Archive for the Judges Category

Weaponizing The Judiciary: Democratic Prosecutors + Democratic Judges; Republican Prosecutors + Republican Judges:  Bad Math, Very Bad Math (December 4, 2023)

Posted in Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Law on December 4, 2023 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “If there are any competent ones in the future to chronicle our present, historians may consider it a bad idea.”

J          “This may be the Age of Bad Ideas.”

. . .

K          “The Democratic prosecutors have done a far more effective job teaming up with Democratic judges to prosecute Republicans.  The Republicans are vicious and ruthless enough to follow suit, yet they are clearly behind the eight ball.”

J          “Give them a chance.  They are just slow.   You know Republicans.”

K          “The courts really are political war zones.”

. . .

K          “In my more than fifty years observing the judiciary, both state and federal courts, I have watched the system degenerate into a filthy cess pool of corruption and cronyism.”

J          “Don’t lose faith.  It can get worse.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

We live in a country with many, many, many rules and many, many, many laws, but we do not live in a country that believes in or adheres to the rule of law.

You cannot get out of bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code.  In fact, and as a matter of law, you cannot stay in bed in the morning without violating some section of title 18 of the United States Code, the federal criminal code.  In practice, the United States is a system of men not laws because men and women opt from the panoply of laws that punish all behavior and decide who is and who is not imprisoned.

There is no law.  There is only ideology.

Cosby And Equality (July 12, 2021)

Posted in Courts, Judges, Race on July 12, 2021 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “We are reaching a place of racial equality in America.  Rich Black criminals are now getting treated like rich White criminals.  And getting off.”

J          “And some folks say that society does not progress.”

. . .

K          “Poor Black and Brown criminals are treated worse than poor White criminals, but all three cohorts are treated very poorly.”

J          “The poor are treated poorly.  The rich are treated richly.  By definition, the poor cannot be treated richly.”

. . .

J          “Someone may have had something on one of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justices and called in the favor or agreed to remain silent.  Cosby pays a million for the briefing and the gibberish and the song and the dance, the lawyer calls in the favor for the well–healed client.”

K          “Or one of the lawyers was on the same junior varsity lacrosse team at prep school with one of the Justices.  The favor is subtle and not actionable.  Few of you members of the public know that judges are not held to ethical standards unless they do something really, really stupid and embarrassing.  That is then called unethical.”

. . .

K          “If the resources that went into putting a guilty man on the street had been spent examining the convictions of a dozen random cases of unconnected defendants, a few innocent men likely would have been released.”

J        “Is that why the words ‘perverse’ and ‘travesty’ and ‘injustice’ are in the dictionary?”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Equality On The Bench Today (August 21, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Liberty and justice for some

The Civil Code exists to allow the rich to extract wealth from the poor; the Penal Code exists to prevent the poor from retaliating.

Lawyers And Clients: Peas In Pods; Hands In Gloves (March 22, 2021)

Posted in Courts, Judges, Law, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty on March 22, 2021 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “You tell me the name of a person’s lawyer and I will tell you about the person. The Rho is .97.

J          “You tell me the name of the person and I will tell you about the person’s lawyer. The Rho is .97.

. . .

J          “97 percent of all persons have no moral compunctions about lying or their lawyer lying on their behalf.  What does that say about lawyers?”

K          “What does that say about 97 percent of all persons?”

. . .

K          “Pea in pod.”

J          “Hand in glove.”

. . .

[See the conversation more than eight years ago between the “Lawyer” and the “Client” in the e-commentary at “Assigning Blame: The Lawyers: 50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public: 50 Percent; The Judges: 100 Percent (December 3, 2012)” and the e-commentary more than fifteen years ago on perjury – the backbone of the American legal system – at “Perjury, The American Way (February 20, 2006)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Where are the judges?

The Power Of Small Thinking (March 12, 2018)

Posted in Courts, Education, Judges, Peoplocene Age, Plastic, Schooling, Society on March 12, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Decade in and decade out in every venue from academia to the courts, when big thinking confronts the typical small thinking individual or institution, small thinking almost always emerges.”

