Happy Thanksgiving

I am thankful for all of you stopping by and reading and sending me your comments and tips. 

I thought you might enjoy this cartoon.  See you Monday.

Do as I say, not as I do

That's the motto of the DOJ.  From TechDirt, DOJ Says Body Camera-Wearing Cops Aren't Allowed To Partner Up With Federal Agencies: "As we've covered before, the DOJ supports the idea of body cameras for local law enforcement agencies. It has set aside over $20 million a year in funding to help these agencies out. But it has no love for body cameras within its own agencies. There are no body cam requirements in place for FBI, DEA, ATF or the US Marshals Service.  In fact, if you're a member of a law enforcement agency which does have mandated body cams, you're no longer welcome to play in the big boys."

Other notes:

-- Do you like being the "law guy" in trial?  The NY Times covers these law guys:

As the public corruption trial of State Assemblyman Sheldon Silver heads to closing arguments on Monday, the clash in the courtroom has been handled largely by well-staffed government and defense legal teams, each with a wealth of experience in handling corruption cases.

But on Thursday, two unfamiliar lawyers took the stage to try to shape the instructions that the judge will give to the jury before deliberations.

In a case in which no witness testified directly to knowledge of an illegal quid pro quo, how Judge Valerie E. Caproni tells jurors to interpret the evidence as it relates to the law could sway deliberations — a fact certainly not lost on the government or the defense.

The two lawyers had largely disappeared during Mr. Silver’s three-week trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan; James M. McDonald sat quietly at the end of the prosecution table, while Robert K. Kry, a defense lawyer, did not even show up in court.

But it was clear late on Thursday, with the parties and the judge seated around a conference table and the jury not present, that Mr. McDonald and Mr. Kry had critical roles as legal specialists in the case — “the law guys,” as several experts put it — a role the public rarely hears about.

-- Oh, and the Marlins suck.

Ovalle's "most Miami story" ever?

He says it might be.  Check it out here.  It involves porn stars, molly, snitches, and all things Miami:

The investigation that cracked open one of the largest synthetic drug rings in Miami history began with an angry naked porn star jumping on her boyfriend’s white Porsche.
The police call to that lovers spat would eventually lift the lid on a cast of characters straight out of a Hollywood buddy movie. In the leading roles: Matthew Anich and Jorge Ramon Hernandez, two guys who boasted seemingly straight-arrow backgrounds of college degrees and military experience but also shared a taste for Miami’s flashy club culture.
They pumped iron, co-owned a tattoo shop, drove fancy cars and chased an array of party girls — all while, prosecutors say, secretly importing club drugs from shady Chinese labs and enlisting a crew of well-placed associates: Sexual conquests wired money overseas and picked up shipments; strippers and at least one DJ peddled pills that brought in millions of dollars.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article45772970.html#storylink=cpy

Other towns reminisce about former Chief Judges, like Charles Evans Hughes.  From the WaPo:

All were in the air last Friday night, when the 17th chief justice of the United States, John G. Roberts Jr., came to the Historical Society of the New York Courts to celebrate the 11th chief justice of the United States, Charles Evans Hughes, about whom it was once said: “He looked like God and talked like God.”
he current self-deprecating chief justice claimed neither distinction in a crisp, 16- minute presentation that evoked frequent laughter. And if you listened closely, it said a few things about Roberts as well: the way he views the responsibilities of the job and his low-key response to the controversies surrounding the court.
If Roberts was nominated as chief justice as an unknown outside legal circles, Hughes arrived as a “brand,” Roberts said. He had a career in law, politics and diplomacy and a white beard that gave the impression he had been sent from central casting.
President Theodore Roosevelt described him as “a bearded iceberg”; Hughes’s political rival William Randolph Hearst labeled him an “animated feather duster.”
He defeated Hearst to become governor of New York, where he developed a reputation as a crusader cleaning up Albany. When President William Howard Taft persuaded him to join the Supreme Court in 1910, he delayed the move to spend a few more months as governor.
He left the court six years later when the Republican Party drafted him at its convention to run against Woodrow Wilson. Hughes lost by 23 electoral votes.
In private practice, he argued cases before the Supreme Court 25 times before President William Harding persuaded him to be secretary of state. And in 1930, President Herbert Hoover nominated him to return to the court as chief justice.
Hughes, who was 86 when he died in 1948, was so iconic, Roberts said, that a letter bearing only a sketch of Hughes and the address “Washington, DC” was delivered, “no questions asked.”
Hughes was the presiding chief justice when the Supreme Court in 1935 moved from its home in the basement of the Capitol to what Roberts called “our current majestic place of work” across the street.
But, more important, Roberts said, Hughes was leading the court during the greatest threat to its independence: Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s plan to add enough friendly justices to gain control of the court, which had been striking down Roosevelt’s programs designed to lift the country out of the Great Depression.
“It fell to Hughes to guide a very unpopular Supreme Court through that high-noon showdown against America’s most popular president since George Washington,” Roberts said.

 When you don't have porn stars and molly, you gotta stick to court-packing plans...

Will the Supreme Court tack to the right?

That seemed to be a real possibility according to SCOTUSBlog's Amy Howe, who spoke today before the Federal Bar Association in Miami.  Last Term many thought that the Court issued left-leaning opinions, including the blockbuster on gay-marriage.  This Term, the docket is chock-full of interesting cases but ones that may lend themselves to opinions written by the conservative wing of the Court -- from abortion to voting to affirmative action.  And the big decisions will come out near the end of the Term, right before the election.  So it will be interesting to see how the opinions affect the general election.

Amy was a fantastic speaker as she always is -- full of knowledge about the cases and the inner-workings of the Court.  Hopefully she will be back again next year, for a 5th time.

RIP Judge Peter Palermo

I'm so sad to report that Judge Palermo passed away this weekend. 

He was 97!

He was appointed back in 1971 as the first Magistrate Judge in the Southern District of Florida.












One of the nicest men I've ever met.

A true gentleman.

And a great story teller.

Old school.

He will be sorely missed.

Congrats to Judge Paul Huck

It was a beautiful portrait hanging ceremony on Friday afternoon for Judge Huck and his year of the fives:

75 years old
25 years married to Donna (who gave a great speech)
15 years as a judge
5 years as a senior judge

The event was packed with friends, family, and former clerks and staff.

And the speeches were funny and warm.

Huck's former law clerk had the place cracking up. He was excellent. (I didn't catch his name. Could someone post it in the comments and then I will update the post).  UPDATED -- it's Adam Deckinger.

Judge Huck even gave the blog a nice shout out, which was very cool!

Here are some pictures: