Legal Commentary

You?re Dismissed! Donald Trump Loses Libel Suit Over Claim That He is a Mere Millionaire

Posted on July 16, 2009
Donald Trump is vowing to appeal the ruling by Camden County superior court judge Michele Fox that he was not defamed when Timothy L. O’Brien’s 2005 book “Trump Nation: The Art of Being the Donald” claimed that he was worth only between $150 million and $250 million –rather than being the billionaire that he claims [...

Homeless Man Jailed for More Than a Year For Failing to Pay Child Support ? Despite the Fact that the Court and Prosecutor Knew He Was Not the Biological Father

Posted on July 16, 2009
Frank Hatley has been sitting in a Georgia jail for over a year for failing to reimburse the state for all the public assistance his ?son? over the past two decades. The problem is that the homeless man is not the father of the boy and both the Court and the prosecutors knew that he [...

Retire the Ginsburg Rule: It is Time To Put Content Back Into Confirmation Hearings

Posted on July 16, 2009
If this week’s hearings seem devoid of serious content, it is due to the little known Ginsburg Rule. Today’s column discusses how we can restore some serious content to confirmation hearings. This week, the public is again witnessing the ritualistic exercise of the confirmation of a Supreme Court nominee...

Louisiana Officer Suspects Man Has Drugs in Mouth and Breaks Man?s Neck During Arrest

Posted on July 15, 2009
Officials in Livingston Parish, Louisiana are reviewing a video from a traffic stop by Deputy Chris Sturdivant that resulted in the broken neck of Adam Stogner, 42. Sturdivant believed that Stogner might be hiding drugs in his mouth when he wrestled him to the ground...

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Calling Off Loveday: Woman Arrested for Assaulting and Biting Marriage Mediator at Courthouse

Posted on July 15, 2009
Elizabeth Loveday, 38, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire is someone in dire need for a divorce. Loveday was arrested outside of a courthouse after shoving court-ordered marriage mediator and then biting the woman’s forearm in an effort to assault her estranged husband...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Lead Paint Manufacturers

Posted on July 15, 2009
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has handed down another victory for lead paint manufacturers in ruling that paint is not defective due to the lead. The rejection of the defective design claim by Ruben Baez Godoy is only the latest such victory for the industry (here)...

Hubba Bubba: Hamas Accuses Israel of Lacing Gum With Stimulants to Corrupt Palestinian Youth

Posted on July 15, 2009
Hamas has accused Israeli intelligence of another fiendish plot to undermine the Palestinian cause. The weapon of mass cultural destruction? Gum. Hamas accuses Israel of sneaking in chewing gum that increases the sex drive of Palestinian kids in order to “corrupt the young...

Sotomayor Rejects Use of Foreign Law ? Siding With Conservatives on the Supreme Court

Posted on July 15, 2009
For weeks, we have been discussing how Judge Sonia Sotomayor could result in the loss of ground for liberals on the Supreme Court given her sometimes conservative voting record in areas like free speech, student rights, and police abuse. One such area concern the use of foreign judgments...

Oh Hail Our Monkey Overlords! Simians Move Closer to Operating Flesh-Eating Robots

Posted on July 15, 2009
As many on this blog know, we try to keep track of who is likely to assert tyrannical control over the Earth so that the Turley bloggers can be the first to capitulate and curry favor. We now have two stories that, when combined, indicate that it will be our monkey masters...

Seventh Circuit Suggests ?Wisconsin Rule? Exempting Graduates From Bar May Be Unconstitutional

Posted on July 14, 2009
While going to law school in Chicago, many of us were envious of kids that graduated from Wisconsin law schools who were not required to take a state bar. It now turns out that we may have been victims of an unconstitutional discrimination against outside law schools...

Big Eatrs: Defense Department Developing Robots Which Can Feed on Dead Bodies

Posted on July 14, 2009
Next time you think of kicking that lawn mower, you might want to reconsider. The Defense Department is funding the development of a new line of robots that will be powered by eating organic material on a battlefield, including human bodies. The Robotic Technology Inc...

Georgia Man Accused of Vehicle Theft Over Lawn Mower

Posted on July 14, 2009
The Georgia Supreme Court is facing a rather odd legal question: is a land mower a motor vehicle or lawn device? The answer to that question has considerable importance to Franklin Lloyd Harris who received a 10-year sentence for stealing a lawn mower from Home Depot...

Loaded in Arizona: New Law Allows Guns in Bars

Posted on July 14, 2009
Arizonans are now allowed to carry concealed weapons into bars. Gov. Jan Brewer signed the law on Monday to guarantee the right to be fully loaded in bars. The law would still bar drinking while carrying a weapon and would allow restaurants and bars to prohibit the practice if they properly post warnings...

The Dangers of Hitchhiking: Bank Robber Hitches Ride With Undercover Officer

Posted on July 14, 2009
Everyone is told about the dangers of hitchhiking: you simply do not know who the driver might be. The lesson was learned by Mark E. White, 50, who decided to rob a bank just three weeks after being paroled from prison. He then flagged down a car for a ride — driven [...