J          “C’est la life.  If there is no money in big thinking and buckets of money in small thinking, then small thinking prevails.  It is the first law of societal thermo-economico-dynamics.”

. . .

[Plastics continue to plague the planet.  See “Saving the albatross: ‘The war is against plastic and they are casualties on the frontline’” in “The Guardian” by Anna Turns dated March 12, 2018.  Time to think big.  See the e-commentary at “Living In The “Peoplocene Age”.  The Inconvenient Truth:  Renewable Energy Is Not Sustainable; The Population Must Be Restrainable.  (December 12, 2016)”.]

[See the e-commentary at “On Merit and the Meritocracy (January 11, 2010)”, “On Standards & Quality (July 20, 2015)”, “‘You Can’t Be Smarter’ (August 10, 2015)”, “Federal Judges:  Institutionalized Bullying (September 18, 2017)”, “Arctic High School Court (May 23, 2016)”, “The Ninth Circuit:  Two-Tiered ‘Just-Us’ Review (February 13, 2017)”, “The Paradox Of The Republican Federal Judge:  Republican Federal Judge Syndrome (September 23, 2013)”, “MPP / MPA:   Are They Really Masters?  (November 13, 2107)”, “So Many Words, So Few Ideas (September 21, 2009)”, “Skip the Nobel in Economics? (October 5, 2009)” and “How To Run A Newspaper (February 8, 2016)”.)

Bumper stickers of the week:

BIG THINKING in -> small thinking individual or institution -> small thinking out

e-commentary:  BTI -> BTO (BTU?)

Competency is so overrated.

“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”  Upton Sinclair

“When small men begin to cast big shadows, it mean that the sun is about to set.”  Lin Yutang

Think big, think long.

Second Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 16, 2017)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Constitution, Courts, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Justice, Law, Law School, Noble Prize in Jurisprudence on October 16, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “A prize dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the work of someone who really knows something about jurisprudence and the impact of courts, judges, lawyers and police on the lives and livelihood of ordinary citizens.  Someone who lives the conviction that men and women should establish and respect some norms and standards that are promulgated clearly to all and enforced equally in favor of and against all.”

J          “The law schools are vacuous deserts of inbreeding and infighting that gestate little legal gamesters.  The bench is a magnet for wankers who played the legal game profitably and perpetuate the racket for the benefit of the judges and a few lawyers.  Is anyone qualified in America?  Is someone outside American eligible?  Give the nod to another underappreciated and overworked public defender who somehow manages to make a difference.”

K          “They were included within the group of individuals acknowledged and celebrated last year.  The recipient of the second annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence . . . is John W. Whitehead and the Rutherford Institute for his and its dedication to the protection and defense of civil liberties and human rights.  He and the Institute are indeed public defenders of law and policy who have made and are making a difference.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “First Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 17, 2016)” and “Award Deadlines (Livelines?) (July 25, 2016)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

I wasn’t using my civil liberties anyway

Five Red Rich Republican “Catholic” Corporatist “White” Boys . . . Versus . . .  Four Blue Comfortable Democratic “Jewish” Individualist White “Girls” . . . And All By-Products Of The S.I.C.  (October 2, 2017)

Posted in Courts, First Monday In October, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Justice, Kleptocracy, Law, Schooling Industrial Complex, Supreme Court, Technology on October 2, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “They . . . are . . . back.”

J          “And now a majority does not have our back.”

K          “They are now poised to foist the burdens of existence on the backs of the common man.”

. . .

J          “That is the common thread.  They are all by-products of the S.I.C.”

K          “We need different products, by and by.”

J          “The common thread is that they responded to or rejected the conventional doctrine at the same narrow-minded indoctrinating institutions of the Schooling Industrial Complex (SIC).”

K          “What no one seems to get because no one seems to know and no one seems to care is that scrounging up Supreme Court Justices from the pool of Federal Appellate Court Judges is drawing the worst from the worst.”

