Litigation

Wednesday Gavel Grab Briefs

By Peter Hardin

In these other dispatches about fair and impartial courts:

• Former Luzerne County, Pennsylvania Judge Mark Ciavarella’s criminal trial began Tuesday, as a federal prosecutor said the defendant took kickbacks and extorted money in a $2.8 million scheme, the Associated Press reported. Charged in the so-called “kids for cash” scheme (see Gavel Grab), Ciavarella contended through his attorney that he didn’t break the law.

• The House of Representatives passed Wednesday a bill to name a new courthouse in Yuma, Arizona for federal Judge John M. Roll, who was slain in the Tucson shooting rampage Jan. 8. The Senate already had passed the bill, according to a USA Today article.

• “Bring the last judges into the merit fold,” exhorted columnist Mark Kiesling in a nwitimes.com commentary. A merit selection bill in Indiana?s legislature would  permit the appointment of four judges who preside over the county division of Lake Superior Court (see Gavel Grab).

Full post as published by The Gavel on February 09, 2011 (boomark / email).