Justice

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Thad
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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Thu Jun 27, 2019 11:08 am

pacobird wrote:Anyway, it could mean a variety of things, ranging from good to extremely good. On the merely "good" end, it's just affirming the lower court, saying that race cannot be a primary factor in redistricting without triggering strict scrutiny. The "extremely good" (or at least really disrupting) take is the interpretation that redistricting based on party politics cannot use race as a factor at all without triggering strict scrutiny. Given than African Americans are a 90/10 split in favor of Democrats, no party-based redistricting is going to happen in any state African American people live in any significant number without considering race, meaning this decision effectively kills gerrymandering.

No such luck. SCOTUS ruled today that partisan gerrymandering is not a matter for the federal courts. I haven't read the ruling or much analysis so I'm not sure what its effect will be on future racial gerrymandering cases, but knowing this Court I suspect that unless there's clear evidence of intentional racial motivation, it's not likely to throw out any more racial gerrymanders.

On the plus side, the citizenship question may not make it onto the census. While the Court ruled that a citizenship question could be permissible, it also ruled (with Roberts as swing justice) that Commerce's existing justification for it doesn't fly, and it's going to have to present a new one.

So the question now is whether Commerce can produce a justification that will survive another challenge, and for all that to happen before the census forms are printed. On the one hand, the Administration is incompetent and poorly organized; on the other, it's very good at racial discrimination. We'll see what happens.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Thu Aug 27, 2020 2:05 pm

Ken White's blogging again, at popehat.substack.com.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Mon Jan 04, 2021 6:01 pm

UK blocks Assange extradition on the grounds that American jails are inhumane, and the likely result of extradition would be solitary confinement leading to his eventual suicide.

Mixed feelings about this one. It's a good result, because US jails really are inhumane, but I don't think it's a good ruling, because it rejects his free-press arguments. As I noted back in May, "Assange is scum, but it's not difficult to imagine scenarios where these types of charges could be used against journalists and publishers who aren't scum."

Appeals to come.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Thu May 27, 2021 5:30 pm

Scientology’s secrets spill into open in Danny Masterson rape case

CW: Describes rapes and coverups. The section quoted below is more general, and does not describe the specifics of the allegations.

The focus on Scientology during the preliminary hearing, which stretched over four days and included lengthy discussions of internal church texts and doctrine, wasn’t lost on Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charlaine Olmedo.

In ruling that there was sufficient evidence against Masterson to allow the case to proceed toward trial, Olmedo concluded Scientology has “an expressly written doctrine” that “not only discourages, but prohibits” its members from reporting one another to law enforcement. The policy explained why several of the women did not report Masterson’s alleged crimes to the police for more than a decade, the judge found.

It was a type of public dissection that is unusual for the insular, enigmatic institution. The church, which counts a number of high-profile actors among its parishioners and operates a “Celebrity Centre” in the heart of Hollywood, has long been accused of going to extraordinary lengths to keep criminal allegations and other claims of wrongdoing in-house, experts said.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:48 am

Missouri Attorney General’s Office pushes to keep innocent people in prison

In one exchange, Justice Laura Denvir Stith asked Assistant Attorney General Frank Jung, “Are you suggesting … even if we find that Mr. Amrine is actually innocent, he should be executed?”

“That is correct, your honor,” Jung said.

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Re: Justice

Postby Büge » Thu Jul 29, 2021 7:32 pm

Thad wrote:Missouri Attorney General’s Office pushes to keep innocent people in prison

In one exchange, Justice Laura Denvir Stith asked Assistant Attorney General Frank Jung, “Are you suggesting … even if we find that Mr. Amrine is actually innocent, he should be executed?”

“That is correct, your honor,” Jung said.


I never thought they'd try to turn a Katie Tiedrich comic into jurisprudence.
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Re: Justice

Postby mharr » Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:11 pm

I'd be interested to hear Mr Jung's reasons for arbitrarily executing Mr Amrine as opposed to, for example, himself. Seems like the latter would be more beneficial to the average taxpayer.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Fri Jul 30, 2021 11:49 am

Nah. Executions are a gigantic waste of taxpayer money.

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Re: Justice

Postby KingRoyal » Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:18 pm

So is Frank Jung.
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Re: Justice

Postby Grath » Fri Jul 30, 2021 3:35 pm

Thad wrote:Nah. Executions are a gigantic waste of taxpayer money.

But what if it was a DIY execution?

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Re: Justice

Postby mharr » Fri Jul 30, 2021 4:44 pm

It does seem like you could get really economic if you don't care about fiddly little details like conviction.

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Re: Justice

Postby Büge » Sat Jul 31, 2021 9:58 am

Most cops don't seem to.
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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Wed Sep 15, 2021 1:17 pm

Mistrial Declared In Backpage Founders' Trial; After DOJ Ignores Judge's Rules Regarding What It Could Present (CW: trafficking and sexual abuse)

U.S. District Judge Susan Brnovich said that the cumulative effect of the child sex trafficking references made by prosecutors in opening statements and by witnesses for the government “is something that I can’t overlook and will not overlook.”