J          “I agree.  But no one knows and no one cares.”

. . .

K          “Gorsuch may be a phenotypic Episcopalian, but he is at core a genotypic Catholic.  Thomas acquired deep scars on his journey to ‘Whitehood’ and acceptance and is also a congenital Catholic.  Breyer is intellectually female.  Sotomayor is a secular Jew.  The chasm between the five red rich Republican ‘Catholic’ corporatist ‘white’ boys and the four blue comfortable Democratic ‘Jewish’ individualist white ‘girls’ on the Supreme Court is stark and unprecedented in American history.”

J          “The country believed that it needed to get over and move beyond a debate that arose around Kennedy and his Catholicism that now cannot be raised or even intimated.”

K          “John not Tony.”

J          “John and Tony.  A person simply cannot pledge fealty and loyalty to Rome and to the U.S. Constitution.  Period.”

. . .

K          “To describe it as a war between those who want to ‘Immanentize The Eschaton’ and those who do not want to let others ‘Immanentize The Eschaton’ is too blatant for polite company.  Better to be more discrete and intimate that a group of five is quietly and surreptitiously imposing its religion as the national religion in America.”

J          “What troubles me is that the ‘Immanentize The Eschaton’ wing of the Catholics did not get a foot hold or even one lobbyist on the Court.” 

K          “What if the Court granted the current Pope the right to file an amicus curiae brief in every case?  The current Pope is a member of the ‘Immanentize The Eschaton’ wing.  Would the Supremes be obligated to listen?  To follow without question or hesitation?  That may not be so bad.”

. . .

K          “The Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology is to be announced today.  In the next few decades, the person who proves that an individual is born with the ‘I’ Gene or with the ‘We’ Gene may receive a much deserved Nobel.  At heart, 4.5 Justices have the ‘I’ Gene and 4.5 Justices have the ‘We’ Gene.  Kennedy may still have a heart and a soul and a recessive ‘We’ Gene.”

J          “Tony not John.  The helicopter beanie folks are developing AI (Artificial Intelligence).  They may need to develop AI (Artificial Ignorance) to substitute for the poor decisions and worse judgment of the judges and justices in America.  That is more of a challenge than anyone has contemplated.”

K          “A typical judge pays attention to a high profile case, dismisses the other cases and goes home.  The naïve engineers may not recognize that reality and instead create a sophisticated Digital Decision Device (DDD) that marshals the facts, discerns the law, finds truth, and does justice.”

J          “Unprecedented.  One can only hope.”

. . .

K          “The Supremes are deciding whether we live in a democracy or an oligopoly/kleptocracy in the context of a scam named after Governor Gerry.  The majority on the court owes their jobs to a broken political system and is not likely to fix it.”

J          “The privacy issues turn on whether each Justice personally feels threatened by the changes brought by technology not whether the ordinary person is threatened.”           

. . .

K          “The nascent thought is growing that the Supremes lack legitimacy and accountability in America.  Only the power they exercise that derives from the sword and purse maintains their dominion and domination.”

J          “They have transformed into a lobbying institution on First Street rather than on K Street with the disturbing ability to send out storm troopers to enforce their edicts.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “The ‘I’ Gene; The ‘We’ Gene:  Searching For The Genie In All Of Us (April 3, 2017)”, “Immanentizing The Eschaton: Your Supreme Court And The Great Religious War (October 7, 2013)”, “Adjunktification” In The S.I.C. (Schooling Industrial Complex) (March 13, 2017)”, “One Gun Per White Adult Male? A Flintlock Musket? The “One Man, One Gun” Decision (October 4, 2010)”, “Are Courts Irrelevant? Are Courts Illegitimate? (October 3, 2011)” and “The Supreme Court – Unrepresentative And Illegitimate: The 33.3 Percent Solution (October 1, 2012) and the “First Monday In October” e-commentary in 2014, 2015 and 2016.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

There is no law; there is only ideology

Fall falling; leaves leaving; winter winning

Federal Judges: Institutionalized Bullying (September 18, 2017)

Posted in Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Law, Law School, On [Traits/Characteristics] on September 18, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

L1        “I pursued law to protect the kids from the bullies and discovered to my horror that the bullies are on the bench.”

