No longer blind or even visually impaired
Monday
Party Hacks--The New Immigration Judges
This new analysis of Bush's picks for immigration judge makes clear that instead of real qualifications, the administration uses ideology as the determinant in deciding who will be an immigration judge. will be an immigration judge
No longer blind or even visually impaired
No longer blind or even visually impaired
Saturday
Don't F***k with SUV's
A 13 year sentence for torching some SUV's to make a point about our environmental policy? Yep.
Give thanks to our beloved federal prosecutors.
Thursday
Tuesday
Who Is a Rat?
This excellent Adam Liptak piece is worth a read. It's about the website http://www.whosarat.com. Whosarat claims to be the internet's largest database of informants and undercover officers. Pretty clearly legal, (as it's based on public filings) this seems to me a lovely side effect of the government's consistent attempts to make criminal records and court cases available online to everyone. Of course the government is looking for ways to crack down on it and it's use.
Strangely as of the writing of this blog post, the website seems to be blocked (leaving me to wonder whether XICOM Technologies which seems to be doing the blocking is about to be hit with a very large lawsuit) but here's the old interface:
Strangely as of the writing of this blog post, the website seems to be blocked (leaving me to wonder whether XICOM Technologies which seems to be doing the blocking is about to be hit with a very large lawsuit) but here's the old interface:
Uh-Oh Alberto...
In an ad in the Washington Post today, a number of his old Law School Classmates Criticize AG Alberto Gonzales.
In an open letter they say: "As lawyers, and as a matter of principle, we can no longer be silent about this administration’s consistent disdain for the liberties we hold dear,” those classmates said in a letter to Mr. Gonzales today. “Your failure to stand for the rule of law, particularly when faced with a president who makes the aggrandized claim of being a unitary executive, takes this country down a dangerous path.”
While I don't think you need to go to Harvard to understand this one, I'm glad a bunch of those who did, do.
In an open letter they say: "As lawyers, and as a matter of principle, we can no longer be silent about this administration’s consistent disdain for the liberties we hold dear,” those classmates said in a letter to Mr. Gonzales today. “Your failure to stand for the rule of law, particularly when faced with a president who makes the aggrandized claim of being a unitary executive, takes this country down a dangerous path.”
While I don't think you need to go to Harvard to understand this one, I'm glad a bunch of those who did, do.
Thursday
Why the rich get richer...
The I.R.S. has curtailed many audits in tax havens because obstructionist rich people can make it too time consuming to force them to pay.
In one typical case, the I.R.S. spent four years investigating a person with businesses in both the United States and an unnamed overseas tax haven. The investigation included 20 summonses, 23 demands for documents, 5 missed appointments and 2 refusals by the person being investigated to supply information. After four years, the government still did not know how much money had been moved to the tax haven.
In one typical case, the I.R.S. spent four years investigating a person with businesses in both the United States and an unnamed overseas tax haven. The investigation included 20 summonses, 23 demands for documents, 5 missed appointments and 2 refusals by the person being investigated to supply information. After four years, the government still did not know how much money had been moved to the tax haven.
Wednesday
Tuesday
Another defeat for prosecutors...
As everyone knows these are tough times in which to try a sex case. Particularly a case involving a previously convicted sex offender. Nonetheless, every once and again, a jury has the courage to acquit Perhaps the Duke is having an effect after all.
Click here to see if photo from America's Most Wanted now reads "Oops"
Click here to see if photo from America's Most Wanted now reads "Oops"
Thursday
Sunday
They just ignore the science they don't like...
A congressionally commissioned study on abstinence programs concludes that:
"Students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex as those who did not."
In fact, the data shows that "those who attended one of the four abstinence classes reviewed reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes. And they first had sex about the same age as other students -- 14.9 years"
We spend almost 200 million dollars a year on these programs.
The Bush conclusion:
Officials said one lesson they learned from the study was that the abstinence message should be reinforced in subsequent years.
Thursday
Sunday
Still Guilty After All These Years - New York Times
Inthis outstanding Op-Ed Scott Turow, elegantly explains the importance of Statues of Limitation. I don't often finish a piece and think "hmmm...I've often made that point, but never quite as well." Here, that's exactly what I did. Give it a read.
Friday
What's next night time appointments?
This totally outrageous story explains how Bush misused the interim appointment power. In this case, he tried to bypass congressional approval claiming he could appoint Sam Fox, (a big fundraiser for the swift boat campaign) to an interim appointment because congress was in the middle of a one week recess.
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What's next? Night time appointments? The claim that since congress wasn't in session at 4:00 a.m he can bypass them? Senator Chris Dodd's comment? "Bush's actions were "deceptive at best and illegal at worst." I'm inclined to go with the latter.
