Legal Commentary

Wright: ?Them Jews Aren?t Going To Let [Obama] Talk To Me?

Posted on June 10, 2009
Rev. Jeremiah Wright is back with a vengeance. In an interview, Wright says that he has not spoken to President Obama since the campaign despite their prior close relationship. He blames the Jews saying “them Jews aren’t going to let him talk to me...

The Meaning of Empathy: Biden Tells Police Organization that Sotomayor ?Gets It? and ?Has Your Back?

Posted on June 10, 2009
Many liberal are disappointed with the appointment of Sonya Sotomayor who was often suggested as a nominee for George W. Bush and has voted against free speech, student rights, and other cases with important liberal causes. As I have discussed in my review of her cases and criticism of past commentary of this nomination, [...

Soleless: Israelis Denounce Obama Shoe Pictures As Insult

Posted on June 10, 2009
Ok, I need a little help with this one. Some Israelis are irate over a photo of President Barack Obama speaking on the telephone with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his feet on the desk. While the showing the bottom of your shoes is considered an insult by some Arabs, Israel’s insist [...

Fox News Reporter Chases Down Story in New York

Posted on June 10, 2009
Fox News writer Don Broderick ran into a story in Central Park this week when Brian Dooda, a Brooklyn film archivist, says he ran over him and drove with him cringing to his hood after an altercation. When told that the driver was a reporter, Dooda joked that he must work for Fox News...

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New York Teen Charged With Cooking Kitten To Death As ?Practical Joke?

Posted on June 10, 2009
Cheyenne Cherry, 17, has “issues” with small animals. She was arrested for cooking a kitten Tiger Lily (shown right) to death as a “joke.” She has a history of crimes relating to small animals. The New York teen told police it was just a joke and reportedly showed no regret over the crime...

Little Brother is Watching: English Police Show Elementary Students a Video on Reporting Extreme Views

Posted on June 10, 2009
Elementary students in England are being shown a Lancashire Police film where a lion and a cat tell them to turn in people who espouse dangerous thoughts. It is the latest work of the Preventing Violent Extremism office, which seeks to uncover extremists in the country like Guy Fawkes...

Burn Baby (Be-Bop) Burn: Christian Group Files to Seek Right to Burn Book

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) has selected a curious place to put together an old-fashioned book burning: a court. In West Bend, Wisconsin, Christians are upset over a book called Baby Be-Bop and other books contained in the “Young Adult” material that they say are sexually explicit and inappropriate...

Conservative Blogger Publishes Alleged Anonymous Identity of Law Professor John F. Blevins

Posted on June 09, 2009
There is an interesting fight brewing over a column written by conservative blogger Ed Whelan who has published the allegedly true identity of one of his critics. Whelan says that a critic calling himself “Publius” is really South Texas law professor John Blevins (shown left)...

English Police Accused of Waterboarding

Posted on June 09, 2009
The London Metropolitan Police has been accused of waterboarding suspects in the Enfield area of North London. There has been a shake-up but, as in the United States, no one has yet to be charged with the torture. It is not quite as cute as bobbing bobbies...

The Criminalization of HIV Transmission

Posted on June 08, 2009
In both Canada and the United States, courts are imposing heavy criminal sentences for individuals for the transmission of HIV through consensual sex without disclosure to their partners. It is a trend that has alarmed some AIDS activists who fear that the scope of the prosecutions will put many HIV-positive individuals at risk of [...

Patient Dies After Paramedic Diverts Ambulance From Hospital to Return to Office Because His Shift Was Over

Posted on June 08, 2009
A 69-year-old man died in Stockton, England after a paramedic drove his ambulance back to the lot rather than a hospital because his shift was over. The North East Ambulance Service Trust has suspended both the paramedic and a technician. The diversion made the trip 30 minutes rather than 10 minutes because the paramedic was [...

Florida Death Row Inmate Sues To Get Truck of His Victims

Posted on June 08, 2009
For two years, the courts in Florida have been dealing with a bizarre filing by death row inmate William Deparvine, who was convicted in the killing in 2006 of Richard and Karla Van Dusen. He is suing to get a vintage Chevy pickup truck owned by the dead couple...

U.S. Reporters Sentenced to 12 Years Hard Labor in North Korea

Posted on June 08, 2009
U.S. reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea after being captured while covering the misery of defectors along the China-North Korea border. They were sentenced for the “grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing...

Supreme Court Rules Against West Virginia Justice in Landmark Ethics Case

Posted on June 08, 2009
We have been following the West Virginia case involving A.T. Massey Coal Co., involving a fundamental question of judicial ethics. A divided court voted 5-4 in Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal, et al. (08-22) that West Virginia Justice Brent D. Benjmain violated the constitution by sitting on a case involving the major donor in his [...

Defense Shocked: Court Rules Police Can Use Taser to Collect DNA Sample

Posted on June 07, 2009
In New York, Niagara County Court Judge Sara Sheldon Sperrazza has issued a controversial ruling that police can taser a suspect who refuses to voluntarily submit a DNA sample. In this case, Ryan S. Smith sought to suppress DNA evidence that linked him to two crimes because of the use of the force against [...

DOES TURLEY BLOG NEED A NIP AND TUCK?

