Legal Commentary

Lashes and Lattes: Saudi Religious Police Defend Their Arrest of American Woman Who Sat Next to a Man at a Starbucks

Posted on February 19, 2008
Saudi Arabia’s legal system has long been a nightmare for civil libertarians and anyone on this side of the dark ages. However, in the face of the arrest and coerced confession of an American businesswoman for sitting next to man at Starbucks (who was not a relative), the religious police is defending its action [...

Free Press: Journalist Sentenced to Three Years Hard Labor for Publishing Cartoons of Muhammad

Posted on February 19, 2008
Belarus has long been a dangerous place for both free speech and a free press. However, many gasped when a court sentenced journalist Aleksandr Sdvizhkov to three years hard labor for publishing the cartoons of Muhammad that led to worldwide protests...

Federal Judge Resigns After Arrest for DUI

Posted on February 19, 2008
A Bush appointed federal bankruptcy judge was arrested for driving drunk and has resigned. A torrent of coverage followed the arrest after it was disclosed that Judge Robert Somma, 63, was dressed as a woman at the time of the accident. The case raises some questions over the treatment of judges who follow [...

Two Army Colonels Accused of Identity Switch to Avoid Paternity Case

Posted on February 19, 2008
Two Army Colonels at the Army War College are facing criminal charges in a perfectly bizarre effort to allegedly switch identities to avoid paternity payments. Col. Scott Carlson, 51, allegedly wanted to avoid paying additional paternity payments for a child with a Virginia woman...

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Cubic Zirconias are a Boy?s Best Friend: Husband Wins Prenup Challenge After Disclosure that Engagement Ring is a Fake Diamond

Posted on February 19, 2008
Wen Louis Porreco married his ex-wife Susan Porreco, the Erie, Pa. auto dealer insisted that she sign a prenuptial agreement that guaranteed her only $3,500 for each year that they were married — a total of $50,000 (for ten years of marriage plus some other marital value)...

Police Allegedly Warned Victim Not to Call Again About Violent Boyfriend ? Before She Was Killed

Posted on February 19, 2008
A case in Central Florida could present an interesting tort claim. Natasha Hall, 17, repeatedly called the local police about her violent ex-boyfriend and her fears that he was going to harm her. The police allegedly told her that if she called again about the boyfriend, they would arrest her...

Too Clever By Half: The Constitutional Argument Against the Current Voting Bill for the District of Columbia

Posted on February 18, 2008
The current legislation to give the District of Columbia a vote in the House of Representatives has no shortage of passion behind it. Indeed, after testifying repeatedly that this legislation is unconstitutional, I have felt my share of that passion turned to anger...

You?ve Got Mail ? and a Subpoena ? Emails and Text Messaging At the Center of Scandals in Michigan and Texas

Posted on February 18, 2008
Emails and text-messages have now brought down one of the most powerful prosecutors in the country and may soon lead to criminal charges against the Mayor of Detroit. Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal resigned this week after his emails were revealed in a police abuse case...

Latest Defense of Bush Torture Program: Not As Bad as Spanish Inquisition; More Like Khmer Rouge

Posted on February 18, 2008
Steven G. Bradbury, the acting chief of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, offered one of the most detailed defenses of waterboarding by the Administration to date. In a bizarre twist, he insisted that the Administration was less like the Spanish Inquisition and more like the Khmer Rouge in its particularly version of [...

Mining for Justice(s): West Virginia Scandal Erupts Over Mining Company Influence

Posted on February 18, 2008
In West Virginia, coal is king and many are suggesting that its reach extends into the very chambers of the state’s highest court. An interesting fight is brewing in state and federal courts over allegations of bias for and against a leading coal company, Massey Coal...

Freedom of Speech . . . and Freedom from Knowledge: Only One in 1000 Americans Polled Could Name the Five Freedoms of the First Amendment

Posted on February 17, 2008
A recent survey in Chicago shows that only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms contained in the first amendment. Only one in a thousand could name all of the freedoms. However, more than half can name at least two members of the Simpson family...

Video Captures Police Officer Arresting Firefighter For Not Moving Truck While Rescuing Driver

Posted on February 17, 2008
Officer Todd Greeves appears to take traffic very seriously. so, when fire fighters were trying to move an injured driver, he demanded that they move their truck. When they refused, he arrested the fire captain. He will now have to pay $18,000 for the incident on in May of 2003...

Clinton Aide Harold Ickes Predicts that Superdelegates with Give Clinton the Nomination Even If Obama Wins Remainder of Primaries

Posted on February 16, 2008
Just as democratic leaders are assuring voters that they will not pick the next nominee as superdelegates, top Clinton Aide Harold Ickes has called the primaries “irrelevant” for the outcome and predicted that party leaders would give her the nomination regardless of losing any future primaries...

Detroit Mayoral Aide Accuses Monica Conyers ? City Council President Pro Tem and Wife of Rep. John Conyers ? with Criminal Threats

Posted on February 16, 2008
Detroit seems to be entering some parallel universe of politics. With the on-going sordid mess over the possible perjury of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick still in the news, an aide to Kilpatrick has filed a formal criminal complaint against Monica Conyers, the City Council president pro tem and wife of U...

Deputy Sheriff Charged in Abusing Disabled Man By Dumping Him to the Floor ? As Captured by Video

Posted on February 16, 2008
Hillsborough County Deputy Charlette Marshall-Jones, 44, has been criminally charged with dumping a paralyzed man from a wheelchair in a shocking video from the county jail. Brian Sterner, 32, was paralyzed in a 1994 wrestling accident and is shown on the video being dumped to the floor by the officer...

