Litigation

Tuesday Gavel Grab Briefs

By Peter Hardin

In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts:

• “With three new justices, some say rest of court [is] safe,” declared a headline for an Associated Press report about the Iowa Supreme Court. The article did not predict whether critics will press an effort to oust four more senior justices who participated in a controversial ruling on same-sex marriage; three justices were ousted by voters in November.

• Pennsylvania state Sen. Jane Orie,  accused of exploiting state resources for the political campaigns of herself and her sister, state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin, denied she had told staffers to work on campaigns during office hours, according to a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about Orie’s ongoing trial.

• Former senior federal Judge Jack T. Camp has suffered from depression, brain damage from an accident and personal tragedy, his lawyer said in a sentencing memo seeking to explain his client’s conduct, according to the Main Justice blog. In November, Camp pleaded guilty to drug-related charges, including a charge of giving drugs to a stripper while aware she was a felon.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 01, 2011 (boomark / email).