Legal Commentary

Dying Boy in Sleepy Eye: Parents Withholds Needed Chemotherapy From Boy on Religious Grounds

Posted on May 10, 2009
Daniel Hauser, 13, is dying of cancer and needs chemotherapy. However, his mother, Colleen Hauser of Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, is in court this week fighting the treatment on religious grounds. Hauser has Hodgkin’s lymphoma, but the family is against modern treatment on religious grounds and believes in healing cancer with herbs and vitamins ...

Dirty Dancing: Christian HIgh School Suspends Student for Attending a School Prom

Posted on May 10, 2009
Tyler Frost, 17, a senior at Heritage Christian School in Findlay, Ohio has been suspended for attending a prom with his girlfriend because the Findlay High School’s prom allowed dancing and music. This Taliban-like ruling is based on the Christian school’s policy that forbids dancing, rock music, hand holding and kissing...

Texas Man Held for 83 Days For Failure to Appear For Jury Duty

Posted on May 10, 2009
Douglas Maupin was held at the Collin County Detention Facility for 83 days for his failure to appear for jury duty. He was never allowed a lawyer during his confinement and refused information on what he was being held for. In the course of his confinement, he lost his rental home, his job and [...

?Torture Sheik? Detained in Abu Dhabi

Posted on May 10, 2009
Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammed, has been detained on allegation of torture involving as many as 25 victims. While the government clearly knew of these crimes, the incriminating videos of the torture sessions were smuggled out of the country recently [...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Reid: Torture Might Have Been Illegal But Still ?Right? Thing To Do

Posted on May 10, 2009
Christiane Brown has released an amazing audio interview with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid where he admits that waterboarding is torture and we did torture people. However, he suggests that it was “the right” thing to do and should not be punished...

Barack Obama?s Mom Posthumously Baptized As Mormon

Posted on May 10, 2009
There is a report out this week that, during 2008 Presidential campaign, Stanley Ann Dunham, Barack Obama’s mother, was posthumously baptized into the Mormon faith. The proxy rite was performed in June 2008. These rites have caused controversy in past years, particularly in the baptism of Holocaust survivors...

A Mouthful Dedication

Posted on May 10, 2009
In sympathy with Majority Leader (and GW Grad) Harry Reid’s effort to deny that there is sufficient evidence to investigate torture, I give you this picture of a similar effort by a canine representative. The key in holding opposing positions in your mouth at the same time is total flexibility...

Pelosi Changes Account On Briefing On Torture

Posted on May 09, 2009
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has issued a new statement (and explanation) after released documents appeared to contradict her earlier denials that she had ever been briefed on the use of torture. As discussed in a prior blog, Pelosi previously insisted that she was never told that these “enhanced techniques” (aka torture) were being used and [...

Lawyer Gets the Boot: Maine Attorney Charged With Criminal Mischief After Driving Off With Denver Boot on Truck

Posted on May 09, 2009
Maine Lawyer Michael Harman, 48, has been charged with criminal mischief after he pulled a Homer Simpson and decided to drive off in his truck after the police put a Denver boot on one of the wheels. Harman caused damage to both his 2000 GMC pickup and the device...

Christian College Suspends Student for Work as Gay Porn Actor

Posted on May 09, 2009
Grove City College, a Christian College in Western Pennsylvania, has suspended John Gechter, 21, for one year after a student saw him in a gay porn movie performing under the name of “Vincent DeSalvo.” It is not clear how the student came across this information...

A Picture Worth A 1000 Words . . . And One White House Job

Posted on May 09, 2009
The White House today agreed to release this one picture from the infamous buzzing of lower Manhattan — causing panic among New Yorkers. In the meantime, Louis Caldera, the head of the White House Military Office has resigned. Caldera approved the operation, which was classified for still unknown reasons and kept from the public and [...

Louisiana?s Political Shift From KKK to XXX: Adult Film Star Stormy Daniels To Run Against Sen. David Vitters

Posted on May 08, 2009
After living through statewide campaigns of former KKK leader David Duke, Louisiana is now going to consider the former XXX film star Stormy Daniels for the Senate. Daniels is running against Sen. David Vitter, who is ensnarled in his own sex scandal due to his employment of call girls at the same time that [...

George Washington Moot Court Makes The ABA Journal

Posted on May 08, 2009
Our annual Moot Court for elementary kids has made the ABA Journal! We hosted 150 6th grades from Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia this year. They sat through a trial of the three little pigs and a class on forensics led by a detective...

Three Legal Truths: The Case for The Prosecution of War Crimes By the Bush Administration

Posted on May 08, 2009
Below is today’s column in the U.S. News and World Report on the case for prosecuting torture and responding to the dwindling number of defenders of the Bush torture program: For many people around the world, it is a sign of the decline of American moral leadership that we continue to debate whether the government should [...

Proceed At Your Own Peril: Holder May Face Congressional Investigation Into His Own Role on Renditions If He Investigates Torture

Posted on May 08, 2009
Pete Williams is reporting that Republicans are threatening to expose Attorney General Eric Holder’s role in renditions during the Clinton Administration if he pursues an investigation into torture. Imagine that: raw political retaliation could finally give civil libertarians a full investigation of this country’s long-concealed abuses...

