Jury duty excuse: I’m a racist, homophobic liar July 10, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law , add a comment
CNN reports this reluctant juror
could face perjury and other charges.
He told the judge, “I’m a frequent liar.” Could this statement actually be perjury? Sounds like a tough case for the prosecution.
Well, at least we weren’t picking a jury that day. July 8, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law, Law Enforcement , add a comment Last Friday, I got up early and left the office at 6:00 a.m. I drove to a county two hours away for a client’s arraignment at 8:30. I brought a colleague and our summer intern, too.
The prosecutor also drove about 100 miles to be there. She has a lot of experience as a prosecutor, but this was the first time for all of us to appear in this particular court.
The prosecutors arrange with the prison to bring inmates to court. Instead of escorting him to the court where he was to be arraigned, someone at the prison decided to take the client to a different court, also several hours away, but in the wrong direction. We don’t know why.
Nobody was happy to have wasted all that time, and the judge was not pleased.
Putting it together July 8, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Criminal Law , add a comment Yesterday, as I listened to “How Do You Keep The Music Playing?” on The Movie Album
She obviously carefully prepared before she recorded the song, and she pieced it all together, leaving nothing to chance.
African proverb July 7, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Quotes , add a commentFrom Libraries in the sand reveal Africa’s academic past
“The nations formed a single line and Timbuktu was at the head. But one day, God did an about-turn and Timbuktu found itself at the back,” a local proverb goes.
P.S. For most of my life, I thought my dad had traveled to Timbuktu by camel. Nope. No camel.
U.S. Constitution suffers appellate defeat. July 6, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution, Criminal Law, Law Enforcement , 1 comment so farFederal appeals court reverses Detroit judge’s ruling on Bush spying program
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 that the plaintiffs in the case, a group of several dozen academics, activists and journalists, could not demonstrate they had been harmed by the surveillance and therefore cannot sue the government.
Recently, supporters of the Constitution celebrated a major victory in the lower court. Now, the appellate court reversed that decision. One step forward. Two steps back! 
The enemies of our Constitution never surrender. Neither will we.
Honk if you believe Anita now July 6, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution , add a commentEllen Goodman argues that Supreme Court Justice Thomas “is the most extreme justice when it comes to rolling back civil rights [and] the most predictable member of the conservative camp.”
“This justice was confirmed by the smallest margin in history. He not only convinced senators that Anita Hill lied, he convinced them that he wouldn’t be a rigid ideologue. Honk if you believe Anita now.”
Hmmm… The “conservative camp of the United States Supreme Court.” Isn’t that nearly all of them now?
Jailed for upholding law at Guantanamo July 6, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution, Criminal Law , add a commentJailed for upholding law at Guantanamo
Diaz is not the first member of the U.S. military legal system to face trouble for challenging conditions at Guantanamo.
Republican Outrage at Libby Scooting July 5, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution, Criminal Law, Law Enforcement , add a commentRepublican Outrage at Libby Scooting
Republican Outrage at Libby Scooting
It’s not just us; Republicans are equally incensed over Bush’s commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence
Wow, the Brains and Eggs blogger grudgingly (yet brilliantly) admits his respect for Republican politicians who have chosen consistency over partisanship. Read it here
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph July 4, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution, Quotes , add a commentDavid Van Os describes today’s summer soldiers and sunshine patriots:
To quote one of the great pamphleteers (of whom today’s bloggers are the successors) of the Revolution, Thomas Paine,
“These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it NOW, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph” COMMON SENSE, December 23, 1776.
Who are today’s summer soldiers and sunshine patriots? They are the representatives of tyranny who claim the power of the Constitution and the protection of the law while trampling on the very Constitution and rule of law which give them the power and protection they claim; they are the acolytes who proclaim a love of freedom while suppressing dissent; they are the royalists who mouth support for democracy while establishing aristocracy in their own country[.]
Actions speak louder than words for new Supremes July 2, 2007
Posted by Idta in : Constitution , add a comment University of Chicago Law School Professor Geoffrey Stone argues that, “For the Supreme Court of the United States, this will be remembered as the year of intellectual dishonesty.