What's next? Night time appointments? The claim that since congress wasn't in session at 4:00 a.m he can bypass them? Senator Chris Dodd's comment? "Bush's actions were "deceptive at best and illegal at worst." I'm inclined to go with the latter.
Thursday
Someone with a name doesn't like me...
There's something very interesting and immediate about the reader reviews on Amazon.com. Authors read them. Constantly. This is true of everyone I know who has written a book. The reader review forums give an author the sense that the book exists, that it's reaching an audience, and that they have real reactions to the work. The problem is that, the interface is constructed in a way that allows anonymous reviews to proliferate. The result of this is a skewing toward the extremes in which (the almost inevitable) angry people savage a book, while an author's friends don the guises of anonymity and heap praise upon their friends. And though I pretty much avoided asking anyone to write nice reviews believing that the democratic process would all sort itself out, I've certainly been asked, on occasion to contribute a nice blurb for a friend.
It's partly because of that skewing that the most recent Amazon reader review caught my attention. Unlike other negative reviews (many of which I believe were posted by a single disgruntled individual) this one used the amazon "Real Name" function, suggesting that there was actually someone willing to pan the book under his own name.
All this made me wonder (actually for the first time) what the numbers would look like if I considered in my self-evaluation, only people who were willing to sign their names to their reviews. Suffice to say, I wish I had thought of this calculational trick a long time ago.
As it turns out, by my quick count, of the 53 posted amazon reviews, 26 were from "real name" people. Of them, 24 of the 26 gave the book 5 stars and rave reviews, one gave it four stars and a nice review. The recent one star review (which was actually pretty nice aside for his hating the "liberal blather" of the book) was the only one from a "real" person. So thanks Mr. Johnson--for your candid views, your courage in signing your name, and by doing so, for giving me a new way to look at the reactions to the book.
It's partly because of that skewing that the most recent Amazon reader review caught my attention. Unlike other negative reviews (many of which I believe were posted by a single disgruntled individual) this one used the amazon "Real Name" function, suggesting that there was actually someone willing to pan the book under his own name.
All this made me wonder (actually for the first time) what the numbers would look like if I considered in my self-evaluation, only people who were willing to sign their names to their reviews. Suffice to say, I wish I had thought of this calculational trick a long time ago.
As it turns out, by my quick count, of the 53 posted amazon reviews, 26 were from "real name" people. Of them, 24 of the 26 gave the book 5 stars and rave reviews, one gave it four stars and a nice review. The recent one star review (which was actually pretty nice aside for his hating the "liberal blather" of the book) was the only one from a "real" person. So thanks Mr. Johnson--for your candid views, your courage in signing your name, and by doing so, for giving me a new way to look at the reactions to the book.
Sunday
Who Pays?
A DECISION by the Georgia Court of Appeals last week will spare the state’s cash-strapped public defender organization about $5 million annually, the group’s director said Friday.
A three-judge panel last week said that counties, and not the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, were responsible for paying for trial transcripts needed for the council’s indigent clients to appeal their criminal convictions.
“If the counties had prevailed in this particular case, it would be a financial burden that we simply could not have survived,” said council director Mike Mears.
The ruling, said Mears, “is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy sky right now.”
A three-judge panel last week said that counties, and not the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council, were responsible for paying for trial transcripts needed for the council’s indigent clients to appeal their criminal convictions.
“If the counties had prevailed in this particular case, it would be a financial burden that we simply could not have survived,” said council director Mike Mears.
The ruling, said Mears, “is a ray of sunshine in an otherwise cloudy sky right now.”
Friday
Bush Hacks Interfered With Tobacco Case
In another outrageous story out of the politicized Bush Justice Department, The leader of the Justice Department team that prosecuted a landmark lawsuit against tobacco companies said yesterday that Bush administration political appointees repeatedly ordered her to take steps that weakened the government's racketeering case. They even ordered her to read verbatim a closing argument they had rewritten for her.
Wednesday
Woody Harrelson's Father Dies in Prison - New York Times
Charles Harrelson, died of a heart attack in the Supermax federal prison where he was serving two life sentences for the murder of a federal judge, officials said Wednesday.
Tuesday
Dahlia does it again
The most engaging legal journalism of the day comes, yet again, from Dahlia Lithwick at Slate (disclosure: She's my editor there and a great one.)
Just read this piece. You won't regret it.
Just read this piece. You won't regret it.
Repositioning the Democrats...
