Legal Commentary

TB or Not TB: Lawyer Involved in 2007 TB Scare Sues CDC

Posted on April 30, 2009
Andrew Speaker, the lawyer to cause an international health panic by getting on an international flight with tuberculosis, has filed suit against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for invasion of privacy. In his complaint, he blames the CDC on the breakup of his marriage, claiming that the couple went through with the [...

Condoleezza Rice Asserts a Nixonesque Defense That Nothing the President Ordered Could Be a War Crime

Posted on April 30, 2009
There is an interesting exchange that has surfaced between a Stanford student and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. The student confronted Rice about whether waterboarding is torture...

D.C. Lawyer Mark Levy Reportedly Dead By Suicide at His Kilpatrick Stockton Office

Posted on April 30, 2009
There is some more bad news for the D.C. bar this afternoon. Legal Times is reporting that Mark Levy, a well-known lawyer who headed the Supreme Court and Appellate Practice section of Kilpatrick Stockton has killed himself in his office — reportedly by a gunshot to the head...

The Eight-Year-Old Divorcee ? Husband of Child Bride in Saudi Arabia Accepts a Settlement and Grants Divorce to Child Sold to Him by Father

Posted on April 30, 2009
Its official. Saudi Arabia has its newest eight-year-old divorcee, but not due to any problem in Saudi Arabia with a man over 50 marrying an eight-year-old child. The girl’s lawyer reached an out-of-court settlement with the man who finally agreed to the divorce...

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Biden: Avoid Trains, Airplanes . . . And Interviews

Posted on April 30, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden’s office has had to issue a type of retraction after Biden advised people to avoid airplanes, subways and confined spaces due to the Swine Flu. Of course, you cannot just retract a vice presidential statement, so Biden’s office simply denied what Biden said and offered a new statement that he [...

Scalia Slams Fordham Law Professor For Privacy Invasion

Posted on April 30, 2009
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia publicly lashed out at Fordham Law Professor Professor Joel Reidenberg who having his students compile a 15-page dossier on his private life. For civil libertarians, Scalia’s objections to a lack of privacy is analogous to Rep...

Oxycontin and Old Lace: Two Elderly Women Arrested in Large Heroin Bust in Pennsylvania

Posted on April 30, 2009
Two elderly sisters — Elizabeth Marie Grube, 70, and Elaine Volkert, 65 — have been arrested for selling heroin in a type of AARP-certified drug enterprise. Pennsylvania Police seized 400 bags of heroin from Grube home and 988 bags from Volkert’s home...

Obama Calls Waterboarding Torture, But Refers to Bush Policies as ?Mistakes? and Bad ?Techniques?

Posted on April 30, 2009
Civil libertarians were a bit disappointed again in President Barack Obama’s press conference on Wednesday. While he reaffirmed that he views waterboarding to be torture (a well-established legal fact), he repeatedly referred to what the Bush Administration did as a “technique” of interrogation and a “mistake...

Erin Go Blasphemy: Ireland Considers Creation of New Crime For Insulting Religion

Posted on April 29, 2009
The West appears undeterred in its rush to embrace prosecutions for criticizing religion. This week Ireland is considering creating its own blasphemy law to allow for criminal prosecution — the same week as Finland began prosecuting a politician for blasphemy...

Shudderfly II: Administration Knew Fly-Over Would Cause Panic For Some New Yorkers But Still Barred Public Warning of ?Classified? Operation

Posted on April 29, 2009
A memo has surfaced showing that the Administration expected some New Yorkers would panic at the low-level fly-over of a 747 and F16 in New York. However, they still barred the public release of the “classified” information. It also turns out that the photo op cost the taxpayers $328,835, though no one seems particularly [...

Bybee Defends Torture Memos While Ranking Republican Says He Should Be Given Medal

Posted on April 29, 2009
Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee responded yesterday to critics about his infamous role in writing some of the torture memos. Notably absent is his earlier denial of being the author of the memos that he signed, according to close friends. He now stands by the torture memos and Rep...

Bacon Lung? U.S. and Israel Object to the Use of ?Swine? Flu As Name of Current Outbreak

Posted on April 29, 2009
The Obama Administration is finally getting ahead of this health care crisis: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack have told reporters to stop calling this virus the “Swine” Flu — suggesting the ever-so-hip “H1N1′ virus...

Imam Declares Swine Flu Proof of Koran?s Truth

Posted on April 29, 2009
Imam Amadia Rachid has declared in Salerno, Italy that the swine flu virus is proof that the Koran is correct in its view of pigs. He noted that “We believe that what is happening shows the truth of our faith.” I still think a good solid Divinity School paper would be more user friendly [...

School Never Tells Parents of the Abuse of Their Children ? Then Fires Aide Who Told the Parents

Posted on April 29, 2009
Teachers at Plain City Elementary School in Utah are under fire after two mothers — Debbie Veldhuizen and Jamie Doak — discovered that their sons were abused in their severe disabilities unit but never told by the school due to privacy concerns...

D.C. Personal Injury Lawyer Charles Schulze Dies Rescuing Two Drowning Boys

Posted on April 29, 2009
The torts bar lost a hero this week. Washington personal injury lawyer Charles Schulze, 73, of Schulze & Pederson died in his rescue of two drowning boys off Pompano Beach, Florida. Schulze was walking on the beach with his partner Helen Smith when he saw two boys in distress in the surf...

