Free Republic

It didn’t take long for Michael McCrum to become a bull’s-eye for Republicans outraged by the felony charges against Gov. Rick Perry. But those who know the 57-year-old McCrum say the sweeping partisan attacks against him won’t stick. As the special prosecutor in the Perry case, McCrum is a veteran attorney — and former cop in Dallas and Arlington — who’s been on both sides in legal skirmishes. He’s got plenty of fans, both Democrats and Republicans. And his political leanings largely are muted. -snip McCrum, in announcing the indictment Friday, dismissed the notion that the Perry investigation was driven by...

Haidar previously charged with making threatening calls to gun company ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, N.C. —A man was jailed under a $1 million bond after deputies allege he threatened to kill a Triad judge who held him in contempt Wednesday. Jihad Abou Haidar, 39, of Monroe, had appeared in Rockingham County District Court on charges of making threatening and harassing phone calls to Remington Arms in Mayodan August 23. Haidar bought a gun from Remington Arms in Mayodan and claimed there was a problem with it, said Deputy Kevin Suthard. When the manufacturer examined the gun and found no problems, Haidar then...

Most lawyers trying a case abide by the maxim: Don’t piss off the judge. President Obama disregarded that when he lectured the Supreme Court not to overturn the health care law. Indirectly the President was challenging the entire judiciary and it struck a raw nerve with Judge Jerry Smith, of the 5th Circuit Appeals Court. Judge Smith had, less than two years earlier rejected, in a 2 to 1 decision, the Interior Department request to stay a lower court order lifting the offshore drilling moratorium (Hornbeck Offshore Services LLC v. Salazar) – thus requiring the moratorium lifted. In one of...

President Obama, employing his strongest language to date on the Supreme Court review of the federal health care overhaul, cautioned the court Monday against overturning the law -- while repeatedly saying he's "confident" it will be upheld.

[snip]...Jablonski remained true to his word -- neither he nor Obama showed up for the January 26 hearing. I noted last week that Obama was not scheduled to be anywhere near Atlanta on the date of the hearing, although I had wondered if still, perhaps, Georgia might be on his mind. According to reports in the blogosphere, the president's schedule on the morning of the 26th was open, and according to an unnamed source, Obama watched the live feed of the hearings. Perhaps Obama, as well as the several mainstream media news outlets I spotted at the hearing, were merely...

It’s an effort already rejected by one judge, but Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas is trying again to avoid paying the legal fees of defendants that defeat Righthaven in court. In court filings Saturday in Denver, Righthaven asked Senior U.S. District Judge John Kane to put six of its copyright infringement cases there on hold, rather than dismissing them on a summary judgment basis.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar appears today before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. He will hopefully answer questions about his refusal to allow deepwater drilling to resume in the Gulf of Mexico, despite a federal judge twice ruling that the moratorium is illegal. The BP oil spill was a disaster, but not as big of a disaster as the moratorium that followed. The granting of exactly one drilling permit to Noble Energy this week underscores just how cynical and politicized Salazar's response has been. Last week, Salazar said that he would not bow to "political pressure" to restart...

Checks And Balances: A federal judge has told the government it can't implement ObamaCare because it's unconstitutional. Has the White House complied? No, it's knowingly breaking the law. Less than three weeks ago, U.S. District Court Judge Roger Vinson ruled from his Florida courtroom that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act violated the Constitution. No, he didn't order an injunction to shut down enforcement of the law as the plaintiffs had asked. But he did cite a previous case and note that his ruling "is the functional equivalent of an injunction." As if he anticipated the administration ignoring his...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: It appears, ladies and gentlemen, the regime is just going to ignore the judge's ruling. We go now to... Polito.. "What's the administration gonna do?"CUMMINGS: I think the administration is just going to move forward and hope for the best and hope that they get the ruling that they argue they deserve. Clearly this judge in Florida went further than anyone else did, and basically put the entire issue of the law now before the Supreme Court once the case gets there. But the Supreme Court would have had the ability to review the whole law anyway....

Levin makes an interesting point that the Federal Judge today declined to issue an injunction because he didn’t need to. ObamaCare has been declared unconstitutional and the only thing Obama can do at this point is appeal it. And if chooses not to respect the court’s decision from today and continues to implement the law, Levin says the litigants should go right back in front of the Judge and file a contempt order: (Audio at Link)

Troubled Lindsay Lohan late Wednesday protested that her controversial obscene manicure "had nothing to do with court" -- as speculation mounted that the marking could lead to a separate charge for contempt. At Tuesday's hearing, during which a sobbing Lohan was sentenced to 90 days in jail for drug and alcohol offenses, the movie star displayed a not-so-subtle message -- “f*** u” -- scrawled on her middle fingernail, made clearly visible thanks to photographers’ telephoto lenses. Lohan's choice of nail design led to a sea of speculation into the starlet's true level of remorse and could lead to a contempt...

