Legal Commentary

Federal Judge Tosses Out Unlawful Surveillance Cases

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Obama Administration succeeded yesterday in getting three dozen public interest lawsuits dismissed against telecommunication companies. President Obama voted for the bill that gave the companies immunity and sought to prevent a court from declaring the warrantless surveillance program illegal...

Live Free or Die: New Hampshire Becomes Sixth State To Recognize Same-Sex Marriages

Posted on June 04, 2009
And then there were six. The New Hampshire legislature has voted to recognize same-sex marriage joining five other states with such recognition in a continuing and encouraging trend among the states. Gov. John Lynch signed the bill soon after it was passed by the legislature...

A Life in the Law: New Hampshire Man Arrested for 153rd Time Asserts His Self-Taught Legal Training

Posted on June 04, 2009
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously observed that ?the life of the law has not been logic, but experience.” One adherent to this principle appears to be Paul Baldwin, 48, who was arrested for the 153rd time and told a New Hampshire judge “I don’t need a lawyer – I’ve been in this court [...

Ranck Pizza: Florida Prosecutor Arrested for Assaulting Pizza Delivery Woman

Posted on June 03, 2009
Veteran Miami-Dade prosecutor David Ranck, 51, has been charged with battery after allegedly assaulting a pizza delivery woman. He has been suspended by his office. Only the week before a Broward County prosecutor was arrested for assaulting a police officer...

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Former Connecticut Lawyer Elizabeth Zembko Arrested For Shoplifting and Burglary

Posted on June 03, 2009
Former Connecticut lawyer Elizabeth Zembko, 48, achieved notoriety a few years ago when she was convicted of stealing half a million dollars from her former law firm and elderly clients to pay for shopping sprees. It appears that the shopping bug is not quite out of her system...

Marine Recuiter Accused of Pimping 14-Year-Old Girl With Two Potential Recruits

Posted on June 03, 2009
Police in Hemet, California are dealing with a bizarre criminal case after a Marine recruiter was charged with pimping a 14-year-old girl with potential recruits. Staff Sgt. Bryan Damone Cunningham was allegedly caught in a car with two such prospective recruits and police are investigating whether he used the girl as part of [...

Susan Jordan Killed in Plane Crash

Posted on June 03, 2009
The bar lost a great advocate on Friday with the death of Susan Jordan, 67, who died in a plane crash in Utah. Jordan pioneered the battered women’s syndrome defense and represented controversial clients ranging from the Symbionese Liberation Army to the Black Panthers...

Seventh Circuit, Sotomayor, and the Second Amendment: Conservative Icons Easterbrook and Posner Support Sotomayor?s View of Right to Bear Arms

Posted on June 03, 2009
The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has handed down a decision that could play a role in the Sotomayor confirmation process. In National Rifle Association v. Chicago, the Seventh Circuit upheld a Chicago ordinance banning handguns and automatic weapons within city limits...

J.D. Salinger Files To Block Publication of Sequel to Catcher in the Rye

Posted on June 03, 2009
The reclusive author J.D. Salinger (a personal favorite) was seen this week — at least in court papers. Salinger broke from his self-imposed seclusion to file an interesting lawsuit to block a novel based on Holden Caulfield, the hero from “The Catcher in the Rye...

Judge Kent Resigns On Eve of Impeachment Hearing ? Effective One Year From Now

Posted on June 02, 2009
With hearings scheduled for House Judiciary Committee Task Force on Impeachment, U.S. District Judge Samuel B. Kent has decided to turn in this resignation to President Barack Obama. His lawyer Dick DeGuerin says that the hearings are now unnecessary and Judge Kent will not participate...

Cheney: Gays Should Be Able To Marry

Posted on June 02, 2009
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday that he supports same-sex unions and believes that the question should be left to the states — as opposed to a federal prohibition or constitutional amendment. Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter, insisted “I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone...

?World?s Funniest Lawyer? Kenneth Kahn Dies After Falling Off Mountain in Machu Picchu

Posted on June 02, 2009
Kenneth Kahn, a well-known Los Angeles criminal defense attorney and amateur stand-up comedian, was died in a fall while climbing the mountain above Machu Picchu. He was 66. Kahn represented convicted spy Andrew Daulton Lee in the case featured in the 1985 movie ?The Falcon and the Snowman...

North Carolina Judge Reprimanded for Facebook ?Friend? and Googling Information on Litigant

Posted on June 02, 2009
There is an interesting case of judicial ethics out of North Carolina where District Court Judge B. Carlton Terry Jr. was given a public reprimand for becoming “friends” on Facebook with the attorney for the defendant, Charles A. Shieck, in a child custody disputes...

I?m Rapping Jesus Christ: Conservative Dartmouth Students Become YouTube Hit

Posted on June 02, 2009
Dartmouth Students David Rufful and Josh Riddle have become the conservative versions of Snoop Doog and Willie D. “The Young Con Anthem” chas hit over 115,000 views. Known as Stiltz & Serious C, the students espouses conservative values for hard-right homeys...

Police Arrest Alleged Killer of Dr. George Tiller

Posted on June 01, 2009
A Kansas man, Scott Roeder, has been arrested for the murder of Dr. George Tiller (left), 51, who was shot while serving as an usher at his Wichita church Sunday morning. Tiller was one of the few U.S. doctors performing late-term abortions in the country and had previously survived a 1993 shooting outside of [...

