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Criminal Law

Crime & Federalism

Discussing recent news and court opinions, with an emphasis on federalism, criminal law, and civil rights actions.

Post Frequency: 8.6/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 15:45:19

Catholicism Succumbs to the Culture of Narcissism

Posted on November 05, 2009
Section 1983 Blog has a post about Catholic League v. City and County of San Francisco, a frivolous case in our frivolous times. In Catholic League, the Catholic Church sued because the City of San Francisco hurt Catholics' feelings. Suing for hurt feelings is only more evidence of our culture of narcissism...

Class Action Lawsuit Against Whole Foods for Not Honoring Volume and Case Discounts

Posted on September 30, 2009
One of the most frustrating facts of modern life: You can't trust corporations. I monitor my credit card statement monthly. I cancelled a gym membership with Gold's Gym months ago. Each month, they bill me. Each month, I dispute the charges. In America, a person must have two jobs...

Gladiator Days

Posted on September 30, 2009

Pottawattamie County and Racial Justice

Posted on September 30, 2009
We've discussed the legal issues raised in Pottawattamie County extensively. In a recent amicus brief, Mark Herrmann, on behalf of Black Cops Against Police Brutality, looks at the case from a different angle. In a blog posting about Pottawattamie County, Herrmann highlights the racial issues that we've ignored: Two white prosecutors participated in fabricating, and then presenting at trial, perjurious...

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EMT Firefighter Punks Neo-Nazi

Posted on September 30, 2009
Too good to not be true: I was called to respond to a medical emergency involving a man who was covered in Nazi tattoos. He had high blood sugar, and was drunk and pretty out of it. We had to take him to the hospital. On the way there, I kept telling him he needed a blood transfusion; and this...

Catholic Church Defends Roman Polanski

Posted on September 29, 2009
The Catholic Church wants us to move past its child molestation scandal, because, quite frankly, priests were not molesting children. Instead, ala Roman Polanski, they were simply having relations with adolescents (via): The statement said that rather than paedophilia, it would "be more correct" to speak of ephebophilia, a homosexual attraction to adolescent males...

1-877-362-2803 is a Scam. Is Acxiom Corporation-Delivery.Net a Criminal Enterprise?

Posted on September 28, 2009
On Sunday afternoon, I received the following alert: "smsbanking@t-mobile.delivery.net: Message from [Name of my Bank]. Not a sales message. Call us at 1-877-363-2803 immediately about your recent account activity. Thank you." I was startled, but knew not to call...

Oklahoma City Bombing Tapes Edited

Posted on September 28, 2009
What is going on here? OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday...

PATRIOT Act Used for Non-Terrorism Cases

Posted on September 28, 2009
The PATRIOT Act stands for: Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001. As it turns out, the PATRIOT Act isn't about terrorism at all: In the debate over the PATRIOT Act, the Bush White House insisted it needed the authority to search people's homes without their permission or knowledge so...

Paul Clement to Argue Pottawattamie County v. McGhee?

Posted on September 27, 2009
In the Pottawattame County merits brief (here), Paul Clement is listed as counsel of record. Is Clement doing the oral argument? It will be much better for everyone if a former Solicitor General argues the case. Incidentally, the merits brief disposes of the argument that adequate alternative remedies against prosecutorial misconduct exist: Petitioners? amici describe a host of other remedies...

No Charges in Hofstra Rape Hoax

Posted on September 27, 2009
The young woman whose false accusation led to jail time for 5 innocent men, will not face responsibility for her actions.

New York Times in Denail About ACORN Story

Posted on September 27, 2009
Some people are so much superior that, when they gaze at their own navels, they abs where there is only lint and flab. And so goes the New York Times missing the target. A week or so ago, a story about ACORN's corruption broke. Why wasn't the newspaper of record on this story? Does ?media bias? explain the inattention? The...

Consciousness of Guilt; Consciousness of Innocence

Posted on September 26, 2009
In most states, a person facing criminal charges who flees the jurisdiction will be hit at trial. The jury will be instructed that it can infer guilt based on the defendant?s flight. The concept is known as flight as evidence of consciousness of guilt...

What is Criminal Practice Like?

Posted on September 26, 2009
Two heartfelt and thoughtful posts: Norm Pattis on a favorable verdict that still feels like a loss. Jeff Gamso on the death of a client.

Sudafed is a Crime

Posted on September 26, 2009
Often people like me seem unreasonable. We fought efforts to make purchasing Sudafed a crime. Yes, Sudafed contains pseudoephedrine. Yes, pseudoephedrine can be used to manufacture meth. However, it's also the case that there are moronic police and prosecutors...