Before the trial, the judge concluded she would allow evidence showing that people were trafficked using the site, but would not allow prosecutors to linger on the details of the abuse suffered by victims.

“It seemed the government abused that leeway,” Brnovich said. The judge said one government witness testified about being raped more than once, which raises a “whole new emotional response from people.”


This is the thing that always seems to happen with Backpage. People insist that if they just demonstrate some of the (very real and very terrible) examples of bad stuff that happened, in part, via the platform, they don't have to meet the burden of actually proving the crime at issue happened. We've seen that repeatedly -- including in the comments to our last post about Backpage and in years of coverage about the company. People highlight bad (really awful) stuff that happened because people abused the platform, and then assume they can just skip all of the important steps regarding pinning the liability on the company (and its founders).


I wasn't expecting this to end with me saying "good on Brnovich," but here we are.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Thu Sep 16, 2021 6:51 pm


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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Fri Sep 17, 2021 2:11 pm

Nearly 200 People To Be Released From Rikers Friday After Gov. Hochul Signs ‘Less Is More Act,’ Calls N.Y.’s Incarceration Rate ‘A Point Of Shame’

Under the new law, people on parole will no longer be locked up for technical violations, like missing curfew or failing a drug test.

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Tue Oct 26, 2021 3:18 pm

Op-Ed: Obstructing criminal justice reforms makes us all less safe - Los Angeles Times
Luckily, voters are recognizing that mass incarceration simply hasn’t worked. Our nation’s rate of incarceration — second to none — falls disproportionately on minorities, wastes taxpayer resources and doesn’t make us safer. The voters are bringing this understanding to the ballot box, electing a new generation of prosecutors in every corner of the country who are bringing big reforms, and big savings, to our communities.

(links not included in copy-paste)

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Mon Nov 15, 2021 1:08 pm

Alex Jones guilty in all four Sandy Hook defamation cases

A judge in Connecticut issued rulings in a fourth defamation lawsuit brought against the Infowars conspiracy theorist on Tuesday after he failed to produce evidence to support false claims the 2012 mass shooting was a hoax.

The ruling means all four lawsuits brought by the families of 10 Sandy Hook victims in Texas and Connecticut have won defamation cases against Jones.

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Re: Justice

Postby Büge » Mon Nov 15, 2021 3:27 pm

Alex Jones has been found guilty by default in all four defamation cases brought by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting tragedy.


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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Sat Nov 20, 2021 1:21 pm

Lacey/Larkin Defense Asks Judge to Release Portion of Illegally-Seized Assets

Note that FrontPage Confidential is owned by Lacey and Larkin (in case it wasn't clear from the name being a variation on "Backpage"), so this is not an impartial source. But Lemons is right; the government has seized the defendants' assets to hamstring their ability to mount a legal defense, and that's a terribly dangerous thing no matter who the target is. (It's similar to the Gawker case, where the judge refused to put a hold on Gawker paying damages, which is what bankrupted the company before it could appeal.)

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Re: Justice

Postby Thad » Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:05 pm

Verdicts are in in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial. Travis McMichael guilty on all nine counts, Gregory McMichael guilty on eight, William Bryan guilty on six.

COUNT l – MALICE MURDER, O.C.G.A. 16-5-1

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Not Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Not Guilty

COUNT 2 – FELONY MURDER, O.C.G.A. 16-5-1 – Aggravated Assault

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Not Guilty

COUNT 3 – FELONY MURDER, O.C.G.A. 16-5-1 – Aggravated Assault

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

COUNT 4 – FELONY MURDER, O.C.G.A. 16-5-1 – False Imprisonment

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

COUNT 5 – FELONY MURDER, O.C.G.A. 16-5-1 – Criminal Attempt to Commit False Imprisonment

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

COUNT 6 – AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, O.C.G.A. 16-5-21 – Assault with firearm, deadly weapon, to wit: a 12 gauge
shotgun

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Not Guilty

COUNT 7 – AGGRAVATED ASSAULT, O.C.G.A. 16-5-21 – Assault with a Ford F-150 pickup truck and a Chevy Silverado pickup truck

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

COUNT 8 – FALSE IMPRISONMENT, O.C.G.A. 16-5-41 – Unlawfully confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery without legal authority, to wit: said accused did chase Ahmaud Arbery with a Ford F-150 pickup truck and a Chevy Silverado pickup truck through the public roadways of the Satilla Shores neighborhood and did confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery on Holmes Drive using said pickup trucks.

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

COUNT 9 – CRIMINAL ATTEMPT TO COMMIT A FELONY, O.C.G.A. 16-4-1 – In violation of the personal liberty of Ahmaud Arbery, unlawfully chase Ahmaud Arbery through the public roadways of the Satilla Shores neighborhood in pickup trucks and did attempt to confine and detain Ahmaud Arbery without legal authority on Burford Drive using a Ford F-150 pickup truck and a Chevy Silverado pickup truck.

TRAVIS MCMICHAEL Guilty
GREG MCMICHAEL Guilty
WILLIAM R BRYAN Guilty

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