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"7th Circuit's Boim decision?"

"7th Circuit's Boim decision": A "How Appealing" reader emails:

Thanks to your post, I spent two hours this afternoon reading the fascinating majority and dissenting opinions in the Boim case. There is always much to be learned from a Judge Posner opinion.

I'm writing because I know you occasionally enjoy tweaking courts for minor errors in their opinions. On Page 27 of his opinion, Judge Posner makes clear that in most instances a doctor could not be held liable merely for providing medical assistance to an injured member of a terrorist group. He states, "But the doctor is not himself a criminal unless, besides treating the criminal, he conceals him from the police (like Dr. Samuel Mudd, hanged for trying to help John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln's assassin, elude capture) . . ." As any amateur Civil War historian knows, Dr. Mudd was not hanged, but rather served several years imprisonment.

Of course, this reader is correct. As Wikipedia reports, "Mudd escaped the death penalty by one vote and was sentenced to life imprisonment." And fewer than four years later, "Mudd was pardoned by President Andrew Johnson." Wikipedia further reports that "Dr. Mudd was just 49 years old when he died of pneumonia on January 10, 1883," nearly fourteen years after the presidential pardon. Much more information about Dr. Samuel A. Mudd can be accessed via this link.

Thanks much to the author of this email for sending it along.

And in additional coverage of today's ruling, Bloomberg News reports that "Holy Land Foundation Terrorism Case Reinstated."

Full post as published by How Appealing on December 03, 2008 (boomark / email).