Legal Commentary

Legislation Introduced to Remove McCain?s Panama Problem in Seeking Presidency

Posted on March 01, 2008
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.) has introduced legislation that would declare that any child born abroad to citizens serving in the United States military to be natural born citizens for the purposes of the constitution. It is a admirable bipartisan effort to resolve any questions about McCain’s eligibility under Article II...

Blogger Uncovers Plagiarism by Senior Bush Official

Posted on March 01, 2008
Tim Goeglein, special assistant to the president and deputy director of public liaison, admitted this week that he has published plagiarized work. His undoing was at the hands of a blogger, Nancy Nall, who found that one column was lifted from the writings of a former Columbia and Dartmouth professor, Jeffery Hart...

Mukasey Blocks Any Prosecution of Bush Officials for Contempt of Congress

Posted on March 01, 2008
Attorney General Michael Mukasey waited until late Friday to announce that he will block any prosecution of Bush officials for contempt of Congress. Mukasey’s protection of White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers could trigger a major inter-branch fight and advances yet another extreme legal interpretation of [...

U.S.S. Taney Bound

Posted on March 01, 2008
Entries on Sunday will be delayed due to my deployment on the U.S.S. Taney. My eldest son and I are scheduled to sleep over on the Taney on Saturday night. The Taney is a United states Coast Guard Cutter and is the last surviving warship present at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941...

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Federal Court Orders Geoffrey Fieger to Pull Anti-Bush Administration Ads from TV

Posted on March 01, 2008
In a remarkable ruling, U.S. District Judge Paul Borman has ordered firebrand attorney Geoffrey Fieger to pull TV commercials critical of the Bush Administration. Borman ruled that such ads threatened to influence the jury pool in Fieger’s upcoming trial for making illegal contributions to the John Edwards 2004 presidential campaign...

No Special Compensation for Widow of Worked-To-Death Judge

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Connecticut Supreme Court has issued an interesting ruling that bars the widow of a judge from suing under a law designed to benefit her alone. It is like a reverse bill of attainder ruling: barring selective special benefits as opposed to punishment in legislation...

Prison America: 1 in 100 Americans Are Now Behind Bars

Posted on February 29, 2008
The United States has now passed a milestone, one of every one hundred adults are in prison or jail. This number grows even more when one considers the number of people on parole or probation. While the dollar is at a record low and our economy is collapsing, we can now at least [...

YouTube Restores Russian Prison Abuse Video

Posted on February 29, 2008
After YouTube blocked a video posted by a human rights activist on Russian prison abuse, the company has yielded to international objections and restored the video. The video shows the chronic abuse that occurs within the Russian prison system. The YouTube controversy comes not long after the equally controversial removal of a human rights video [...

McCain?s Constitutional Dilemma: Native Son But Not Natural Born?

Posted on February 29, 2008
John McCain?s possible election could trigger review under an obscure part of the Constitution: the birth eligibility provision of Article II. The requirement that an American be ?natural-born? has long been controversial, but few associated John McCain with the problem as opposed to other leaders like Arnold Schwarzenegger...

O Panama, We Stand On Guard For Thee

Posted on February 29, 2008
To say the least, I am getting a bit of flack for suggesting that John McCain could have a constitutional problem under Article II’s eligibility provision. In the interest in lightening up the discussion, I offer the following as a possible rallying song for Panamanian and Panamanian-born friends alike...

Does John McCain Have an Alexander Hamilton Problem? A Constitutional Challenge May Loom Over McCain?s Eligibility for President

Posted on February 28, 2008
The expected nomination of John McCain has been eagerly anticipated by constitutional scholars, not because of political support but selfless academic interest. McCain’s election would trigger review of an obscure part of the Constitution: the birth eligibility provision of Article II...

Sacrebleu! The French Win Before European Court in Ban on Red Bull

Posted on February 28, 2008
It appears that the French believe that caffeine should only be delivered to tourists in small espresso cups in large numbers on the Champs-Elysées. The French government has banned Red Bull as dangerous to public health and the European Court of Justice said that it could do so...

Michigan Supreme Court Unanimously Rejects Appeals of Detriot Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

Posted on February 28, 2008
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been trying hard — and spending millions in public funds — to bury a scandal related to his affair with a former aide. The most recent defeat for Kilpatrick came yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled that documents from a civil case could be made public — adding more [...

Video: Russian Police Demonstrate Their Beat-First-Question-Later Approach

Posted on February 28, 2008
While other departments are trying to teach non-violent methods, Russia appears to favor a more physical approach, as shown in this video. Some countries have been working hard to reduce the use of unnecessary force by officers, such as the recent program in Ottawa...

Food Not Included: AFS Exchange Student Starved in Eygpt and Hospitalized Upon His Return

Posted on February 28, 2008
The American Field Service (AFS) is facing a possible lawsuit in a shocking case of alleged abuse and negligence. Maine teenager Jonathan McCullum lost 60 pounds while placed with a family in Egypt. When he returned he was so weak that he had difficulty carrying his luggage and had to be hospitalized ...