Golden Child Goes Grunge

Posted on June 01, 2009
There is another “gilded cage” story out of Tibet. This week, many people are talking about a Malaysian princess who fled a seemingly story tale life with a Royal family after alleged torture and abuse. Now, ,Tibetans are dealing with the flight of a man once worshiped as a God...

Gilded Cage: Malaysian Royal Family Accused of Drugging and Torturing Princess

Posted on June 01, 2009
With the world still talking about UAE Crown Prince Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan and is torture videos, another royal family has been accused of torture and abuses. Teenage model Manohara Odelia Pinot was only 16 when she was married to Tengku Temenggong Muhammad Fakhry, a prince of Malaysia?s Kelantan State...

British High Court: Pringles are Potato Chips

Posted on June 01, 2009
It’s official: Not only is pringles a food product, but it is a potato food product. That is the ruling of Britain?s Supreme Court of Judicature which ruled with Her Majesty?s Revenue and Customs and against Procter & Gamble U.K.. Just in case you thought this was small potatoes, the ruling means [...

Cutting Out the Hurd: Tribune Uncovers Letters on the Admission of Unworthy U of I Students Sponsored by Politicians

Posted on June 01, 2009
There has been a long controversy over “legacy” admissions and the politically well connected applicants in law schools. The University of Illinois law school has been entangled in this controversy with the release of an embarrassing email exchange between former Dean Heidi Hurd, Chancellor Richard Herman, and Illinois State Sen...

Italian Premier Accused For Trying to Suppress Photos With Young Girls

Posted on May 31, 2009
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has previously threatened to crackdown on the media for reporting his regular gaffes and notorious conduct. Now, the media mogul is reportedly trying to block publication of pictures with young women after the media pursues allegations of affairs...

Saudi Arabia Beheads Killer and Then Displays His Body in ?Crucifixion?

Posted on May 31, 2009
Saudi Arabia has added to its macabre medieval tradition with what it called a “crucifixion” — the public display of a beheaded killed, Ahmed Al-Shamlani Al-Anzi. Al-Anzi was accused of killing an 11-year-old boy and his father. He reported strangled the boy with a rope at a grocery store and then axed the father to [...

Senate Prepares for the Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings

Posted on May 31, 2009
With the virtual absence of any objective review of Sonia Sotomayor’s opinions or positions by members of Congress, the Senate Judiciary Committee appears to be gearing up for another confirmation process with little substantive content. As noted previously with regard to the Roberts and Alito hearings, confirmation hearings have become little more than extended [...

United Nations: U.S. Human Rights Record ?Deplorable? ? Including the Continuing Failure to Investigate Torture By the Obama Administration

Posted on May 31, 2009
The United Nations has released a new report on human rights that has found the record of the United states to be “deplorable.” With the continuing refusal of the Obama Administration to investigate war crimes and to support the Bush policies in court, we have lost an opportunity to show the country has [...

Supreme Court Overturns Landmark Case Michigan v. Jackson ? With The Support of the Obama Administration

Posted on May 31, 2009
This week saw the demise of a landmark case in the area of constitutional criminal procedure: Michigan v. Jackson. In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court rolled back on the protection of defendants that guaranteed that they had the advice of counsel before speaking with police at critical stages of a prosecution...

Levin: Cheney Lied About Torture?s Success

Posted on May 30, 2009
Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has issued a stinging rebuke to former Vice President Dick Cheney — saying that undisclosed memos do not support his claim that torture works and save lives. Speaking at the Foreign Policy Association’s annual dinner this week, Levin said that his investigation “gives the lie [...

Wikipedia Blocks Edits by Church of Scientology

Posted on May 30, 2009
Scientology may believe that they can achieve control of time and space, but they are being denied control over Wikipedia entries. Wikipedia has blocked edits from Scientology computers due to a history of what it says are deceptive and abusive edits...

Woman Goes to Hospital With Kidney Stones and Ultimately Loses Both Legs and Arms ? and Lawsuit

Posted on May 30, 2009
The case of Lisa Strong is a tragedy at almost every level from her first encounter with the medical profession to her last encounter with the legal profession. Strong went to the emergency room with what she believed was kidney stones (she had a history of kidney stones)...

Casanova in a Can: Texas Man Gets 45 Years for Inflicting Six Women with AIDS

Posted on May 30, 2009
Philippe Padieu, who was described by his own lawyer as a “modern-day Casanova,” has been sentenced by a Texas jury to 45 years in prison for knowingly inflicting six women with the AIDS virus. Padieu, 53, was convicted on six counts to run concurrently...

Potato Politics: Ahmadinejad Goes From Gross to Grocer

Posted on May 29, 2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made a name for himself as a Holocaust-denying, gay-bashing, Israel-hating, religious nut. None of that appears to have made him particularly unpopular in Iran. However, he is now accused of buying votes with potatoes...

New York Police Officer Killed By Fellow Officer Pursuing Suspected Car Thief

Posted on May 29, 2009
A New York police officer has been tragically killed by a fellow officer late last night. New York Police Department Officer Omar Edwards, 25, was shot twice by another officer who was chasing a man that he believed was trying to break into his car. He mistook Edwards for the suspect and shot [...

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