litigation-Free New Year

220px-Christmas_in_Dublin,_CA200px-New_Year_Ball_Drop_Event_for_2012_at_Times_SquareHere is today’s column in USA Today on the hazards of the holidays. While Halloween racks up an impressive array of torts, Christmas and New Year’s Eve produce a considerable number of accidents and crimes. The difference is that the accidents are often self-inflicted — many of which I have personally experienced. Indeed, my family shudders when I pull out the Christmas decorations in anticipation of some unforeseen disaster.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

Incoming Utah Attorney General Announces That He Will Appeal Sister Wives Ruling

ad611-sister-wives-season-4Incoming Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes has announced that his office intends to appeal the ruling striking down the criminalization of cohabitation in the Sister Wives case. The decision will ultimately send the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in Denver, Colorado. However, the trial court has not yet issued a final order due to a couple outstanding issues. Once that order is issued, the Attorney General’s office will have 30 days to file a notice of appeal. In a surprising decision, the Attorney General also indicated that he will no longer have his office defend the Utah ban on same-sex marriage (struck down by Judge Robert Shelby) and possibly the cohabitation law (struck down by Judge Clark Waddoups). That will require the hiring of outside counsel and an outside firm to defend these laws as opposed to the Office of the Attorney General itself.

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Society

The Morning After

vSw0ixxIt the morning after and most of the kids (save one watching Mulan) are still asleep. We had a glorious dinner for 27 and everything this year came out on time and hot for the rollout. The only party in the dog house is Fanatics Outlet which failed to deliver a box of Bears shirts and sweaters for the kids as promised despite ample time for the order. It is something that millions of Americans face with little recourse other than returning the items. Some companies routinely do a bait-and-switch to get people to order with the assurance of a pre-Christmas delivery only to leave them without presents. However, this year apparently was worse due to some weather problems, though weather has not been bad in Chicago.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Controversial Montana Judge Sentences Man Who Brutally Attacked Woman To Writing “Boys Do Not Hit Girls” 5000 Times

220px-Ruled_paperMontana District Judge G. Todd Baugh is the subject of national criticism (again) in his handling of a criminal case. Baugh previously caused a national uproar over his treatment of a rape of a 14 year old girl who he described as “older than her chronological age” and sentenced her accused rapist to a month in prison. Baugh has now sentenced a man convicted of punching his girlfriend to write “Boys do not hit girls” 5,000 times in addition to jail time.

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International, Military, Torts

U.S. Sailors Sue Japanese Company Over Radiation Injuries Following The Fukushima Disaster

260px-Fukushima_I_by_Digital_Globe220px-ChopperDecon2011There is a little reported story about U.S. service members who have developed cancer and other illnesses after serving in the rescue efforts following the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. In an account that could have easily been written for the nuclear tests in the 1950s, service members have said that the Navy told them that there was no harm from radiation so long as they avoided the plume rising from the plant.

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Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

Saudi Court Reportedly Recalls Jailed Blogger to Face Apostasy Charge and Possible Execution

badawiIn July, we discussed the horrific cases of Saudi blogger and activist, Raif Badawi, who was sentenced to 7 years in prison and 600 lashes for “insulting Islam”. Badawi created a popular site called Free Saudi Liberals in 2008 to discuss the role of religion in Saudi Arabia. That was enough to declare him a criminal in the Saudi Kingdom, which denies freedom of religion and freedom of speech as well as the rights of women and political dissidents. Now, there are new concerns over a report that a Saudi judge has ordered Badawi to return to court to face a new charge of apostasy for which he could be executed.

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Religion, Society

Grounded: Catholic “Angelologist” Announces Angels Have No Wings

UnknownAngels may be de-winged this year after the Catholic Church’s “angelologist” Father Renzo Lavatori announced that they in fact do not have wings. Instead, he says that they are surrounded by shards of light. After all, it is important not to let imaginations get ahead of religious fact. However, what do we do with all of our Christmas decorations and tree-top angels? It is not clear if a class action is being developed for compensation or reparations.

