Free Republic

While Justice Department and ATF officials (reportedly including key players from the Phoenix Field Division at the time Operation Fast and Furious was being implemented) pore over the Office of Inspector General draft report during the required review and comment period, Arizona attorney, author, civil rights activist and blogger David T. Hardy, reminded his readers yesterday of an earlier report that, in his words, “spells out ‘gunwalking.’” Writing on his Of Arms and the Law blog, Hardy linked to the Justice Department’s September, 2010 “PROJECT GUNRUNNER, A Cartel Focused Strategy” publication and called attention to several key passages. Including, and...

The Virginia Supreme Court has issued a ruling in the case of Casey v. Merck & Co. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had asked the Virginia court to rule on two issues regarding Virginia law and a statute of limitations for class actions. A class action was filed ...

Madison - Republicans in the state Senate did not use talking points that told lawmakers to ignore public comments about new election maps, their leader said Tuesday. "I've never seen that and no other member of my caucus has seen that," Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said Tuesday when shown a copy of the talking points. "It wasn't put together for me." The talking points appear to have been produced in June by Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) who helped draw new election maps. The talking points said Republican lawmakers should ignore comments other...

Trial attorneys use obscure labor law that sees retailers facing millions in damages. Retail store operators may want to sit down for this one — if they can find a chair. Nearly every national chain is under legal attack in California for failing to provide “suitable seating” for cashiers and other employees who are expected to spend most of their work day on their feet. Enterprising trial attorneys by the dozen are using an obscure California labor law requiring retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Target to have enough seats on hand for their workers.

Two attorneys for the House ethics committee have been placed on indefinite “paid administrative leave” stemming from serious problems within the secretive panel. Morgan Kim, the deputy chief counsel and the lead attorney on the case of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is one of the attorneys placed on leave, said several sources familiar with the controversy. Stacy Sovereign, another committee lawyer, was also put on leave, these sources said. Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign on Nov. 19, but was unable to do so.

2 House ethics attorneys suspendedBy JOHN BRESNAHAN Updated: 11/30/10 9:21 PM EST Two attorneys for the House ethics committee have been placed on indefinite “paid administrative leave” stemming from serious problems within the secretive panel. Morgan Kim, the deputy chief counsel and the lead attorney on the case of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), is one of the attorneys placed on leave, said several sources familiar with the controversy. Stacy Sovereign, another committee lawyer, was also put on leave, these sources said. Blake Chisam, the chief counsel and staff director for the ethics panel, initially sought to fire Kim and Sovereign...

Judicial Watch has filed suit against the Department of Justice for failure to respond lawfully to the non-profit watchdog group's Freedom of Information Act request for documents concerning the government's policy of giving funds from settlements obtained in civil right discrimination suits to outside groups with no connection to the cases. ~snip~ Judicial Watch's FOIAs were sparked by two cases in which the government directed millions of dollars from settlement funds to groups with no official link to the cases. In the first case, a California landlord was accused of discrimination by prospective Korean tenants. The landlord denied the charges,...

The state of Arizona executed a convicted murderer on Tuesday night despite objections from attorneys that the state would use a non-approved drug from overseas for the lethal injection. Just hours before Jeffrey Landrigan's death, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to lift a stay issued by a federal judge to halt the execution. "There is no evidence in the record to suggest that the drug obtained from a foreign source is unsafe," the Supreme Court said Due to a U.S. shortage, the state turned to a non-FDA approved drug. It was later revealed that the source was the U.K., although...

Bankers are facing new rules over bonus payments. Within hedge funds there has been a move away from the previously entrenched "two and 20" system; and financial advisers are moving towards a fee-based, rather than transactional, model as a result of the Retail Distribution Review. It might seem an odd statement from the chief executive of one of the world's largest law firms, but the legal profession is well behind the curve; lawyers and legal firms need to evolve and embrace the changed market conditions. While there will remain some circumstances where the billable hour is justified, my firm conviction...

Note: The following text is a quote: www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/seniors-across-america-host-local-meetings-participate-health-care-tele-town-hall-m Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 07, 2010 Seniors Across America to Host Local Meetings, Participate in Health Care Tele-Town Hall Meeting with President Obama Senior Obama Administration Officials to Attend Local Meetings WASHINGTON—On Tuesday morning, senior citizens across the country will gather at a series of local meetings to participate via phone in a national tele-town hall meeting on the Affordable Care Act with President Barack Obama. Additionally, more than a dozen senior Obama Administration officials will...