Posted on June 07, 2009
It comes to all of us with age. As hairlines recede and waistlines expand, cosmetic surgery becomes more attractive. While this blog is just around 2 years old, in human-to-blog years that is almost middle aged. In the last few weeks, various regulars have suggested that the site needs work to handle [...

Nip and Tuck: Canine Cosmetic Challenges

Posted on June 07, 2009
Given the (very much appreciated) discussion of a needed face lift for the Turley blog, I wanted to remind you that there are some who are in even greater need for such intervention. Families of Shar Pei pets have long known to take care when reaching for towels...

Who Will Rid Me Of These Meddlesome Victims?: Brooklyn Bishop DiMarzio Warns Legislators That Allowing Child-Abuse Victims to Sue Would Virtually Bankrupt Diocese

Posted on June 07, 2009
Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio of Brooklyn is reportedly threatening dire consequences for both legislators and the Church if New York lifts the statute of limitations to allow victims of child sex-abuse to sue. The one-year suspension will, according to the Bishop, bankrupt the Church and lead to social and political backlash for legislators...

Internet Host Jonathan Hock Arrested in Alleged Sexual Assault Shown Live

Posted on June 07, 2009
Jonathan Hock, 20,host of his own Internet show and popular videos, was arrested this week in a bizarre crime where he allegedly used of web hosting site Stickam.com to live broadcasting his raping of an unconscious woman. The alleged victim says that she was unaware of the assault until a friend told her after viewing the [...

Thanks to the ?Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force?

Posted on June 06, 2009
A few words on a day of courage and sacrifice by Americans on foreign soil on this day 55 years ago. “Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Force! You are about to embark upon a great crusade, toward which we have striven these many months...

Justice Department Found to Have (Again) Withheld Evidence and Invalidating Convictions Through Prosecutorial Misconduct

Posted on June 06, 2009
The Justice Department has again conceded to acts of prosecutorial misconduct that will result in the release of two politicians from jail in Alaska. In a case with obvious similarities to the botched case of former Sen. Ted. Stevens of Alaska, former Representatives Pete Kott and Vic Kohring will likely be released soon after [...

Expired Meter: New York City Police Repeatedly Ticket Vehicle for Weeks With Deceased Driver?s Body Inside

Posted on June 06, 2009
It was a great enough shock for the family of George Morales, 58, when his decomposed body was found in his van under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway underpass. What was even more surprising were the four tickets left by police who repeatedly cited the vehicle without noticing the body...

Baptist Minister Prays For Death of President Obama

Posted on June 05, 2009
Baptist Minister (and former second vice president of the Souther Baptist Convention) Wiley Drake reportedly said that he is offering an “imprecatory prayer” for the death of President Obama. Drake reportedly said on June 2 on “The Alan Colmes Show” that, unless Obama repents, he is praying for God to kill him — [...

Can You Hear Me Now? Police Officer Tasers High School Student In Dispute Over Use of Cellphone

Posted on June 05, 2009
A police officer assigned to a Penn Hills, Pennsylvania high school tasered a student who allegeldy refused to end his conversation on a cell phone and then pushed away the officer’s arm. Students are allowed to use cell phones but only for emergencies during school hours...

Sotomayor Belongs to All-Female Club

Posted on June 05, 2009
Among the material release this week by the White House is the disclosure that Judge Sonia Sotomayor belong to a private women’s-only group. The membership raises an interesting question given the controversies in the past over nominees who belong to men-only club...

Rise of the Robots: Professors Flee As Dean Overlords Enlist Terminator Teachers

Posted on June 05, 2009
This blog site addresses some truly terrifying stories from plagues to economic meltdown to genocide. However, nothing quite prepared me for this: the invention of a robot teacher. This brown-haried, cog-filled Cyborg vixen is a threat to all that American holds dear — and threatening the beloved host of this blog with the [...

Ok, This is Bad: Reports on Unemployment, Deficit, and Family Income Paint Dark Picture

Posted on June 05, 2009
There is a slew of reports this week that paint a pretty bleak picture. The Labor Department has placed the unemployment rate at 9.4 percent (the highest since 1983), If you add “temp workers” the rate is higher. In the meantime, another report indicates that over 16% of personal income of the [...

Twit Lit: Tony LaRussa Sues Over False Twitter Page

Posted on June 05, 2009
St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is suing Twitter over an unauthorized page that used his name and gave the false impression that he was sending embarrassing messages. The litigation in Superior Court of California in San Francisco is only the latest of such lawsuits against such companies for failing to confirm and [...

Torpedoed: Former New Jersey Judge Richard Sasso Banned For Life

Posted on June 04, 2009
Former New Jersey municipal judge Richard Sasso has been permanently banned from the bench by the Supreme Court Advisory Committee on Judicial Conduct. Among the violations found by the committee was Sasso’s abuse of both lawyers and litigants; his presiding over cases while under the influence of alcohol and Vicodin, and improper public conduct [...

Texas Police Officer Tasers 72-Year-Old Grandmother Who Refused to Sign a Speeding Ticket

Posted on June 04, 2009
Constable Richard McCain insists that he sued his taser in a recent roadside incident to protect himself from a violent attack. The suspect was Kathryn Winkfein, a 72-year-old grandmother, who had refused to sign a traffic ticket. Winkfein denies McCain’s allegations that she “used some profanity” and “got violent” before he was forced to protect [...

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