Full-Service Firm: Jury Awards Over $2 Million for Client Injured by Defective Chair in Personal Injury Law Firm

Posted on May 08, 2009
It appears that the Florida law firm of Fetterman & Associates not only litigates but spontaneously creates personal injury cases. Robert and Heather Friedrich went to the law firm in search of recovery for injuries from an accident — they found it, albeit for injuries in the law firm itself when Robert sat in [...

Report: Pelosi Knew of Use of Torture Despite Earlier Denials

Posted on May 08, 2009
Intelligence officials leaked documents to the Washington Post and ABC News last night that sharply contradict the statements of Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has denied ever being told that torture was being used on detaineees. She previously insisted that the use of waterboarding (aka torture) was only discussed in the future tense — a [...

Academic Nirvana: California Teacher Paid Full Salary and Benefits to Stay At Home For Seven Years

Posted on May 07, 2009
My life long dream was to secure tenure and gradually become a non-productive burden upon by school and colleagues — achieving that perfect deadwood state of zero productivity with maximum profitability. It appears that Matthew Kim has achieved that sacred state...

No Brainer: Two Leading Surgeons Suspended For Abandoning Patient on Operating Table

Posted on May 07, 2009
Brain Surgeons Dr. Thomas Milhorat and Dr. Paolo Bolognese at North Shore University Hospital have been suspended for roughly a month after they abandoned a patient in the operating room after she was anesthetized and prepped for brain surgery. Milhorat, 73, and Bolognese, 48, head up North Shore’s Chiari Institute, are two of the highest paid [...

Bybee Reportedly Seeking Forum to Explain His Role in the Torture Memos

Posted on May 07, 2009
While Judge Jay Bybee has declined to speak before the Senate Judiciary Committee to explain his role in the Bush torture program, he is reportedly reaching out to Nevada delegation members to find an alternative forum ?to tell his side of the story.? I will be discussing Bybee tonight on Rachel Maddow’s show...

Canadian Parliament Mandates Use of Seal Products in Olympic Uniforms

Posted on May 07, 2009
While I first thought this was an item from the Onion, it appears that the Canadian Parliament has voted to mandate that Canadian Olympic athletes should wear wear a seal product — most likely seal skin — as part of their uniforms. This is the response to the opposition by the European Union to [...

A Real Scream: Oregon Father Arrested For Having Fun By Shocking Children With Dog Collar

Posted on May 07, 2009
Todd Marcum, 41, in Oregon has been arrested for putting an electric dog collar on each of his four children and then shocking them because he “thought it was funny.” Marcum’s little game involved chasing his children - aged 3, 6, 8 and 9 - with the collar to make them cry...

El Paso Police Department Demotes Sergeant Filmed Arresting Television Crew

Posted on May 07, 2009
There is a story out this week that raises the interesting question: what does it take to be fired as a police officer in El Paso. Police Sgt. Raul Ramirez was captured on television arresting KVIA-New 7 reporter Darren Hunt and photographer Ric DuPont in April...

Miss Beautiful Morals: Saudia Arabia Holds Its Own Version of the Annual Beauty Contest

Posted on May 07, 2009
The image of women walking down the runway in burqas sound like something from a skit on Saturday Night Live, but Saudi Arabia has launched its answer to beauty contests — Miss Beautiful Morals. Beauty contests have been declared “Islamically unacceptable” so in this contest women compete for the most morally perfect women...

D.C. Passes Same-Sex Marriage ? Despite Do-Over by Marion Barry

Posted on May 06, 2009
The D.C. Council passed a same-sex marriage law unanimously this week — sort of. Ex-felon and current Councilman Marion Barry voted for the legislation only to immediately object that he did not want to vote for same-sex marriage and insisted on a new vote...

Makutu Murder: Family Charged With Manslaughter In Death of Woman During Exorcism

Posted on May 06, 2009
Nine members of a New Zealand family will stand trial for the death of Janet Moses during a gruesome exorcism rite of the Maori culture called makutu. The rite is supposed to lift a curse and involves pouring water down the throat of the subject and trying to suck the devil out of her [...

Republican Politician Calls Justice Souter a Child Molester and Goat Lover

Posted on May 06, 2009
Macon City Councilman and Internet blogger Erick Erickson has been listed as one of the 100 most influential conservatives in America (69 to be precise). He is also the editor-in-chief of the site redstate.com. Erickson is unapologetic for his postings on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, where he called the [...

Maine Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage

Posted on May 06, 2009
Maine today legalized same-sex marriage – joining D.C. this week in the historic act. Gov. John Baldacci signed a bill almost immediately after its passage. He noted that the public may still reserve the decision — as they did in California...

Serial Torturer: UAE Prince Accused of Additional Acts of Torture

Posted on May 06, 2009
Sheik Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, the brother of the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Prince Mohammed, has been accused of additional acts of torture — as many as 25 such victims. The video of one such torture session is available here. In the meantime, on our own torture controversy, the [...

Not-So-Moot Court: Jewish Students Challenge Schedule of National High School Mock Trial

Posted on May 06, 2009
The students of the National High School Mock Trial are getting some real legal exposure this year with a claim of religious discrimination filed against the organization on behalf of the Maimonides School, an Orthodox Jewish day school in Brookline, Massachusetts...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.