L2        “Me too.  The legal system is not failing, it is failed.”

. . .

L1        “The Federal Courts are the House of Lords.  The state courts are the House of Commons.  The Federal Courts serve the interests of the U.S. government and the well-to-do/the well-connected and address a few high profile and sexy cases.  The state courts offer occasional relief to the common man.  The racket is also known as ‘Federalism’ in American law.  Charming system.”

L2        “The process is aided and abetted by selecting bullies from the bar to serve as Federal Judges.  The carefully calibrated system of checks and balances rewards those least fit and places them in power.”

L1        “In one case, the lawyer who had been bullied as a little boy spent day and night building the network and contacts to get the Federal Judgeship.  I warned a few of the kids who threw snow balls at him as he stood in line waiting for the yellow Blue Bird to land muttering to himself ‘Someday I will be a Federal Judge, someday I will be a Federal Judge, someday I will be a Federal Judge’.  He did what needed to be done to get into a profitable law school and then got the Federal Judgeship.  He now peers out from his perch at all the kids who threw snow balls at someone they did regard as a peer.  He got and is getting his revenge.  Not by challenging the bullies but by becoming a bully.”

L2        “No surprise.  Bullies were bullied.  It is contagious.”

. . .

L1        “Imagine if you could look up at him – while privately looking down on him – and say ‘How about you and me step outside big boy and handle this like real men?’”

L2        “Bullies need to be confronted.  But for simply challenging a bully, the wimp could unleash his enforcers from the U.S. Marshal’s Service and after roughing you up issue you a ticket to Florence.”

L1        “Now that is not such a bad outcome, really.  Tuscany is beautiful this time of year.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “SCOTUS on TV:  ‘They Might Not Be Such Bastards’ (March 26, 2012)”, “The Paradox Of The Republican Federal Judge:  Republican Federal Judge Syndrome (September 23, 2013)”, “Assigning Blame:  The Lawyers:  50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public:  50 Percent; The Judges:  100 Percent (December 3, 2012)”, “Arctic High School Court (May 23, 2016)” and “The Ninth Circuit:  Two-Tiered ‘Just-Us’ Review (February 13, 2017)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

September 17 – Have a happy Constitution Day

Equality On The Bench Today (August 21, 2017)

Posted in Courts, Equal Protection, Gender, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Race on August 21, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The courts today are shining sterling models of equality and opportunity.  The female judges, the black judges, the brown judges, the red judges, the yellow judges, and the azul judges are now just as inept, arrogant and indifferent – no less and no more – as the white judges.”

J          “Now that is progress we can get behind.  Our society – at least the court system – has moved into a ‘post-identity’ politics world.  Will the Democrats get the message and get it?”

. . .

[Richard “Dick” Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017)]

Bumper sticker of the week:

The “Just-Us” System

Honesty And Efficiency . . . In Life And Law (July 31, 2017)

Posted in Courts, Economics, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, On [Traits/Characteristics], Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Truth on July 31, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .    

K          “Economists are indifferent to honesty yet revere efficiency as a fetish.  Look at how inefficient the practice and pursuit of dishonesty is in our daily lives.  I have enough experience and am confident that one out of every ten of her statements is false.  Confirming the veracity of her statements consumes resources, both in time and money.  Of her ten statements, which one is false?  The seventh statement?  The second statement?  The fifth statement is the one in the middle and surely must be false.  Surely.  Probably.  Possibly.  Likely.”

J          “If you cannot rely on the veracity of every statement, then you cannot rely on the veracity of any statement.”

K          “The dilemma.  The expensive dilemma.  After nine honest statements, the next statement must be a lie.  Then, if or when it is a lie, can I rely on the next nine statements as truth?  However, the very next statement may be a lie followed perhaps by nine honest statements.”

J          “They are right.  Inefficiency is so inefficient.”

. . .     

