Free Republic

Full title: Thomas Cooley, President of American Bar Association in 1893: on Religion, 2nd Amendment, Local Control of Government The dean of the University of Michigan Law School was Thomas McIntyre Cooley, who died SEPTEMBER 12, 1898. Thomas M. Cooley was: Chief Justice of Michigan's Supreme Court (1864-1885), President of the American Bar Association (1893-1894), and the first Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission (1887). Thomas Cooley's commentaries were influential in shaping American law. He declined offers to teach at: Hastings College of Law, University of Texas, Johns Hopkins University, Boston Law School, University of Pennsylvania and Cornell Law School....

California's death penalty has been in limbo since 2006, when a federal judge stayed the execution of Michael Morales, who was sentenced to death for the brutal 1981 murder and rape of 17-year-old Terri Winchell. The judge was fearful lest the state's three-drug lethal injection protocol would cause Morales undue pain. Since then, a number of states have switched to a one-drug protocol. Why hasn't California? The answer could be that Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris don't want the death penalty to work. Brown and Harris are personally opposed to the death penalty, but when they campaigned...

It’s easy to understand why Kamala Harris, California’s next attorney general, is being called the future of the Democratic Party, a rising political star in the mold of one of her big supporters — President Barack Obama. At first glance, the president and Harris have much in common: Both are mixed-race children of immigrants raised by a single mother; both are eloquent, telegenic big-city lawyers with strong liberal credentials who catapulted from relative obscurity to the national stage. And like the first African-American president, Harris has broken a long-standing barrier — she’s California’s first African-American attorney general and the first...

"Republican Steve Cooley is conceding the California attorney general's race to Kamala Harris, giving Democrats a sweep of all statewide offices."

The outcome of the still-undecided race for state attorney general could also affect the fate of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who now trails Republican Steve Cooley in their lead-changing race as thousands of late ballots are being counted, opposed Prop. 8 and backed outgoing AG Jerry Brown's decision not to defend it in court. Cooley, the Los Angeles County district attorney, said during the campaign that, if elected, he was prepared to give the ballot measure the defense it never got from the state. But Cooley probably wouldn't have a chance...

A late overnight surge in votes that carried San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris into the lead in the race for state attorney general has her campaign declaring victory today. With 100 percent of precincts reporting as of 12:39 p.m., Harris, a Democrat, led Republican Steve Cooley, the Los Angeles district attorney, 45.9 percent to 45.7 percent, according to the California Secretary of State's Office. Harris had trailed Cooley until the early morning hours. "In spite of Steve Cooley's Dewey-esque declaration of victory" late Tuesday night, a statement from Harris' campaign said, "San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will be...

The races for lieutenant governor and attorney general are too close to suggest that any candidate has a firm edge going into Tuesday's election, according to the latest Field Poll released Friday. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is hanging onto a slim five-point edge of 42 percent to 37 percent over Republican Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado. The survey also found that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley – the GOP candidate for attorney general – has dipped to a one-point lead over Democratic rival Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney. The latest survey, which was conducted Oct....

California's political watchdog agency has dismissed a complaint by Democrat Kamala Harris, candidate for attorney general, that a national Republican group is conducting an illegal $1.6 million advertising campaign against her. Harris' complained Monday that the 30-second attack ad by the Republican State Leadership Committee was required to contain a disclaimer listing their top two donors and failed to do so. The Fair Political Practices Commission tossed the complaint out Tuesday, ruling that the ad is exempt from the requirement because it is "issue advocacy" that does not specifically encourage a vote for or against a candidate. The FPPC already...

It's November 3, 2010. You think you are waking up to a sunny California morning only to realize it's a dark, dark day. Jerry Brown is governor, Gavin Newsom is lieutenant governor, Kamala Harris is attorney general, and the rest of the Democrat ticket has prevailed. California is going to be controlled by San Francisco politics. Got your attention now? Tea Party folks have brought a refreshing candor to the conservative scene, demanding from conservative candidates a return to conservative principles. But we don't live in a perfect world. And in California, we live in a deeply skewed political landscape...

I don't understand why San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris wants to be California's next attorney general. Then again, it's hard to understand why she even ran for D.A. - other than because she has a yen for elective office. She hasn't been an aggressive prosecutor. She hasn't been a competent administrator. She seems more interested in advancing liberal causes than putting bad guys behind bars. It is a sad testament to the Democratic Party that Harris is its chosen nominee to run against Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, a consummate lawman whose tenure could serve as a...

The Russians have an interesting idea on how to fight political corruption. Igor Lebedev, a party deputy for the Liberal Democrats in the Duma, the Russian Parliament, has proposed branding the hands of any government official caught taking bribes. Apparently "Liberal" in Russia is a little less liberal than Santa Monica. If Igor's law passes, sticky-fingered Russian pols would have the letter K (for krookski?) branded onto their paws. All future voters would know at the handshake to hide their wallets. I know we could never do something like this in Los Angeles because we don't have enough blacksmiths. The...

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley filed charges against eight current and former Bell officials Tuesday, alleging that they misappropriated $5.5 million in public funds. Robert Rizzo, Bell's former city manager, .. charged with 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest. The charges come after a dramatic morning in which authorities swept through Bell and other cities, arresting former and current Bell officials. Among those arrested were Rizzo; Angela Spaccia, former assistant city manager; Mayor Oscar Hernandez; councilmembers George Mirabal, Teresa Jacobo and Luis Artiga; and former councilmembers George Cole and Victor Bello. "This is...

​Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who's the Republican candidate for California Attorney General, would defend Proposition 8 in court if given the opportunity, says his campaign spokesman Kevin Spillane. "The role of the attorney general is to defend the will of the people," says Spillane. "He would defend (Prop. 8) and appeal" U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling that found the anti-gay marriage ballot measure to be unconstitutional. Spillane says Cooley considers his position on Proposition 8 to be a matter of "general policy" if he became the next attorney general, not an issue of whether or...

San Francisco bashing is about to intensify. Three Democratic politicians with strong ties to San Francisco - Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom and Kamala Harris - are engaged in tough statewide election battles and political experts say the GOP will probably seize on the city's reputation as a bastion of left-wing politics to attack them.Gubernatorial candidate Brown was born in San Francisco, served as Oakland's mayor and lives in the East Bay city while serving as the state attorney general; Newsom, vying for lieutenant governor, was born in San Francisco and is the city's mayor; and Attorney General candidate Harris was...

ASHBURN, Va. -- Washington Redskins tight end Chris Cooley apologized Monday for posting an explicit photo of himself on his Web site.

NEW YORK, NY, May 24 /PRNewswire/ - Sportsbook.com has released odds on who will win the Miss Universe competition, which will be televised live by NBC on May 30 from Bangkok, Thailand. Eight of the top ten favorites according to odds makers come from the Caribbean and the Americas, led by Renata Sone from the Dominican Republic and Cynthia Olavarria from Puerto Rico, both listed at 12-1. The US delegate, Chelsea Cooley from Charlotte, North Carolina, is a 25-1 favorite.