Category Archives: Courts

Wrist Slaps and Unequal Justice

Posted on by
Reply

Navy sailor Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao was caught passing classified information concerning an Okinawa radar system, along with plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre, to a spy for the People’s Republic of China. [OPSEC note: the exercise plans would allow, among other things, the PRC to watch the radar system in action during the exercise.] Zhao has been sentenced to 27 months in prison. A whole 27 months. A wrist slap.

Meanwhile, the 6 January rioters—those who have actually had trials three years(!) after the event and whose trials have actually run to completion—have been sentenced to 3-6 years, and some have been sentenced to as many as 20 years.

This is a preview of Wrist Slaps and Unequal Justice. Read the full post (493 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Subpoena Fight

Posted on by
Reply

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Hunter Biden to be deposed in a closed-door hearing. Biden has responded, through his lawyer, that he’ll be there, but only if the hearing is public. Supposedly, this sets up a subpoena fight.

It needn’t, and Oversight Chairman James Comer (R, KY), has said so, although he has offered, unnecessarily IMNSHO, a compromise to have Biden testify in an open Oversight hearing after he’s sat for the close-door deposition.

This is a preview of Subpoena Fight. Read the full post (504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Convenience and the FBI

Posted on by
Reply

Stewart Whitson, late of the FBI and currently Foundation for Government Accountability Legal Director, decried in his Tuesday Wall Street Journal op-ed, a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau effort to completely eliminate the ability of credit-reporting companies to sell credit-header data to law enforcement agencies, including to the FBI. Those header data include a variety of identifying material but, as Whitson was careful to emphasize, no financial information.

This, actually, is one of the few things the CFPB would get right were it to follow through.

This is a preview of Convenience and the FBI. Read the full post (418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

A Voting Rights Discrimination Case

Posted on by
Reply

The 8th Circuit has ruled that private parties cannot bring suit over voting rights discrimination under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act; only the US Attorney General can. The 8th Circuit stands alone among courts and against long-standing precedent here. It’s still correct on the matter.

The court’s decision, in summary, said the

Arkansas branch of the NAACP and another organization couldn’t challenge the district lines drawn for the Arkansas House of Representatives after the 2020 census.

Circuit Judge David Stras, for the majority:

This is a preview of A Voting Rights Discrimination Case. Read the full post (433 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Only Reliable Way to Enforce Lease Sales

Posted on by
Reply

The 5th Circuit has ruled—correctly IMNSHO—that the Biden administration must sell oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico as existing law requires and get it done within the next 37 days.

That’s good news, but it’s insufficient since it lacks an enforcement mechanism. The only reliable enforcement mechanism under this Biden administration is to deem the leases currently applied for to be sold under the parameters provided in the lease applications and to deem future lease applications, until the 73 million acres in question are committed, similarly sold after 37 days, the court’s mandated time limit for getting the Gulf’s acreage leased out.

This is a preview of Only Reliable Way to Enforce Lease Sales. Read the full post (170 words, estimated 41 secs reading time)

Religious Persecution

Posted on by
Reply

Finland Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen and Lutheran Bishop Juhana Pohjola stood (still stand?) accused by Finnish prosecutor Anu Mantila of the heinous hate speech crime of quoting from the Bible.

Finnish district courts said, no, and acquitted the two. The prosecutor objected and took the cases to a Finnish appellate court—where the two were once again acquitted. Räsänen:

It isn’t a crime to tweet a Bible verse, or to engage in public discourse with a Christian perspective. The attempts made to prosecute me for expressing my beliefs have resulted in an immensely trying four years, but my hope is that the result will stand as a key precedent to protect the human right to free speech.

This is a preview of Religious Persecution. Read the full post (260 words, estimated 1:02 mins reading time)

Dangerous Settlement

Posted on by
Reply

Bob Updegrove, a Virginia-based photographer, has settled his case against the State of Virginia and its Virginia Values Act, which barred “discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in housing, public and private employment, public accommodations, and access to credit. The Act includes denying folks their right to demur on the basis of their religious beliefs.

Citing the recent 303 Creative LLC v Elenis Supreme Court case, Updegrove’s case was ultimately dismissed by both parties in appeals court on the agreement that he would not be forced to take part in same-sex weddings.

This is a preview of Dangerous Settlement. Read the full post (366 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

How About Unauthorized Entry?

Posted on by
Reply

Maybe California’s Progressive-Democratic Party politicians are beginning to recognize the failure of their soft-on-crime policies. Or at least they’re beginning to pay lip service to the problem, if not its correction. In particular, they’re starting to talk about maybe tightening their law regarding auto burglary.

Under current law, prosecutors must prove a vehicle was locked to convict a suspect of auto burglary, and a window being broken is not sufficient evidence. This new proposed legislation from [State] Senator Scott Wiener (D, San Francisco) would end that requirement and allow forcible entry to be sufficient evidence for a conviction.

This is a preview of How About Unauthorized Entry?. Read the full post (345 words, estimated 1:23 mins reading time)

The 9th Circuit Got This One Right

Posted on by
Reply

A recent Wall Street Journal opinion concerned the question of when, or whether, a political figure who creates a personal social media account(s) can bar members of the public from interacting with those accounts. In

Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and TJ Zane, elected school board members in California, used personal Facebook and Twitter accounts they created while running for office to campaign and inform constituents about education news. The officials blocked two parents for making “repetitious and non-responsive comments” on their pages.

In O‘Connor-Ratcliff v Garnier, the 9th Circuit said the two board members could not do that.

This is a preview of The 9th Circuit Got This One Right. Read the full post (482 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

A Plea Deal and Testimony

Posted on by
1

Sydney Powell, former Donald Trump legal adviser, and one of a plethora of indictees in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ sweepingly excessive run at the former President, has agreed to a plea deal. Powell had been looking at as many as seven serious felony charges, including racketeering and conspiracy to commit election fraud, had she gone to trial.

Instead, she pled to misdemeanors and sentencing limited to six years of probation, a $6,000 fine, an apology letter to the state of Georgia, and $2,700 in restitution payable to the State.

Oh, and she agreed to testify for the prosecution in the remaining indictees’ trials.

This is a preview of A Plea Deal and Testimony. Read the full post (264 words, estimated 1:03 mins reading time)