Legal Commentary

The Rubens Plan: Being Chubby and Horny Cited As Keys to Long Life

Posted on June 20, 2009
A new Japanese study indicates that being chubby is the key to the long life — a finding with direct implications for the continuation of the Turley blog for decades to come. in the meantime, the oldest man in the world, Henry Allingham, has explained that the key to his long life is heaving [...

Judge Kent Impeached in Expedited Process

Posted on June 20, 2009
The now imprisoned U.S. District Court Samuel B. Kent has been openly bilking the government for salary and benefits by refusing to resign. His lawyer even acknowledged that his promise to resign in a year was due to his calculation that the Congress could not move any faster toward a Senate trial...

Report: Three Out of Four South African Men Have Raped Someone

Posted on June 19, 2009
There is a disturbing report out of South Africa this week. The South African Medical Research Council has found that one out of four South African men said that they had raped someone and more than half admitted to raping more than one person. One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman [...

Ohio Teen Puts Noose Around Hispanic Boy?s Neck and Drags Him Around Parking Lot While Screaming Racial Taunts ? Receives 10 Days in Jail

Posted on June 19, 2009
There is a disturbing case out of Mount Vernon, Ohio where Dale Cline, 18, put a noose around the neck of a hispanic boy, Robert Cantu,17, and dragged him in a parking lot while screaming racial taunts. He was sentenced as a juvenile and given just 10 days...

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Arizona Man Fails in Sword-Steering Wheel Suicide

Posted on June 19, 2009
Nathan Ryan, 27, in Mesa, Arizona had a curious way to killing himself. Not only did it not succeed, but he will now face likely criminal and civil charges. Ryan decided that the best way to kill himself was to tie a two-foot sword to his steering wheel — pointed to his chest...

Jury Awards $1.92 Million to Recording Companies; Hits Minnesota Woman with $80,000 Per Song

Posted on June 19, 2009
A federal jury in Minnesota ruled yesterday that Jammie Thomas-Rasset willfully violated the copyrights on 24 songs, and awarded recording companies a huge level of damages: $1.92 million, or $80,000 per song. This was the second trial for Thomas-Rasset and increased the damages from [...

Illinois Judges Rule That They Cannot Be Forced to Retire Based on Age While Justices in Washington Raise the Bar for Age Discrimination for Citizens

Posted on June 19, 2009
A state judge in Illinois has ruled that an Illinois law requiring state judges to retire after turning 75 is unconstitutional. Notably, the author of the four-judge decision Justice Charles Freeman (left) would himself be forced to retire under the law...

UnHappy Meal: Officer Accused of Pulling Gun When McDonald?s Order Took Too Long

Posted on June 19, 2009
An unnamed Denver police officer has been suspended after allegedly brandishing his weapon at a McDonald’s when his order took too long. On May 21st, two off-duty officers reportedly waited at the drive through window and grew increasingly impatient...

Pixar Pixies: Company Fulfills Wish of Girl Who Wanted to See Movie Up ? Only Hours Before Her Death

Posted on June 19, 2009
Colby Curtin, 10, had a lethal and rare form of cancer and had only one wish — to see the movie Up. Since it was not available on DVD and she was too sick to go to the movies, Disney-Pixar came to her house to show her the movie with and car full of [...

Pakistani Muslims Beat Reportedly Beat Christian to Death for Buying Tea at Muslim-Only Stand

Posted on June 18, 2009
Various news sites are reporting that a Christian man, Ishtiaq Masih, was beaten to death in Pakistan’s Punjab province for buying a cup of tea in a Muslim-only tea stall. The owner is a Mubarak Ali, 42, who put up a sign in Machharkay village saying that non-Muslims had to identify themselves when approaching [...

Supreme Court Rules Against Constitutional Right to Access to DNA Testing

Posted on June 18, 2009
In a split 5-4 decision, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. ruled that an individual cannot demanded access or testing to DNA material after his conviction becomes final in District Attorney?s Office v. Osborne (08-6). In 1994, William Osborne was convicted of kidnapping, first-degree sexual assault and first-degree assault in Alaska...

Lord Chief Justice: Jury Trial No Longer Required in England and Wales

Posted on June 18, 2009
Recently, many civil libertarians have been alarmed by legal changes in England restricting the media, free speech, prosecuting insults against religion, and other rollbacks. Now, the Lord Chief Justice has ruled that criminal trials no longer require a jury for the first time in England and Wales...

Obama?s Murderous Rage Raises Ire of PETA

Posted on June 18, 2009
We have now all seen it: President Barack Obama killing a small fly and then gleefully celebrating that he “got the little sucker.” Now, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) (never late in embarrassing itself) has denounced the killing and encouraged people to use a “catch and release” device...

Holder: Warrantless Surveillance was ?Unwise? Rather than ?Illegal?

Posted on June 18, 2009
Attorney General Eric Holder left little question in anyone’s mind this week that the Obama Administration will not allow a prosecution of unlawful surveillance during the Bush Administration. As with the torture program, the Administration has been avoiding questions about its failure to prosecute the illegal surveillance program...

Australian Man Dies After Being Tasered 20 Times By Police

Posted on June 18, 2009
Antonio Galeano died last week after Queensland police hit him 20 times with a 50,000-volt Taser. Galeano was an amphetamines addict who was tasered for five second pulse each time. Police initially claimed that he had been tasered only three time after being confronted in an alleged attack on a woman with a metal pipe...

