Road Rage Ends Badly

Kly, when an attorney represents a client in another state, how does he overcome the lack of his licensing in that state?

You can represent a client out of state under what's called, pro hac vice, (for this case). The attorney must be sponsored by another attorney in good standing, who is licensed and admitted to practice in the state. Some states may have additional minor requirements, but basically the priocedure is simple.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of the Voter ID law in PA in about 2 weeks. I expect that it will be upheld. Our Supreme Court consisted of 7 members (4 Rs and 3 Ds), but it is presently at 6 as one of the justices was removed for corruption. That leaves it at 3 and 3. Although party lines are not necessarily determinative in the court's decisions, in order for the law to be stricken, 4 of the 6 must find it to be unconstitutional.

I was happy to see the decision of the the three-judge panel in the Texas case. These voter ID laws are clear attempts to marginalize the voting impact of the poor, elderly, and minorities. If I'm not mistaken, I believe a federal court had recently held that Texas' attempts to redraw the legislative districts were motivated by carving up the voting influence of minorities.

We need a voter ID aw. Anyone, even someone who does not own car or drive, can get a non-driver ID from Department of Motor Vehicles. Focus should be on states like Oregon and Maine, which make it easy for those here illegally to get driver's license, and then use it to vote.

I don't know where some Board members get their information. So much of it is anecdotal. So, I just surfed over to Oregon's Department of Motor Vehicles and accessed their driver's license requirements(Here's the link: http://cms.oregon.gov/ODOT/DMV/pages/driverid/idproof.aspx#legal_presence)

So, I don't know how the information at this link would in any way support the conclusion of the poster above that Oregon is one of those states that makes it easy for illegal aliens to get driver's licenses. Its DL requirements are the same as those of Texas and Pennsylvania.

Oli,

Not only that but as I understand it, cases of voter fraud throughout the states is very very low (don't have exact figures) nationwide that this sudden worry of "illegal voters" is bogus.



TIS

You're exactly right TIS. It is motivated by people who just don't believe that certain people are "real" Americans per the Michelle Backmann's definition of the term. That definitionis what has plagued and still plagues the Republican Party and why (as expressed in the Businessweek article I posted above) Republicans are deperate to attract racial and ethnic minority voters.

In '64, GOP candidate Barry Goldwater was challenged because he was born in Arizona in 1908, four years before Arizona became a state. For that matter, all of our early Presidents were born British subjects. Martin Van Buren was the first to be born a US citizen.

Because I know of a few who have gone there for it. I met them in school, it's no secret. I first found out 3 years ago when a classmate's sister was flying there to take driving test, for second time. I could not understand why, they explained, unashamedly, to me. What they say they require on website and what they actually require are obviously different. Her sister went, passed second test, and got a license. That enabled her to go for real estate license.
She now is selling real estate in Kingston, New York.

I did not mind when I heard, thought it was cool. Seeing how widespread and out of control it is past year ( I moved to New York City) I am changing opinion on the matter.

OK, they changed law, that is reason for new requirements. They want to change it back.

http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/06/restoring_drivers_licenses_for.html

A 2006 study by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice found that 18 percent of Americans age 65 and over did not have a photo ID. In Texas, even the Texas Conservative Coalition Research Institute admit that 37 percent of Texans over the age of 80 do not have a driver's license. The same study found that up to 25 percent of African Americans do not have a government-issued photo ID.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, women are more than twice as likely as men not to have a driver's license. In fact, one of every five senior women does not have a license. Also, a woman's name and address on a photo ID might not match those on the voter list due to name changes related to marriage, divorce and other factors. The Texas Department of Vital Statistics reports an average 200,000 marriages and divorces in Texas each year, after which it can take up to two months to get a new ID

For many seniors, disabled veterans, and hourly workers, getting a state-issued photo ID is not only costly and time-consuming, it is also difficult if not impractical to get to the forms and information needed to get an ID from agencies with limited locations and hours.

Nonpartisan academic studies show photo ID laws discourage turnout. An academic study of the 2004 presidential election conducted for the bipartisan Federal Election Assistance Commission found that states with voter ID laws had an overall turnout reduction of 3 percent, a figure that reached 5.7 percent among African Americans and 10 percent among Hispanics.