A decorated ex-cop who claimed he tested positive for cocaine because he ingested the drug during oral sex with his girlfriend can't have his job back, a Manhattan judge has ruled. Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower last month shot down helicopter pilot Jon Goldin's attempt to overturn his April 2008 dismissal from the NYPD. Goldin, a 15-year veteran, tested positive for cocaine in October 2006 in a random drug test using hairs from his arm. Goldin's lawsuit said the cocaine in his system was the product of "passive ingestion" from performing oral sex on girlfriend Coreen McCarthy, who, once he...

Depending on where you land on this issue, this is either a judge who is abusing power by miscarrying justice, or he is a judge who absolutely rules (both figuratively and literally).I could venture out on a limb and say that opinions here probably - I say probably - break along political lines in principal.However, in this case, I think the debate should rightly focus on degree.It is certainly up for debate.Either way, this is one jurist who really doesn't take a lot of (expletive) in his courtroom.He's not quite a hanging judge, but close enough.Ohio Judge Robert Ruehlman, for...

New York state continues to tighten the screws on Barb and Steve Smith, the operators of Meadowsweet Dairy in Lodi. Over what? Over their decision to establish a herd share organized as a limited liability company, and make raw milk dairy products available exclusively to the LLC’s 120-plus shareholders. The immediate issue concerns a search warrant issued to the NY Department of Agriculture and Markets in December...Now Ag and Markets has returned to the state judge who issued the warrant, and obtained a “show cause” order as to why the Smiths shouldn’t be held in contempt of court...

They sound, at times, like two jousting lovers. You're mad at me, one says. You're paranoid, the other responds. Pretty soon, patience wanes, tempers flare. One winds up in a jail cell. Will this pair kiss and make up? Or will veteran defense attorney Herbert S. Moncier wind up back behind bars for his allegedly contemptuous encounter with Greeneville U.S. District Court Judge Ronnie Greer? The answer should come April 24, the day Greer has, after months of delay, settled on to decide if Moncier should be found in contempt of court in connection with a January closed-door hearing. It's...

SAN FRANCISCO - A freelance videographer who's been imprisoned for five months for refusing to turn over his footage of a 2005 protest lost another bid for release. Joshua Wolf, 24, was held in contempt of court after being subpoenaed by a San Francisco federal grand jury investigating a G-8 summit protest where anarchists were suspected of vandalizing a police car and one city officer suffered a fractured skull. Wolf refused to hand over 30 minutes of unpublished footage of the protest and was ordered jailed in August. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and U.S. District Judge William...

This Friday, Eve Burton and other members of the Hearst Corporation's legal team are scheduled to file an appeal in federal court. They are trying to preven Chronicle reporters, Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, from going to prison for up to 18 months for refusing to disclose their sources who leaked grand jury testimony in the Balco case. "The government is apparently willing to spend three years and millions of dollars putting two reporters in jail, Burton tells the New York Times in today's edition."They won't get the information they want. These guys made a promise and they are going...

A dispute between the Justice Department and The Chronicle over the use of grand jury testimony in stories about athletes' steroid use will come to a showdown today in a San Francisco federal courtroom. Federal prosecutors will ask a judge to order reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams to reveal who leaked star players' admissions that they had taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. The reporters and the newspaper have also been served with subpoenas for grand jury transcripts and any documents that would reveal the source or sources. If the judge refuses to dismiss the subpoenas and orders the reporters to...

< snip > A day after tearfully apologizing for murdering Louis Karamas Jr. and successfully begging a jury to spare his life, Jerome Carter clutched a Bible in one manacled hand and with the other, raised his middle finger at Karamas' sobbing parents and sister. Defiant to the end on Wednesday, Carter taunted the Karamases, threatened a key state's witness and swore at the Cuyahoga County judge who imposed a sentence of life in prison without parole. < /snip > < snip > Carter, 34, and two of the victim's former co-workers kidnapped Karamas in Akron and drove with him...

The suspension of Bill Clinton's law license ends next month. The web page showing his suspension is pasted below - or click the Source link to see the original.