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Gingrich assails judges as he courts conservatives
Lawyer News |
2011/12/20 10:20
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As he works to rev up his conservative base in Iowa with just two weeks to go until the state's caucuses, Newt Gingrich is launching a full-throated assault on a reliable GOP target: judges.
There is little love for the judicial branch among the Republicans seeking the White House. But Gingrich's ridicule has been, by far, the sharpest and the loudest. And it's taken a central role as his campaign struggles to stay atop polls in Iowa, a state where irate social conservatives ousted three judges who legalized same-sex marriage.
I commend the people of Iowa for sending a strong signal that when judges overreach that they can find a new job, Gingrich told about 200 supporters who turned out to hear him speak in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday.
Gingrich has suggested that judges who issue what he termed radical rulings out of step with mainstream American values should be subpoenaed before Congress to explain themselves before facing possible impeachment. As president, he said, he'd consider dispatching U.S. marshals to round up judges who refuse to show voluntarily. In extreme cases, whole courts could be eliminated.
In the final debate before voters weigh in at the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, Gingrich called the courts grotesquely dictatorial. He cast the fight in stark religious terms reminiscent of the culture wars, in which a secular, legal elite was encroaching on religious liberties.
The targets of Gingrich's strongest derision: the West Coast's 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a perennial punching bag for the right, and a federal judge in Texas who banned prayer in a public school. |
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9th Circuit appeals court Judge Pamela Rymer dies
Lawyer News |
2011/09/23 02:13
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Judge Pamela Rymer of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has died after a years-long battle with cancer.
The federal court on Thursday announced the passing of the 70-year-old Rymer, who had been in failing health in recent months. The court says Rymer was diagnosed with cancer in 2009 and died Wednesday with friends at her bedside.
President Ronald Reagan first appointed Rymer to the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in 1983. President George H.W. Bush elevated her to the appeals court in 1989.
Rymer was born in Knoxville, Tenn., and raised in the San Francisco Bay area.
The court didn't list any survivors and said Rymer requested no services.
Two scholarships in her name have been established at Stanford University, where she graduated law school in 1964. |
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Noted NJ attorney Michael Cole dies at 67
Lawyer News |
2011/09/20 22:09
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Michael Cole, a noted lawyer who held several key state government positions during his long legal career, has died. He was 67.
Cole's death was announced Sunday by the Teaneck-based law firm of DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick amp; Cole, but further details were not disclosed. The Morris Township resident had been a partner with the firm for many years before recently retiring and was still serving as a counsel for them.
During his governmental career, Cole served as chief counsel to Gov. Tom Kean and also had been a first assistant Attorney General, where he handled matters ranging from school funding to gubernatorial powers to gaming regulation.
A graduate of Rutgers Law School, Cole was an attorney for more than 40 years. Among his survivors is his wife, state Supreme Court Justice Jaynee LaVecchia. |
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W.Va. lawyer nominated to federal appeals court
Lawyer News |
2011/09/09 08:38
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President Barack Obama has nominated Hamlin native Stephanie Dawn Thacker as a judge on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Thacker has been a partner in the Charleston law firm of Guthrie amp; Thomas since 2006.
Before that she spent seven years with the U.S. Department of Justice. Her work as a trial attorney there focused on prosecution and training in connection with child pornography and sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, obscenity and other offenses.
She also served as an assistant federal prosecutor and worked for the state attorney general's office.
The U.S. Senate must now consider Thacker's nomination to the Richmond, Va.-based court. The seat became vacant after the March death of Judge Blane Michael.
The 15-member court covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. |
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Brockport man guilty of shooting deputy in leg
Lawyer News |
2011/09/05 09:33
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A Monroe County man has been convicted of shooting a sheriff’s deputy in the leg but acquitted of assault for wounding a neighbor while high on alcohol and drugs.
A jury convicted 44-year-old Scott Pescara on Friday of attempted aggravated assault on a police officer and related charges.
Authorities say Pescara randomly fired dozens of rounds from his house in Sweden in January 2010, hitting a woman across the street in the shoulder and a responding officer, Monroe County Deputy Jonathan Strong. Neither was seriously hurt.
Pescara blamed his estranged wife for driving him to drink gin and take prescription pills. The defense argued he was too intoxicated to intentionally shoot anyone. |
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NYC lawyer pleads guilty to tax charge
Lawyer News |
2011/08/04 09:05
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A lawyer has pleaded guilty to not paying taxes on nearly $11 million in income while working at a major Wall Street law firm.
John O'Brien entered the plea Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.
The government had accused the 48-year-old O'Brien of failing to pay $2.5 million taxes on $10.8 million in income from 2001 to 2008. They say during that time, he splurged on a weekend home, international travel and a rare book business.
Prosecutors say O'Brien has agreed to pay $2.8 million in back taxes and interest. At his Nov. 16 sentencing, he faces a maximum of four years in prison, though the term will probably be shorter under sentencing guidelines. |
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