Ron Paul Challenges Democrats Who Support an Obama War Over a Bush War

Posted on June 18, 2009
Ron Paul has challenged democrats for what he views as their hypocrisy in voting against the war funding during the Bush Administration while now voting for same legislation under the Obama Administration. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this conference report on the War Supplemental Appropriations...

Baltimore Judge Orders a Woman Jailed For Saying ?I Love You? to Brother

Posted on June 17, 2009
It appears that expressions of affection cannot simply cost you a high school diploma, it can get you thrown in jail. Baltimore Circuit Judge Alfred Nance is known for having a temper in his courtroom and he appeared to have lost both his temper and his judgment when he ordered the jailing of Tamika [...

The Maine Attraction: High School Student Denied Diploma For Waving and Throwing a Kiss at His Mother

Posted on June 17, 2009
Superintendent Suzanne Lukas and the police of Standish Maine need to loosen up a bit. Lukas barred Bonny Eagle High School senior Justin Denney from receiving a diploma because he waved at his family and blew a kis to his mother. It turns out that the school’s rather imposing mascot (left) was an [...

Report: Monica Conyers is ?Council Member A? In Federal Bribery Investigation

Posted on June 17, 2009
Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers has been repeatedly the subject of scathing media articles regarding physical and verbal attacks on her critics, here and here and here. She is now facing a corruption probe after being identified as the alleged “Council Member A” in a federal investigation who accepted more than $6000 for [...

Defining Terrorism: We Can Call People Murderers Without Diminishing Their Crimes

Posted on June 17, 2009
Columnist Bonnie Erbe said last week that “it ought to be against the law” for people to call George Tiller “a murderer” and “anyone who [says such things] it ought to be prosecuted as an accessory to murder, as well as for partaking in domestic terrorism...

I Remember Mama: Man Arrested After Impersonating Dead Mother for Benefits

Posted on June 17, 2009
Thomas Prusik-Parkin is an attentive son to a fault. He was captured on surveillance tap dressed as his deceased mother to collect over $100,000 benefits from social security and rent subsidies. His mother Irene Prusik died in 2003 at 73. Prusik-Parkin allegedly worked with Mhilton Rimolo, who he portrayed as the helpful nephew...

Obama Adopts Cheney Policy and Opposes Release of White House Logs

Posted on June 17, 2009
President Obama has already adopted or expanded many of the most controversial Bush policies on executive privilege, detainee treatment, termination of privacy lawsuit, and other matters. Now, he has adopted the identical position of Vice President Dick Cheney in seeking to withhold visitor logs to the White House...

Shoppers Continue to Shop After Convenience Story Clerk is Shot and Killed

Posted on June 17, 2009
A view from Gary, Indiana added to a library of utter human indifference. First, a men in a red shirt shoots and kills the clerk, Gurjeet Singh, over a handful of cash. Then, customers are seen continuing to shop despite the dead body a few feet away...

Taser! Taser! Taser! Video Shows Police Beating and Tasering Suspect on Ground

Posted on June 16, 2009
This video has a disturbing scene as multiple officer in Nottingham, England beat and taser a man who is lying on the ground. English police has a reported 10,000 tasers and the Nottingham video is leading to renewed calls to review the widespread use of these devices...

Jailhouse Judge: Judge Samuel Kent Begins To Serve Jail Sentence Without Resigning From the Bench

Posted on June 16, 2009
The federal prison system has plenty of jailhouse lawyers. Now it has its first jailhouse judge. U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent began to serve his jail sentence today while still a member of the federal judiciary. He continues to refuse to resign...

The Art of Financial Manipulation: Artist Mark Wagner Shows How To Add Value to the Plunging Dollar

Posted on June 16, 2009
Given my call for Senators like Dick Durbin to use blind trusts, I thought that the link below might be helpful as a distraction for Senators who still want to play with their money. Mark Wagner takes dollars, cuts them up, and makes them into collages that are incredible...

Over a Barrel: North Carolina Student Arrested for Creating ?The Barrel Monster?

Posted on June 16, 2009
In light of our recent viewing of what Mark Wagner can do with dollar bills, it is only fitting to feature the impressive work of Joseph Carnevale, 21, of North Carolina. Unlike Wagner who has not been charged with defacing currency, Carnevale has been arrested for his work to enhance the beauty of the [...

Oklahoma Man Pleads Guilty to Raping 4-Year-Old Child and Gets One Year in Jail

Posted on June 16, 2009
In Oklahoma, David Harold Earls, 64, has received a one-year jail sentence after raping a 4-year-old girl. The sentence has caused an outcry across the country and moves in the legislature to recall District Judge Thomas Bartheld, who gave Earls a twenty-year sentence with nineteen years suspended under a plea agreement between the prosecutors [...

FDA Issues Warning About Use of Zicam Cold Remedy Products

Posted on June 16, 2009
If you are looking for a tort case that passes the smell test, this may be it. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning consumers to stop using certain Zicam nasal cold remedy products because of a large number of cases where users have lost their sense of permanently...

Obama Defends Defense of Marriage Act and Moves to Dismiss Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuit

Posted on June 15, 2009
Civil libertarians have been outraged by President Barack Obama’s adoption of extreme Bush policies on secrecy and executive privilege, including his effort to dismiss public interest lawsuits and his Administration’s refusal to investigate war crimes committed by the Bush Administration...

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