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New Job For Alberto Gonzales
Headline Legal News |
2009/07/08 09:33
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The Statesman has reported that former attorney general Alberto Gonzales is expected to teach at Texas Tech University in the fall. He is signing on as a visiting professor in the political science department and will be teaching a "special topics" course on current issues in the executive branch.
Gonzales is known to many as a controversial attorney general for a number of reasons, including alleged perjury before Congress. It is rumored that he has had difficulties finding a job because of this, something he has disputed.
Since resigning two years ago, he has been working as a consultant, speaking in public and doing arbitration work as a lawyer.
He is also working on a new book on the highs and lows of his time as a part of the Bush Administration. "You serve and you move on," he has said. |
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Court Rules R.J. Reynolds Violated Ad Agreement
Headline Legal News |
2009/06/30 09:01
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According to Courthouse News, the Washington Court of Appeals has ruled that tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds violated their contract with 46 states to stop the use of cartoons in advertisements.
The four-page advertisement in question was featured in the Nov. 15, 2007 issue of Rolling Stone, but some, including courts in Ohio and Maine, are not convinced that the collage-style advertisement is actually a cartoon.
In line with the final court ruling, Judge Anne Ellington disagrees with the Ohio and Maine courts.
"Under a blue sky in a pastoral Eden, roosters hitch rides on floating tractors, speakers grow out of the ground and radios fly," Ellington wrote. "This is in a world where the natural laws do not obtain, where cancer and serious health problems can cease to exist."
R.J. Reynolds refutes liability because they did not know that the advertisement would containt cartoon images and they are not responsible for the editorial content.
While the court did agree with this, they still ruled that the advertisement had violated the master settlement agreement. The appellate court is now considering appropriate action against the company. |
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Mich. Judge has say in Dress
Court Watch |
2009/06/17 09:04
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The Michigan Supreme Court on Wednesday voted to give judges authority over how witnesses dress in court after a Muslim woman refused to remove her veil while testifying in a small claims case.
A statewide court rule letting judges regulate the appearance of witnesses — such as asking them to remove face coverings — was approved by a 5-2 vote. The dissenters said there should be an exception for people whose clothing is dictated by their religion.
Justices heard last month from a Muslim woman who sued because her small claims case was dismissed when she refused to remove her veil.
Hamtramck District Judge Paul Paruk told Ginnnah Muhammad he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness. The 45-year-old from Detroit kept her niqab on during the 2006 hearing.
Some Muslim leaders interpret the Quran to require that women wear a headscarf, veil or burqa in the presence of a man who is not their husband or close relative.
After Muhammad sued the judge, the Michigan Judges Association and Michigan District Judges Association got behind a court rule giving judges "reasonable" control over the appearance of parties and witnesses to observe their demeanor and ensure they can be accurately identified. |
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North Korea Threatens Merciless Attacks
Headline Legal News |
2009/06/17 09:02
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North Korea today warned that it would launch a "merciless" attack if provoked by the US and its allies, hours after President Barack Obama described the state's nuclear and missile programmes as a "grave threat" to the world.
"If the US and its followers infringe upon our republic's sovereignty even a bit, our military and people will launch a one hundred or one thousandfold retaliation with [a] merciless military strike," the state-controlled Minju Joson newspaper said.
The newspaper described Obama as a hypocrite for supporting a nuclear-free world while making what it claimed were "frantic efforts" to develop new nuclear weapons at home. "The nuclear programme is not the monopoly of the US," it said.
Russia, which shares a border with North Korea, quickly responded that any missile heading for Russian airspace would be promptly shot down. "We will see it and shoot it down," the deputy defence minister, Viktor Popovkin, said, according to Interfax.
The North Korean warning came as reports in Japan and South Korea said the regime could be preparing to test launch two long-range ballistic missiles, possibly in retaliation against sanctions agreed by the UN security council at the weekend.
The security council imposed stiffer measures as punishment for North Korea's controlled nuclear explosion last month, including a ban on all weapons exports from North Korea and the import of all but small arms.
The security council also called on member states to stop and search North Korean ships suspected of carrying nuclear and ballistic weapons technology.
Obama said today that every effort would be made to enforce the sanctions. While he repeated his offer of negotiations, Obama said that "belligerent, provocative behaviour that threatens neighbours will be met with significant and serious enforcement of sanctions that are in place".
A South Korean newspaper reported that North Korea had started withdrawing money from bank accounts in Macau to prevent it from being frozen under UN sanctions.
North Korea has responded to UN action by threatening to conduct more missile launches, enrich uranium and weaponise all its plutonium. There are also fears that it is preparing to carry out another nuclear test, its third since October 2006.
Reports in South Korea said a train capable of transporting intercontinental ballistic missiles had been spotted arriving at a launch site in Musudan-ri on the north-east coast, weeks after it had taken a missile to a newer site in the north-west.
Any tests would be likely to involve an improved version of the Taepodong-2 missile, which has a theoretical range of 4,800 km, enough to put it within striking distance of Alaska. In previous tests the missile has either failed or fallen harmlessly into the Pacific ocean.
A senior US military official warned this week that North Korea could pose a real threat to the US west coast in "three to five years" if its missile development continued unchecked.
"It does not include how long it takes to build that warhead," General James Cartwright, vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told a senate hearing on missile defence. "And that assumes a lot of luck on their part in moving forward."
North Korea's rhetorical outbursts serve two purposes: to intimidate its enemies and whip up support for the regime at home.
The country's leader, Kim Jong-il, is consolidating his position as he prepares to hand over power to his youngest son, Kim Jong-un.
Today North Korea denied Japanese media reports that Jong-un had flown to Beijing earlier this month to meet the Chinese president, Hu Jintao.
The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said Jong-un, 26, had told Chinese officials he held a senior position in the ruling Korean workers' party and had been officially anointed to succeed his ailing father, who suffered a stroke last summer. |
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Court says judges must avoid appearance of bias
Headline Legal News |
2009/06/08 16:17
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that elected judges must step aside from cases when large campaign contributions from interested parties create the appearance of bias.
By a 5-4 vote in a case from West Virginia, the court said that a judge who remained involved in a lawsuit filed against the company of the most generous supporter of his election deprived the other side of the constitutional right to a fair hearing.
"Just as no man is allowed to be a judge in his own cause, similar fears of bias can arise when — without the consent of the other parties — a man chooses the judge in his own cause," Justice Anthony Kennedy said for the court. With multimillion-dollar judicial election campaigns on the rise, the court's decision Monday could have widespread significance. Justice at Stake, which tracks campaign spending in judicial elections, says judges are elected in 39 states and that candidates for the highest state courts have raised more than $168 million since 2000. "Judicial elections have become more expensive, more negative and more subject to influence by special interest groups," said Chief Justice Margaret Marshall of Massachusetts, president of the Conference of Chief Justices. The West Virginia case involved more than $3 million spent by the chief executive of Massey Energy Co. to help elect state Supreme Court Justice Brent Benjamin. At the same time, Massey was appealing a verdict, which now totals $82.7 million with interest, in a dispute with a local coal company. Benjamin refused to step aside from the case, despite repeated requests, and was part of a 3-2 decision to overturn the verdict. The coal company, Harman Mining Co., and its president, Hugh Caperton, took the case to the high court. |
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