Say what you will, republicans aren't stupid. Huffpo is reporting that in just a few hours prominent conservatives will launch an effort to restore civil liberties
Now this is all well and good but it suggests to me that the democrats have failed to sufficiently position themselves as "small government" when it comes to this stuff. Aparently, though the new conservative package will try to "restore congressional oversight and habeas corpus, end torture and extraordinary rendition, narrow the president's authority to designate 'enemy combatants,' prevent unconstitutional wiretaps, email and mail openings, protect journalists from prosecution under the Espionage Act, and more.'"
Just makes me sad that democrats aren't associated sufficiently with these obvious populist positions.
Now this is all well and good but it suggests to me that the democrats have failed to sufficiently position themselves as "small government" when it comes to this stuff. Aparently, though the new conservative package will try to "restore congressional oversight and habeas corpus, end torture and extraordinary rendition, narrow the president's authority to designate 'enemy combatants,' prevent unconstitutional wiretaps, email and mail openings, protect journalists from prosecution under the Espionage Act, and more.'"
Just makes me sad that democrats aren't associated sufficiently with these obvious populist positions.
Monday
A part of the PATRIOT Act that must go...
The administration has long used the PATRIOT act to provide some camouflage and even legitimacy to it's loathsome and often unconstitutional activities. So it's high time that the democrats started looking to repeal some portions of it, starting with the Naming of Prosecutors. Mercifully it looks like that's where congress is finally headed.
Saturday
Bag man Pete...
This excellent New York Times piece details the degree to which Republican senator Pete Domenici was responsible for the dismissal of United States attorney, David C. Iglesias.
Bag man Pete
Here's the good stuff: "Mr. Iglesias said he had believed that his bosses shared his view that United States attorneys should stay above the fray. “I thought I was insulated from politics,” he said in an interview. “But now I find out that main Justice was up to its eyeballs in partisan political maneuvering.”
Since his ouster, Mr. Iglesias has received support from other federal prosecutors, who say the department failed to honor its obligation to ensure that decisions about prosecutions are free of political taint.
“People who understand the history and the mission of the United States attorney and Justice Department — they are uniformly appalled, horrified,” said Atlee W. Wampler III, chairman of a national organization of former United States attorneys and a prosecutor who served in the Carter and Reagan administrations. “That the tradition of the Justice Department could have been so warped by that kind of action — any American should be disturbed.”
Bag man Pete
Here's the good stuff: "Mr. Iglesias said he had believed that his bosses shared his view that United States attorneys should stay above the fray. “I thought I was insulated from politics,” he said in an interview. “But now I find out that main Justice was up to its eyeballs in partisan political maneuvering.”
Since his ouster, Mr. Iglesias has received support from other federal prosecutors, who say the department failed to honor its obligation to ensure that decisions about prosecutions are free of political taint.
“People who understand the history and the mission of the United States attorney and Justice Department — they are uniformly appalled, horrified,” said Atlee W. Wampler III, chairman of a national organization of former United States attorneys and a prosecutor who served in the Carter and Reagan administrations. “That the tradition of the Justice Department could have been so warped by that kind of action — any American should be disturbed.”
28 Counts?
A sixth-grade science teacher who was accused of having sex with a 13-year-old student has been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Rachel L. Holt, 35, had pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. She sobbed in court Friday as Superior Court Judge Calvin L. Scott gave her the mandatory minimum sentence. Prosecutors had wanted Scott to sentence Holt to the maximum of 25 years.
Holt was initially charged with 28 counts of first-degree rape. Police accused her of having sex with the boy that many times during an intense weeklong affair.
Holt was initially charged with 28 counts of first-degree rape. Police accused her of having sex with the boy that many times during an intense weeklong affair.
Friday
Oops. It was Rove after all.
Rove e-mailed about the US Attorney firings well before Gonzales was even AG
Tuesday
No--Don't curb your enthusiasm...
Juan Catalan, unjustly imprisoned for nearly five months after being charged with a murder he didn't commit was exonerated by unused daily footage shot for the HBO comedy series "Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Well, the case was dismissed, .and last week he received a $320,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed against the City of Los Angeles.
Well, the case was dismissed, .and last week he received a $320,000 settlement of a lawsuit filed against the City of Los Angeles.
What happened to Judge Chase?
I am sure it's often very frustrating being a judge. It's a tough job, but some seem to acclimate better than others. This great piece chronicles the strange decent of one New York immigration judge--Judge Jeffrey S. Chase.
Judge Chase was recently assigned to desk duties after the Second Circuit (in it's second stinging reversal) found that " Judge Chase’s decision show “a plethora of errors and omissions,” and that his tone during the hearing was unacceptable.
The panel pointed to a ”disturbing” incident in which the judge appeared to tread on lawyer-client privilege when he asked Mr. Ba if he had lied to his lawyer: “Yes or no?” “’It is inconceivable,” the panel wrote, that Judge Chase, “as a judge and lawyer, would not know the impropriety of that question.”