K          “I have seen the handiwork of a judge who probably is not a fundamentally dishonest person who nonetheless wrote at least one blatantly dishonest decision.  He could not know.  And I know the truth, the facts and the law.  If that is the only data, is the judge accurately characterized as dishonest?”

J          “If someone is dishonest only ten percent of the time, is the person honest?”

. . .

J          “Joe DiMaggio said ‘There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.’  The judge did not care that you would only be seeing him once.”   

K          “And no camera lights were on him to keep him honest.”

J          “When you get right down to it, someone who is dishonest only ten percent of the time is presumptively dishonest.”

K          “Challenging the presumption is expensive, both in time and money.  Over the decades I have discovered that judges, all on the public payroll in America, are more dishonest more of the time than any other profession except real estate agents and used car salesmen.”   

J          “They are in the private sector and are expected to cant their sales pitch.  Judges may forget that they are in the public sector and are paid by the public.”

K          “Their power is unchecked.  There is no ethos of ethics or honesty in America today.”

. . .   

[See the e-commentary at “On Standards & Quality (July 20, 2015)”, “The Court Of Truth And Justice (CTJ) (August 29, 2016)”, “Assigning Blame:  The Lawyers: 50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public: 50 Percent; The Judges: 100 Percent (December 3, 2012)” and “Perjury, the American Way (February 20, 2006).”

Bumper stickers of the week:

If it feels good, do it

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”  Friedrich Nietzsche (?)

The Ninth Circuit:  Two-Tiered “Just-Us” Review (February 13, 2017)

Posted in Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Judiciary, Justice, Law, Perjury, Perjury/Dishonesty, Truth on February 13, 2017 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “There are two standards of review in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  If the plaintiff is a favored or famous individual or the matter is a cause célèbre, the Niners read the briefs and write a coherent decision.  If the plaintiff is not among the elite and is some ordinary stiff, the Niners do not read the briefs and instead distort both the law and the facts to make the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s lawyer look like fools.” 

J          “That is, perforce, perjury, but that is never a concern or an impediment.  They swore to uphold the law.  They are not upholding the law.  When they issue a decision, they are not required to attach an affidavit stating that the decision is an honest description of the law and the facts.  They already swore to provide an honest description of the law and the facts.”

K          “Perjury is the American Way.”

. . .

K          “If a case or issue is hip, cool, trendy, sexy and/or well-publicized, the Niners give it the time of day.  The recent case involving the trendy issue du jour provided an opportunity for an ideological pronouncement.  The Niners are more predictable than the sunrise.” 

. . .

K          “Cockroaches work diligently in the dark and scurry away when the lights are turned on.  Judges work diligently when the television lights are turned on and scurry away when the lights are turned off.”

J          “Perhaps the Niners should candidly and honestly state that they will not read a brief filed by a little person unless accompanied by a filing fee four (4) times the filing fee charged to large players and institutions.”

K          “Ten (10) times the filing fee may not be enough.  How much is enough.”

. . .

K          “Too bad we cannot depose God to determine the Truth.  Based on decades of study and careful observation, I calculate that aggregating the acts of perjury perpetrated by each judge and applying the low end of the Sentencing Guidelines would consign most judges to prison for life.”

J          “Now there is one for you.  There are more felons or technically unindicted felons on the bench at large than among the public.  I missed that discussion in my high school civics class.”

. . .

J          “Some ideas are too Truthful to entertain for even a few seconds.”

K          “When you think on it, perjury is the back bone of the American Judicial System.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary “On Standards & Quality (July 20, 2015)”, “The Court Of Truth And Justice (CTJ) (August 29, 2016)”, “Assigning Blame:  The Lawyers: 50 Percent; The Non-Lawyer Public: 50 Percent; The Judges: 100 Percent (December 3, 2012)” and “Perjury, the American Way (February 20, 2006).”

Bumper stickers of the week:

“There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.”  Joe DiMaggio

Courts have failed.  Courts exist to make life easy and lucrative for judges and to make money for obliging and cooperative lawyers.