UAE Royal Sheik Issa Caught on Tape Torturing Man

Posted on April 29, 2009
Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammed, has been caught torturing a man that he accused of cheating him in a grain deal. Issa is shown shooting at the man who is bound in the sand and, with the help of a [...

United States Diverts French Flight Due to Presence of a ?No-Fly? Passenger: An Author Critical of the United States

Posted on April 28, 2009
The “No Fly” list of the Transportation Security Administration has long been ridiculed for showing little sense or scrutiny in putting people on the list. Despite years of criticism, the TSA shows little concern about the use of the list for arbitrary or capricious actions...

George W. Bush: ?War crimes will be prosecuted, war criminals will be punished and it will be no defense to say, ?I was just following orders.??

Posted on April 28, 2009
There is an interesting copy of George W. Bush’s speech to the nation where he gave the position of the United States on the prosecution of war crimes — before Americans were accused of war crimes. Back then, Bush gave a standard that showed that he and his Administration knew that there is no [...

Shudderfly: White House Terrifies New Yorkers With Fly-Over Stunt

Posted on April 28, 2009
In one of the most uniquely stupid acts committed recently by our government, Louis Caldera, Obama’s Director of the White House Military Office, approved an operation where a 747 flew low over New York and the Statue of Liberty with a fighter jet in pursuit...

Specter Goes Blue ? Democrats Now Have 59 With Potential of a 60 Filibuster-Proof Majority

Posted on April 28, 2009
Faced with dim prospects for reelection in Pennsylvania, Sen. Arlen Specter has announced that he will switch parties. The question is how democrats in Pennsylvania will feel about Specter who supported Bush on critical issues. After eight years under George W...

Illinois Bar Considering Disbarment of Lawyer For Inflating Grades from University of Chicago

Posted on April 28, 2009
Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission is considering disbarment of attorney Loren E. Friedman, a 2003 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, who is accused of whiting out his C grades to increase his GPA. Friedman worked at Sidley Austin for a summer and the hearing board recommended a three-year suspension...

Suspended Phillies Players J.C. Romero Sues Supplement Manufacturer Over Suspension

Posted on April 28, 2009
There is an interesting lawsuit by Phillies reliever J.C. Romero who was suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. Romero is suing the manufacturer of 6-OXO Extreme supplement because it did not specify that it included androstenedione, which is prohibited by the Major League Baseball...

Former Klan Leader David Duke Arrested in Czech Republic for Holocaust Denial

Posted on April 27, 2009
Former Klan leader David Duke has been detained by police in Prague on suspicion of denying the Holocaust. Despite the universal loathing of Duke and other Holocaust deniers, the arrest hits a difficult issue for civil libertarians. Criminalizing a viewpoint is a fundamental denial of free speech and allows prosecution for unpopular thoughts [...

Michigan Verdict Overturned After Judge Gives Jury No Option For a Finding of Not Guilty

Posted on April 27, 2009
Wayne County Circuit Judge Annette Berry had a jury form that only a prosecutor would love: it had not option for a verdict of “not guilty.” The error has resulted in the Michigan Court of Appeals overturning the conviction of Michael Jess Wade, 50, a former security guard who was convicted of shooting [...

McCain: Bush Administration Violated Geneva Conventions and Convention Against Torture

Posted on April 27, 2009
On Face the Nation this morning, Sen. John McCain became the latest figure to publicly state that the Bush Administration violated the Geneva Conventions and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. It is not clear how many international and domestic figures will have to publicly acknowledge these crimes before Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a [...

No Spinning Zone: Saudi Female Athletic Clubs To Be Shutdown

Posted on April 27, 2009
It appears that women in Saudi Arabia will soon be denied the right to work out in athletic clubs. Saudi officials have decided that there is only authority for men’s clubs to be operated and regulated in the Kingdom. Due to the strict separation of men and women, various clubs have started to [...

Feith Calls for Prosecution of Any Crimes But Will Holder Answer?

Posted on April 27, 2009
In a true sign of the apocalypse, civil libertarians have something to agree on with Doug Feith (the former Bush Under Secretary of Defense for Policy) who is universally ridiculed for his role on some of the most disastrous policies of the Bush Administration...

Reli Bad Idea: Berliners Reject Substitution of Religious Classes for Civics Classes

Posted on April 27, 2009
The citizens of Berlin rejected calls from the Pope, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and others to allow religious classes to be substituted for compulsory ethics classes. It is a victory for those of us who have decried the loss of civics education and the increasing integration of religious training in public education...

Son Allegedly Beats Father With Flashlight and Then Cuts Pacemaker Out of His Chest With Pocketknife

Posted on April 27, 2009
Criminal cases have often involved a modern problem for killers: the ability of pacemakers to keep victims alive. In Manchester, Iowa, Jesse Fierstine, 32, seems to have realized this when he allegedly beat his sixty-three year old father with a flashlight and firewood — and then cut out Charles Fierstine’s pacemaker out of [...

New York Murder Trial Ends With a Flurry of Religious References

Posted on April 26, 2009
The trial of Mazoltuv Borukhova and Mikhail Mallayev end with criminal sentences of life without parole for the gunning down of Dr. Borukhova?s estranged husband, Daniel Malakov, 34, in front of their 4-year-old daughter in a playground. The trial was filled with references to religion and the Jewish faith...

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