Judge Chase was recently assigned to desk duties after the Second Circuit (in it's second stinging reversal) found that " Judge Chase’s decision show “a plethora of errors and omissions,” and that his tone during the hearing was unacceptable.
The panel pointed to a ”disturbing” incident in which the judge appeared to tread on lawyer-client privilege when he asked Mr. Ba if he had lied to his lawyer: “Yes or no?” “’It is inconceivable,” the panel wrote, that Judge Chase, “as a judge and lawyer, would not know the impropriety of that question.”
Saturday
Absolutely corrupting power
"The FBI's director, Robert Mueller, admitted the bureau had abused the enhanced powers vested in it through the U.S. Patriot Act.
FBI Cheating on NSL's
According to a recent report, by investigators in the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) “the FBI used NSLs (NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS) in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General guidelines, and internal FBI policies.” A large number of the infractions, according to the OIG, violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA): “In addition, we found that the FBI circumvented the requirements of the ECPA NSL statute when it issued at least 739 ‘exigent letters’ to obtain telephone toll billing records and subscriber information from three telephone companies without first issuing NSLs.” Exigent letters are produced when FBI agents feel they need immediate information, and the OIG found that these claims were exaggerated in many of these cases.
“Moreover,” the report continues, “in a few other instances, the FBI sought or obtained information to which it was not entitled under the NSL authorities.” These “instances” appear to be clear and quite extreme violations of NSL statutes: using an ECPA NSL to secure educational records; obtaining telephone records that were not part of a national-security investigation; and obtaining credit reports as part of a counterintelligence investigation.
This is why we shouldn't ever surrender powers like this to the government.
FBI Cheating on NSL's
According to a recent report, by investigators in the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) “the FBI used NSLs (NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS) in violation of applicable NSL statutes, Attorney General guidelines, and internal FBI policies.” A large number of the infractions, according to the OIG, violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA): “In addition, we found that the FBI circumvented the requirements of the ECPA NSL statute when it issued at least 739 ‘exigent letters’ to obtain telephone toll billing records and subscriber information from three telephone companies without first issuing NSLs.” Exigent letters are produced when FBI agents feel they need immediate information, and the OIG found that these claims were exaggerated in many of these cases.
“Moreover,” the report continues, “in a few other instances, the FBI sought or obtained information to which it was not entitled under the NSL authorities.” These “instances” appear to be clear and quite extreme violations of NSL statutes: using an ECPA NSL to secure educational records; obtaining telephone records that were not part of a national-security investigation; and obtaining credit reports as part of a counterintelligence investigation.
This is why we shouldn't ever surrender powers like this to the government.
Tuesday
Every night is a Saturday night massacre...
There is mounting evidence that the Bush administration regularly pressures supposedly autonomous United States Attorneys when they step into the politically charged arena of republican corruption.
The latest? A former federal prosecutor in Maryland said Monday that he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican.
The depravity of this administration and it's willingness to subvert justice seems almost limitless
The latest? A former federal prosecutor in Maryland said Monday that he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, a Republican.
The depravity of this administration and it's willingness to subvert justice seems almost limitless
Monday
Andrew Thomas--over everyone's dead body...
Arizona deserves what it gets. Maricopa county already has an imbecilic sheriff who likes to make inmates wear pink underpants
Shameful "Sheriff Joe"
But now come a rabid prosecutor whose Policy Shift on the Death Penalty has overwhelmed the Arizona Court system. According to the NY Times:
"During his two years in office, Andrew P. Thomas, the county attorney, has nearly doubled the number of times that the office has sought the death penalty, even though the number of first-degree murder cases prosecuted by the county has remained more or less the same for a decade.
A policy change that he enacted has contributed to a backlog of capital cases here that has crippled the county’s public defender system, left roughly a dozen murder defendants without representation, and prompted rancor and demoralization in the agencies that defend capital cases."
Mr. Death Penalty Himself
Shameful "Sheriff Joe"
But now come a rabid prosecutor whose Policy Shift on the Death Penalty has overwhelmed the Arizona Court system. According to the NY Times:
"During his two years in office, Andrew P. Thomas, the county attorney, has nearly doubled the number of times that the office has sought the death penalty, even though the number of first-degree murder cases prosecuted by the county has remained more or less the same for a decade.
A policy change that he enacted has contributed to a backlog of capital cases here that has crippled the county’s public defender system, left roughly a dozen murder defendants without representation, and prompted rancor and demoralization in the agencies that defend capital cases."
Mr. Death Penalty Himself
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