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Criminal law, International, Society

Indian Police Allegedly Gang Rape Schoolgirl Over Two and A Half Months But Only One Will Face Prosecution

India flagWe have another outrage out of India in the rape of young girl . . . by police. Four officers of Chandigarh police were arrested but only one booked last week for raping, molesting and threatening a minor schoolgirl for two-and-a-half months. They were identified as constables Akshay, Sunil, Jagtar and Himmat Singh. There was a fifth officer also accused by the girl who said that she had to sneak out of school because the officers would be waiting to take her away for more sexual assaults. In what passes for responsibility in these communities, the rapists showed amends by offering for one of the officers to marry the victim so she could live with her rapist.

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Academia, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Military, Politics, Religion, Society

The Crown Finally Pardons Alan Turing

_71928576_turingComputer pathbreaker and World War II codebreaker Alan Turing has been finally pardoned. It only took 61 years after his 1952 conviction for homosexuality and his chemical castration for the British government who contributed so mightily to the defeat of the Germans. What is particularly astonishing is not just that “moral people” in the United States and Britain not only did this to their citizens, but did this to a man who was protecting his nation so brilliantly and barred him from continuing work that was so pathbreaking in computer science. In the aftermath of the Sister Wives decision and our discussion of morality laws, Turning is a reminder of the hateful measures meted out in the name of morality or science or both.

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Academia, International, Religion

“Like A Virgin”: British Study Finds One Out Of Two Hundred Women Claim Virgin Pregnancies

220px-LikeAVirgin1984There is a surprising report out this month in the British Medical Journal that one in two hundred women in the United States claim to have have been impregnated without ever having sexual intercourse. These are women who later give birth so this are not cases of pseudocyesis or a false or hysterical pregnancy that we discussed earlier. Some 31% of the women studied had signed a “chastity pledge” and 15% of non-virgins who became pregnant claim to have made similar vows. I imagine that many might take offense at the title and timing of this study: Like A Virgin (Mother). They might have wanted to stick with the rest title “Analysis of Data from a Longitudinal, US Population Representative Sample Survey.”

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

South Carolina AG Joins Calls For The Recusal Of Supreme Court Justice For Calling For Punishment of Prosecutors For Abuses

Alans-Headshots-028-150x1501134photo1There is a disturbing controversy building in South Carolina where South Carolina’s attorney general has joined calls for a state supreme court justice to recuse himself from criminal cases after Donald Beatty spoke out against prosecutorial abuse — a continuing if not growing problem across the country that we have discussed in prior postings (here and here and here and here and here and here and here). For a prior column, click here . Attorney General Alan Wilson says that he will ask for the recusal in a move that seems intended to signal other justices and judges that such criticism of prosecutors will not be tolerated.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, International, Media, Military, Politics, Society

NSA Task Force Member Says Program Should Be Expanded Not Limited

220px-Michael_Morell,_December_2012Last week, I wrote about the dangers of tasks forces bearing gifts for civil libertarians and noted how Obama stacked the task force on NSA surveillance with hawks to guarantee the preservation of the program. One of those was former Acting CIA Director Michael Morell who served during the secret development and use of the program. Obviously, if he were to conclude that the program was illegal, it would have meant that he was part of the violations. Not only did the task force maintain the program was legal (in conflict with the recent ruling of a federal court), but now Morell has called not for the limitation of the program but its expansion. That is what President Obama considers a reformer in the national security field.

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Columns, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

The Case For A Pardon For Edward Snowden

President_Barack_Obama228px-Picture_of_Edward_SnowdenBelow is my column in the Sunday Los Angeles Times on the basis for a pardon for Edward Snowden. It is clear that President Obama (and ranking congressional members) are opposed to such clemency. Snowden embarrassed a great number of powerful people in Washington, including the President. However, there is historical precedent for such a pardon and compelling arguments that such a course may be the right course for the country.

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