Sources: Brennan Center for Justice


Source: Caltech/MIT Voting Technology Project

Out of curiosity, what part of NYC did you move to?

This is a excellent wide ranging discussion of civil liberties and the current Administration.

Jonathan Turley Interview

Drew Peterson found guilty. At last!

No kidding. Besides giving me the creeps (and not to say it's in any way a reason to convict someone of murder), he comes off as an arrogant, self-centered asshole. I am not surprised of the verdict.

Btw, they never found his 4th wife right? Dear Lord, who knows where she may be buried. Her poor family.

Anyone see the movie with Rob Lowe playing him? Lowe actually did a good job of making you hate him.

TIS

I saw that article Lilo and it left me fuming.

“If you wouldn’t have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you,” Hatch said.

WTF? I can not believe this judge would actually blame the victim. It's always the victim of this kind of crime that gets trashed. Pisses me off. That judge should NOT be a judge .



TIS

what the fuck? i really believe that there should be a review over judges decisions. this is bullshit, and idk if the victim can bring this up higher in the court system and try to bring the judge down or not.

Kly, enlighten me. The following is from Empire of Liberty:

" ... the federal courts could use the criminal common law to punish seditious libel even without a sedition [statute]..."

How does the common law fit in without a specific statute?

Wow, that's an awkwardly worded phrase. Was it written in a present context, or was it referring to a time prior to 1812? I ask this because while federal common law exists, there is really no criminal common law to punish crimes.

Sedition was a common law offense in England. Federal common law (after Erie v. Tompkins in the 1930s) is limited to certain areas, where Congress intentionally used vague and general language in statutes, and may be rendered moot with the enactment of a specific law. Anti-trust, interstate commerce, and civil rights come to mind.

But the federal courts have no authority to hear a criminal case, based solely on common law. Fortunately, sedition trials are very rare, likely because the offense has always seemed to be on shakyconstitutional ground.

My criminal practice was exclusively in state court, but I can not find a basis where a federal court can rely on common law today to punish a defendant for sedition.

Maybe docan be more of ahelp .

Kly, the Federalists were trying to hang onto some power after Jefferson and the Republican Congress took over. The power they held onto was in the courts of which they retained control. Thus, sedition was an avenue they tried to use to deconstruct the Republicans.

What would be an example or two of state common law?

At the height of the McCarthy era, states and municipalities instituted loyalty oaths and anti-sedition laws almost at will. In the Jenks and Slowacher cases (I believe), the Supreme Court threw all of them out, ruling that Congress had occupied the field of sedition to the exclusion of the states and municipalities.

That was a tremendously positive ruling. States and cities were using their "laws" to fire teachers and other civil servants, impose curriculum changes, etc. That whole era was one of the most dangerous times in America.

False Rape Charge

What truly bothers me about this is that so many rapes go unreported. When something like this happens, it hurts all the victims. It can alter the police's response to a legitimate complaint, and that infuriates me. And it can make a victim hesitate to report their attack. Stupid woman.

Common law marriage is the first example that comes to mind. While state statutes do not recognize a marital union without proper licensing or a religious ceremony, the common law recognizes the legitimacy of a marriage where the couple cohabitates and presents themselves to the world as being married. Of course, these instances are fact sensitive. About 9 years ago Pennsylvania appellate courts abolished common law marriage within the Commonwealth.

Principles of equity in contract law are another example. There are areas of contract law that are addressed vaguely by statute. Equitable principles under common law are used by courts to avoid unfair results, unjust enrichment or dissolution of contractual obligations where the statutes may be silent.

Thanks Kly.

Scalia calls Posner a liar

Scalia says he has your "substantive due process" right here.

I thought that British police officers had started carrying weapons. I was surprised to learn that this isn't the case?

Two unarmed women officers murdered

LMFAO. Lindsay Lohan arrested again in New York this morning for hit and run and leaving the scene of an accident. This kid is white trash personified. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear she was from the Ozarks rather than Long Island. And for the record, her parents should be executed on general principle.