Free Speech for the Corporatocracy

Posted on September 25, 2009
The answer to speech is more speech, libertarians will utter. So you're really going to outspend the GM Corporation? Goldman Sachs? If the Supreme Court gives corporations the same rights as people, then we can consider the latest bailouts a quasi-bailout, perhaps even the Diet Coke of bailouts...

Why I'm Not a Libertarian

Posted on September 25, 2009
Libertarians will say, "But that's not libertarianism, Mike!" That response parallels communists who say, "But China isn't real communism! Russia wasn't pure communism!" The bailouts should have been 9/11 for libertarianism. We libertarians were duped...

Summary of ACORN Lawsuit

Posted on September 24, 2009
Here is a post that I am jealous of, for not having written.

Links (9.24.09)

Posted on September 24, 2009
"Pottawamie and the Shaking Prosecutor Syndrome" "What Are the Medical Ethics of Forced Catheterization?" "Thursday on Men?s Rights" "Inverse Preemption: Does California's Anti-SLAPP Statute Preempt Section 1983?" "Cutting Budgets, Scaring People"

Opinion Writing (2nd Edition) by Ruggero J. Aldisert

Posted on September 24, 2009
Third Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert, author of the excellent Logic for Lawyers, recently updated his book on judicial opinion writing. I've just ordered a copy, which I'll review once it's read. Why should lawyers read a book on opinion writing? Some judges - unlike Richard Posner - actually try applying the law when writing an opinion...

Prosecutors Can't Lie: They are "Truthful, but Inaccurate"

Posted on September 23, 2009
Remember Rachel Cannon, the federal prosecutor who lied to U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow? She has issued her apologia, and she ain't no Socrates: The prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's office on Sept. 18 filed a motion for reconsideration in the case, telling U...

Pottawattamie County v. McGhee: DOJ's Amicus Brief

Posted on September 23, 2009
The Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Pottawattamie County v. McGhee. In McGhee, the issue is this: Should prosecutors who fabricate evidence, leading to a wrongful conviction, be absolutely immune from suit? Absolute immunity from suit means that a wrongfully convicted person may not sue - at all or under any circumstances...

NEA Violates the Law, White House Offers Creative Solution

Posted on September 22, 2009
The National Endowment for the Arts is a federal agency that funds a lot of really bad "art." The kind of stuff I could produce. Someone said it best, "I can't define art. I will say this: If I can do it, it ain't art." True dat playa. In any event the NEA is in trouble (well, it's not; but...

Real Life Date Rape Case

Posted on September 22, 2009
The Hofstra Rape Hoax has people talking about date-rape all over again. Emily Bazelon has some interesting commentary here. Glenn Reynolds and Ann Althouse have some great comments here. Let's not dwell on the abstract; let's look at the concrete. Let's examine a real-life date-rape case...

Zazi Terrorist Case

Posted on September 22, 2009
Or, rather, "The Terrorist Case That Isn't." There's a must-read post on Zazi here.

Links: Annotated (9.21.2009)

Posted on September 21, 2009
"Federal Reserve Accounts For 50% Of Q2 Treasury Purchases." In a Ponzi Scheme, new investors invest money. This new money is used to pay dividends to old investors. Every Ponzi Scheme eventually fails, because you will always run out of new investors...

AEDPA Habeas Deadlines

Posted on September 21, 2009
The nastiest issue in habeas corpus proceedings is the deadlines. If someone questions me about a habeas petition, I immediately drop everything, and pray that we haven't missed a deadline. In comparison to deadlines, the con law stuff is easy. How closely do you need to read Crawford v...

Appeals Courts Should Improve the Public's Access to the Law: Here's How

Posted on September 21, 2009
The law exists for the public. Why then do most Federal Courts of Appeal making finding the law more complicated than need be? Some Courts make it very hard for people to track developments in the law. Every Court of Appeal uploads recent decisions to its site...

Links: Annotated

Posted on September 19, 2009
From the New York Review of Books, "The Torture Memos: The Case Against the Lawyers." Georgetown law professor David Cole discusses the Office of Legal Counsel's role in supporting torture. Cole's normative position is: "At its best, law is about seeking justice, regulating state power, respecting human dignity, and protecting the vulnerable...

Moral of the Hofstra Rape Hoax: Film It?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Joye Brown has some interesting commentary about the Hofstra Rape Hoax. She saves her best point for last: 5. A cell phone video of a portion of the sexual activity was key to gaining the young woman's confession. If not for the video - taken by one of the woman's alleged sex partners - four young men could still be...

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