Up to Holder: Advisers to President Barack Obama went on the Sunday shows this weekend to reiterate that he is not the prosecutor-in-chief. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. will make decisions on whom to prosecute if anyone in connection with the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, the advisers said. The Washington Post has a look at their comments.
Banking Diplomacy: The president of Switzerland has asked Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to drop a lawsuit led by the Justice Department seeking to force UBS to turn over clients’ names, The New York Times reports, citing a Swiss government official. The newspaper also cites a “senior person briefed on the matter” who says the Justice Department is unlikely to scale back or drop its case against UBS.
Voting Act Pushback: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on an amicus brief filed by Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, a Republican, in the Voting Rights Act case to be heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Perdue says the state has changed since 1965 and should not longer be subject to the act’s restrictions. The newspaper says that Anne Lewis, deputy counsel for the state GOP, wrote the brief after Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, a Democrat and an African-American, refused.
Dissolution Fallout: Former employees of Heller Ehrman have sued at least 179 former partners, including former Chairman Matthew Larrabee, demanding they fork over $32 million for the largest group of creditors in the defunct firm’s bankruptcy. The Recorder reports via Law.com that Heller’s 800-plus former employees say they are owed accrued vacation and severance as guaranteed by the firm’s policies, the 60-day notice required by federal and California law, and penalties for failure to give that notice.
Juvenile No Longer: Over the weekend, The New York Times profiled Donald Schmidt, who at 37 is the oldest defendant ever in California’s juvenile justice system. He cannot be transferred to an adult facility because of a rarely invoked state code that allows continued detention if a jury finds the inmate has a “mental disorder, defect or abnormality that causes the person to have serious difficulty controlling his or her dangerous behavior.”
As we prepare for the Obama Administration and Congress to consider judicial appointments, we the people-irrespective of political party or being independent, must recall that "[p]ower is the great evil with which we are contending. We have divided power between three branches of government and erected checks and balances to prevent abuse of power. However, where is the check on the power of the judiciary? If we fail to check the power of the judiciary, I predict that we will eventually live under judicial tyranny." - Patrick Henry
Posted by: Isidoro Rodriguez, Esq. | May 01, 2009 at 10:01 AM