Poll: Less Than Fifty Percent of Americans Support Sotomayor Nomination ? Numbers Lower Than Harriet Miers Going Into Confirmation Hearings

Posted on July 13, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor has been heralded as a judge with a life story that should inspire all Americans and, even though she has a fairly conservative voting record in some areas, liberal activists have rallied around her nomination. A new poll, however, suggests that most Americans are neither inspired not supportive...

The Sotomayor Nomination and the Search for Judicial Greatness

Posted on July 13, 2009
With the Senate hearings about to begin on the Sotomayor nomination, this morning’s column below addresses what what we ideally should be looking for in a nominee. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes was traveling by train to Washington, D...

Florida Sobriety Roadblock Produces Host of Arrests and Citations ? Except for DUI

Posted on July 13, 2009
There is an interesting story out of Florida that shows that, at a typical sobriety roadblock, police arrested 10 people and wrote tickets for 100 others — for virtually every type of traffic violation except DUI. What is fascinating is the comparison to the recent D...

English Doctor Allegedly Drugged, Kidnapped, and Forced to Marry Stranger

Posted on July 13, 2009
A London doctor is telling a horrific story of how she was tricked by her family to return to Bangladesh, drugged, put into a psychiatric hospital, and then married to a stranger. The Muslim family felt that Dr. Humayra Abedin was too independent and living a non-traditional life as a physician...

Holder Reportedly Considering Special Prosecutor ? But Serious Questions Remain

Posted on July 13, 2009
Newsweek is reporting that Attorney General Eric Holder is leaning toward the appointment of a special prosecutor on the issue of torture. Much, however, was not stated and there remains a question of whether Holder will appoint a special prosecutor with the full authority to pursue any and all crimes related to the torture [...

CAUGHT IN THE ACT

Posted on July 12, 2009
In light of this week’s latest disclosures of secret and allegedly unlawful programs by the Bush Administration, this picture seems apropos. Of course, when the cookie is our civil liberties, it is a bit less cute.

Report: Cheney Ordered Concealment of Secret Program From Congress

Posted on July 12, 2009
It goes without saying that, where there is a story of constitutional or human rights abuse, Dick Cheney cannot be far behind. It is therefore little surprise to learn this week that, according to sources in the recent disclosure of a hidden counterterrorism program, the prior concealment from Congress was allegedly ordered by Cheney...

Boston Considers Closing Franklin Park Zoo and Killing Animals Due to Budget Shortfall

Posted on July 12, 2009
Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo is joining other zoos which are considering closing or killing (or transferring) animals due to budget shortfalls — as we continue to spend billions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even if the zoo does not closed, one thousand animals may be euthanized or transferred from the zoo...

OMG SNERT HAS NU TXT TORT! Girl Walks Into Open Sewer Hole While Texting

Posted on July 12, 2009
We have a new texting tort. Alexa Longueira, 15, was walking and texting on Staten Island when she plunged into the ground. She fell into an open manhole and ended up in the pitch black sewer. Her family is preparing to sue the city, which itself is investigating the incident...

Rabbi Accused of Infecting Infants with Herpes During Circumcisions ? And Killing One Boy

Posted on July 12, 2009
New York City health officials are investigating the death of a baby boy who died of herpes after a circumcision by Rabbi Yitzhok Fischer. Fischer carries the herpes virus and is believed to have infected two other infants while serving as a mohel. Under the Orthodox practice followed by Fischer, he actually uses [...

Pennsylvania Man Released After Record 14-Year Incarceration for Contempt

Posted on July 11, 2009
Since 1995, millionaire H. Beatty Chadwick, 72, has been released. We previously discussed the outrageous length of Chadwick’s incarceration for contempt since 1995 — 14 years! Judge Joseph P. Cronin finally ended the contempt incarceration...

Bush Administration Accused of Cover-Up of Massacre of Taliban Prisoners

Posted on July 11, 2009
The Bush Administration was accused this week of helping cover-up the massacre of possibly thousands of Taliban prisoners by an American-backed warlord, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. Dostrum is widely viewed as a butcher and war criminal. He was also on the payroll of the CIA...

New Jersey Worker Dies Aftering Falling into Chocolate Vat

Posted on July 11, 2009
This week, Vincent Smith II died after falling into a vat of boiling hot chocolate at a chocolate factor in Camden, New Jersey. Now, it has been disclosed that the company was operating without a license. Smith, 29, had reportedly prayed for a job in this economy and was delighted to be hired by Cocoa [...

Man Caught Photographing Fish and Chips Shop in England

Posted on July 11, 2009
We have been reading of the struggle of media and civil libertarians in England where the government continues to pass and enforce laws prohibiting things like photography of police and other sites. Now, we have a report of Alexander Turner who was given a citation for taking a picture of a fish and chips [...

D.C. Circuit Rules Police Checkpoints Unconstitutional

Posted on July 10, 2009
Last year, many of us denounced the police checkpoints in the Trinidad area of Northeast Washington as grossly unconstitutional despite the insistence of D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles that he had ample law on his side. Now, a conservative panel of the D...

Court Orders DMV To Return Hoe to Driver

Posted on July 10, 2009
William Junge of Las Vegas has triumphed in an historic battle for both grammar and garden implements. The Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles denied the use of his “HOE” license plate, but a court ruled that Junge should be allowed to drive with a Hoes on his trunk and hood...

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