House Defies Bush: Allows Surveillance Law Expire

Posted on February 16, 2008
An astonishing thing happened yesterday, one of the houses of Congress actually stood on principle and refused to cave to the demands of the President to give telecom companies immunity or face imminent annihilation. The question is whether this is a true commitment or just political theater...

Washington Buzzing About A Presidential Pardon for Roger Clemens

Posted on February 15, 2008
The attorney for Brian McNamee, Richard Emery, started a firestorm over his suggestion that Roger Clemens could receive a pardon from President Bush if accused of lying about his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. It is possible for the president to grant such a pardon in anticipation of a criminal charge, though it would [...

Florida Supreme Court Spanks Television Faux-Jurist ?Judge Alex?

Posted on February 15, 2008
Former Circuit Judge Alex Ferrer is again in the news after a recent (and unpromising) appeal to the Supreme Court over a contract dispute. The Florida Supreme Court has heavily criticized the television faux jurist “Judge Alex” for his testimony in a case involving a man who once appeared before him...

Saudi Woman Convicted of Witchcraft in Latest Horror from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?s ?Justice? System

Posted on February 15, 2008
When the Saudi justice system is not flogging rape victims, it is trying women as witches. It turns out that witchcraft is treated as a catch-all charge for an offense against Islam. She could be executed. The kingdom’s religious police arrested and coerced Fawza Falih to confess — a standard practice in the bizarre world [...

Fifth Circuit Strikes Down Texas Prohibition on Promotion and Sale of Sex Toys

Posted on February 14, 2008
It is doubtful that the Fifth Circuit timed the opinion to coincide with Valentine’s Day, but the court has issued a very interesting opinion striking down a Texas law prohibiting the promotion and sale of sex toys. It represents an extension of the precedent in Lawrence v...

Conyers Moves Contempt Matter Against Meirs and Bolton Toward House Floor

Posted on February 14, 2008
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers appears to have been able to break the hold on the still pending criminal contempt resolutions against White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers. A House vote could trigger another confrontation with Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who has indicated that he will [...

Craig Admonished for Bathroom Incident by Senate Ethics Committee

Posted on February 14, 2008
After a criminal plea, national ridicule, and a failed political career, Senator Larry Craig is probably not quaking after receiving a “letter of admonition” from the Senate Ethics Committee. It was a pathetic effort of his colleagues to appear to be doing something about the scandal despite the fact that there was precious little [...

Scalia Holds Forth on the Proper Use of Torture ? As Experts Debate the Propriety of Such Public Statements

Posted on February 14, 2008
Justice Antonin Scalia has long been criticized for his habit of discussing pending issues before the Court and abandoning a long tradition of restraint by justices in their public appearances. His most recent defense of torture in a BBC interview has caused yet another controversy over Scalia’s disturbing lack of self-restraint...

Scalia and the Advent of the Celebrity Justice

Posted on February 14, 2008
Given the most recent public controversy involving statements made by Justice Scalia on torture, this prior column may be of some interest: HEADLINE: The high court’s enfant terrible Antonin Scalia appears to have every gift and advantage that a jurist could possess...

Video: Florida Deputy Shown Dumping Quadriplegic Man On to Floor

Posted on February 13, 2008
An investigation has begun into this disturbing video of a Florida deputy dumping a quadriplegic man out of his wheelchair while he is being booked on Jan. 29. Deputy Charlotte Marshall Jones is shown on the video as she cruelly tosses the man, Brian Sterner, 32, out of his wheelchair and on the [...

Court Fight: Florida Judges Trade Accusations of Perjury, Threats, and Lies

Posted on February 13, 2008
Florida judges are in the grips of an expanding scandal involving accusations of perjury, physical threats, and ethical violations. One judge, District Court Judge Michael E. Allen, is facing possible perjury charges and other, Judge Charles J. Kahn is accused of serious breaches of ethics as well as being unstable and injudicious in [...

Senate Votes to Give Immunity to Telecom Companies: Hillary Clinton Skips Vote

Posted on February 13, 2008
The Senate voted today to defeat an amendment by Senator Dodd to strip the FISA bill of immunity for telecommunication companies. It was the latest in a series of perceived betrayals by Democratic voters of their leadership, which helped Sen. Jay Rockefeller guarantee immunity for the companies...

Italians Confirm Napoleon Died of Stomach Cancer ? A Cover-up for Wallpaper Conspirators?

Posted on February 12, 2008
British citizens and wallpaper designers can now walk with the heads high after roughly 200 years of scurrilous claims that they caused the death of Napoleon. The Italians have published results that show that Napoleon did indeed die from stomach cancer and not arsenic poisoning...

Campaign Starts to Push John Conyers to Begin Impeachment Proceedings ? Against the Wishes of Nancy Pelosi

Posted on February 12, 2008
It has been well-known that Speaker Nancy Pelosi has insisted that there will be no impeachment of President Bush during her term. Activists, however, have reported that John Conyers may be considering confronting Pelosi and starting such proceedings after a meeting in his office...

Word to the Wise: Fourth Circuit Rules that Firestone Employee Not Entitled to Extra Days Off Due to His Faith

Posted on February 12, 2008
David Wise, a worker at a Firestone facility in North Carolina, will be forced to chose between his faith and his job under an important ruling from the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. A member of the the Living Church of God, Wise is required to take a greater number of days off than [...

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