Saudi Coffee Police Strike Again: Professor Sentenced to Prison and 180 Lashes for Having Coffee With Student

Posted on February 27, 2008
Only recently, the Saudi police arrested an American businesswoman who sat down at a Starbucks next to a man who was not a family member. Now, a university professor has been sentenced to eight months in jail and 180 lashes for having coffee with a female student in Saudi Arabia...

California Court Jails Woman Who Made False Rape Claim

Posted on February 27, 2008
Karyn Galila, 24, has been given a 90 day jail sentence for her false report of being raped at gun point by five men in San Mateo, California. What is most striking about this story is the lack of consistency in the treatment of such false accounts, particularly the refusal of prosecutors to pursue [...

Where the Antelope and Super Trains Do Not Play: Chinese Admit to Doctoring Award-Winning Photograph

Posted on February 27, 2008
The Chinese government has been heralding its “train to the roof of the world,” the $4 billion Qinghai-Xizang railway to the Tibetan plains that is the latest flash point with environmentalists. Environmentalists objected on various grounds to the project, including its destruction of pristine areas and specific threat to the struggling Chinese antelope...

The Tortura De Bush and the Administration?s Taste for Khmer-Style Waterboarding

Posted on February 27, 2008
A Tortured Defense; The guessing game is over. We know the U.S. government OK’d and utilized waterboarding. So what — if anything — are we going to do about it?  Consumers are often faced with difficult choices between product styles in today’s diverse market...

Congress Refers Clemens Matter to the Justice Department for Criminal Investigation

Posted on February 27, 2008
Roger Clemens’ decision to testify before Congress without immunity was a considerable risk designed to protect his legacy. He may now lose both his legacy and his liberty. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking for a [...

South Carolina Moves Against Successful Jail House Lawyer While Allowing Unsuccessful Bar Applicants to Become Lawyers

Posted on February 27, 2008
Michael Ray, a federal inmate, could rightfully claim some confusion. A “jailhouse lawyer,” Ray convinced the United States Supreme Court to accept an important prisoner case this term — an achievement unmatched by the vast majority of practicing lawyers...

China Solves Lake Pollution: Feed Pollution to Fish Then Eat the Fish

Posted on February 27, 2008
Those brilliant environmentalists in the Chinese regime that brought us the Three Gorges Dam and cancer villages have come up with another breakthrough idea. Faced with soaring pollution in lakes like Chau Hu (Lake Chao), the Chinese government is introducing silver carp to eat the toxic algae chocking the lake...

Top Bush Officer Resigns After Reports that He Demanded Only Convictions from the Military Tribunals

Posted on February 26, 2008
Defense Department General Counsel William Haynes has resigned after a disclosure by the former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, Col. Morris Davis, involving Haynes’ view of the true function of the military trials: to blindly impose guilty verdicts...

Asinine with Canine in the First Degree: Man Charged with Animal Cruelty for Swearing at Police Dog

Posted on February 26, 2008
Police in Florida have arrested Moses Rogers, Jr., 28, with cruelty to animals charge for yelling at a police dog in a patrol vehicle. It appears that the dog was deeply offended or agitated by the encounter. Moses, who is also charged with disorderly conduct, committed the offense at 2:24 a...

Government?s Account of Al Qaeda Using Two Down Syndrome Women as Bombers Debunked

Posted on February 26, 2008
Remember the horrific accounts of how Al Qaeda used two women with Down Syndrome to carry out attacks killing roughly 100 people in Baghdad in February? It turns out that there is no evidence that they had any physical or mental ailments and may not have any connection to Al Qaeda...

Moussaoui Returns: Appeal Claims Violations of His Sixth Amendment Rights

Posted on February 26, 2008
Zacarias Moussaoui is back. The self-confessed terrorist has filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeal for the Fourth Circuit, contesting the trial court’s refusal to give him his choice of lawyers and the denial of information to him in his defense...

Just Kidding: Seinfeld Moves to Dismiss Lawsuit

Posted on February 26, 2008
Jerry Seinfeld has asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Missy Chase Lapine over comments made about her on national television. Seinfeld insists that he was just joking, but the laugh could be on him under the standard for such pre-trial dismissal...

Video: Criminal Charges Filed After School Bus Video Shows Fight Between Bus Driver and Students

Posted on February 26, 2008
Arizona Bus driver Kim Sullivan has been charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct after the video below was shown to authorities. On the video, Sullivan is shown in a full hair-pulling wrestling match with a student. Three students were also charged...

Scientists Establish the End of the World as Starbucks Stops Serving Coffee

Posted on February 26, 2008
Two unsettling announcements were made today. Scientists have determined the precise date for the end of the world while Starbucks has announced that it will stop serving coffee for THREE HOURS today. Breathe, breathe, . . . now panic. I am not sure which is worse the announcement of the upcoming end of the [...

Chumming for Torts: Tourist Killed by Sharks After Company Chums Water with Fish Parts

Posted on February 26, 2008
An Austrian lawyer, Markus Groh, 49, was killed near the Bahamas after being attacked by a shark. The tourist boat, Shear Water, of Riviera Beach-based Scuba Adventures, routinely chums the water with fish blood and parts to attract sharks — then invites tourists to dive among them...

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