In late breaking news this evening after the historic passage of Obamacare through the House of Representatives by Democrats over bipartisan opposition, many state attorneys general held a conference call in which it was decided that they would file a multi-state suit alleging the newly-passed Obamacare is unconstitutional immediately after President Barack Obama signs the act, which is expected on early next week. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott broke the news on his Facebook page: Just got off the AG conference call. We agreed that a multi-state lawsuit would send the strongest signal. We plan to file the moment Obama...

Numerous Republican state attorneys general announced Friday that they are prepping to file a federal lawsuit protesting the so-called “deem and pass” procedural maneuver and coverage mandates in the health care bill. Democrats regard these threats as stunts designed to scare off votes as the House approaches a vote on health care. Attorneys General Henry McMaster of South Carolina – who is head of a group of 19 GOP attorneys general that started threatening lawsuits in December – and Bill McCollum of Florida said Friday that they are planning legal action over a deal struck between Senate leadership and Sen....

When the ABA gathers for its annual meeting in Chicago on July 30, the organization's board of governors will weigh a key question: How does the association get membership climbing again? The board will receive a presentation from its marketing consultant Leo Burnett Co. Inc., which was hired in March to aid in spreading the ABA's message to more lawyers. The association has never pursued a marketing effort of this magnitude, said current ABA President H. Thomas Wells Jr. **** The recession, expansion of law firms, rise in industry competition and controversy regarding the judicial review process have conspired to...

It has come to my attention that there have been allegations that conservatives hate the idea of legal aid and indignant defense. Allegations that the republican party wants to prevent the poor who can't afford a lawyer from getting one when they are accused of a crime or suffer civil injustice or whatever. Thoughts of a poor single black mother wrongfully accused in a court with rich plaintiffs with 7 digit salary attorneys all alone against a complicated legal system also come to mind. Relax. It isn't true. In fact it has been found in some cases to be the...

CAMDEN, New Jersey (Reuters) – Five Muslim men accused of planning an attack on a U.S. army base had no intention of following through even though they shared Muslim anger toward America after September 11, defense attorneys said on Tuesday. The men, all born outside the United States, plotted but did not execute an attack on Fort Dix in New Jersey and discussed attacks on other installations including Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia, prosecutors say. They were arrested in May 2007 and face life in prison if convicted. In closing arguments after...

Sen. Ted Stevens’s legal team and federal prosecutors traded sharp barbs Friday, with the defense accusing the Justice Department of “gamesmanship” and the government arguing that the Alaska Republican was seeking special treatment in the case. In an emergency motion filed Friday morning to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, defense attorney Robert Cary complained that the more than 1,000 potential trial exhibits that the government submitted Thursday night would cost them “multiple days merely to identify the exhibits the government would use against [Stevens].” He said that the electronic format made it nearly impossible for the...

Swearing, after-hours drinking part of staff culture Sunday, April 27, 2008 3:34 AM By James Nash and Alan Johnson THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say.Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann cultivates a casual work atmosphere, employees say. John Estheimer remembers it as the strangest job interview of his 30-year career. Trying out for the position of Attorney General Marc Dann's personal assistant in February, Estheimer said the Dann aides who interviewed him kept coming back to the question of whether he could tolerate an atmosphere of frequent vulgarity and sharp elbows. During...

The thing is, Eliot Spitzer is a crook. I’m not referring to the current prostitution scandal. I’m not referring to the scandal last year involving his senior aides and the leaking of confidential police information to the Albany Times Union. I’m not referring to the threatening phone call he made to the august John Whitehead, retired head of Goldman Sachs, who had the temerity to question a case Spitzer was building against an old friend of Whitehead’s. I’m referring to his conduct dating back to 1994, when he designed a complex scheme involving loans and real estate and collateralized apartments to evade...

Attorney-Client Privelege Kept Them From Speaking Up Before Man Spent 26 Years In Prison Alton Logan has spent the last 26 years in jail on a murder conviction that's now being called into question. Two local attorneys kept a secret for more than a quarter of a century. They knew about a wrongful conviction, but could not say anything. CBS 2's Dorothy Tucker reports they finally told their story on "60 Minutes" Sunday night, and went to court Monday. Alton Logan has spent 26 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. In 1983 he was wrongly convicted of...

The federal investigation into the firing of nine U.S. attorneys could jolt the political landscape ahead of the November elections, according to several people close to the inquiry. Washington’s attention has been diverted from the scandal since the August resignation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general, and has focused instead on Democrats’ efforts to hold White House officials in contempt for ignoring congressional subpoenas to testify on Capitol Hill about the firings. But recent behind-the-scenes activity in several investigations suggests that the issue that roiled Congress in 2007 could re-emerge in the heat of the election year. Two inquiries by...