Yesterday I (along with UM law professor Ricardo Bascuas) filed this lawsuit in an attempt to figure out whether broadcasting legal cockfighting from Puerto Rico on the internet was contrary to 18 U.S.C. 48 or protected by the First Amendment. The website at issue is http://www.toughsportslive.com/
The lawsuit has received considerable buzz in the media and blogosphere. Here's a collection of stories:
1. The New York Times
2. Ann Althouse
3. Volokh Conspiracy
4. The Sun-Sentinel
5. How Appealing
6. Anorak
7. Above the Law
8. Australian Herald Sun
Very exciting....
The SDFLA Blog is dedicated to providing news and notes regarding federal practice in the Southern District of Florida. The New Times calls the blog "the definitive source on South Florida's federal court system." All tips on court happenings are welcome and will remain anonymous. Please email David Markus at dmarkus@markuslaw.com
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Playboy and the Padilla trial
This blog has covered Playboy and the law in the past.
Now Playboy has been mentioned in the Padilla trial (via the Miami Herald):
The Jose Padilla terror trial turned light for a moment on Tuesday when a defense lawyer attacked the credentials of a government witness while questioning him about his post-9/11 interview with Playboy magazine.
Attorney William Swor lost his bearings as he tried to ask international terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna about a passage in the November 2002 interview.
''You were not the centerfold,'' Swor quipped, as the dozen Miami-Dade federal jurors laughed.
''It's very important that it was the article on terrorism,'' countered Gunaratna, a Singapore university professor who was born in Sri Lanka. He said he had explain to his mother that former President Jimmy Carter had once done an interview with the "dirty magazine.''
Swor finally got around to asking Gunaratna what he meant when he told Playboy that sometimes the U.S. should ''terminate'' clandestine agents when ''black ops'' run their course. Swor insisted it was a ''euphemism'' for ``kill.''
Gunaratna strongly denied the accusation.
And here's the AP:
Swor repeatedly probed Gunaratna's credentials and previous testimony for inconsistencies. At one point, Swor brought up a November 2002 interview Gunaratna gave to Playboy magazine for a terrorism article in which he criticized the U.S. for being unwilling to "terminate" undercover operatives if things go bad.
"By terminate, you mean kill, right?" Swor said.
"It means you don't work with them any longer," Gunaratna said.
Swor responded skeptically. "You're not just going to give him a pink slip and say, 'See you around,'" he said.
In one of the day's lighter moments, Gunaratna said he wanted the record to show that the Playboy article was on terrorism and had no connection to pornography.
"They might be wondering if I posed naked for Playboy," Gunaratna said, adding that he had a difficult time explaining to his mother how he wound up in the magazine.
Ah, yes. I'm sure the jury was wondering if Gunaratna posed naked for Playboy because he looks a lot like Oona O'Connell.
I hope the jury doesn't get any ideas for dress up from the Playboy mention.
I think the most interesting news is that the Government is set to rest by the end of the week. I wonder how much of a defense there is going to be (if any).
Okay, okay, here's another picture of Oona (which we got from Abovethelaw).
Now Playboy has been mentioned in the Padilla trial (via the Miami Herald):
The Jose Padilla terror trial turned light for a moment on Tuesday when a defense lawyer attacked the credentials of a government witness while questioning him about his post-9/11 interview with Playboy magazine.
Attorney William Swor lost his bearings as he tried to ask international terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna about a passage in the November 2002 interview.
''You were not the centerfold,'' Swor quipped, as the dozen Miami-Dade federal jurors laughed.
''It's very important that it was the article on terrorism,'' countered Gunaratna, a Singapore university professor who was born in Sri Lanka. He said he had explain to his mother that former President Jimmy Carter had once done an interview with the "dirty magazine.''
Swor finally got around to asking Gunaratna what he meant when he told Playboy that sometimes the U.S. should ''terminate'' clandestine agents when ''black ops'' run their course. Swor insisted it was a ''euphemism'' for ``kill.''
Gunaratna strongly denied the accusation.
And here's the AP:
Swor repeatedly probed Gunaratna's credentials and previous testimony for inconsistencies. At one point, Swor brought up a November 2002 interview Gunaratna gave to Playboy magazine for a terrorism article in which he criticized the U.S. for being unwilling to "terminate" undercover operatives if things go bad.
"By terminate, you mean kill, right?" Swor said.
"It means you don't work with them any longer," Gunaratna said.
Swor responded skeptically. "You're not just going to give him a pink slip and say, 'See you around,'" he said.
In one of the day's lighter moments, Gunaratna said he wanted the record to show that the Playboy article was on terrorism and had no connection to pornography.
"They might be wondering if I posed naked for Playboy," Gunaratna said, adding that he had a difficult time explaining to his mother how he wound up in the magazine.
Ah, yes. I'm sure the jury was wondering if Gunaratna posed naked for Playboy because he looks a lot like Oona O'Connell.
I hope the jury doesn't get any ideas for dress up from the Playboy mention.
I think the most interesting news is that the Government is set to rest by the end of the week. I wonder how much of a defense there is going to be (if any).
Okay, okay, here's another picture of Oona (which we got from Abovethelaw).
Baseball agents gets 5 years
Yesterday Judge Moore sentenced baseball agent Gustavo ''Gus'' Dominguez to five years in prison. Legendary pitcher Sandy Koufax wrote this letter in support of Dominguez. The Herald covers the sentencing here. And here's a snippet from the article re Koufax:
Koufax, a southpaw and three-time Cy Young winner while pitching for the Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1950s and 1960s, met Dominguez through friends at the Dodgers training camp in Vero Beach.
''I have always considered Gus to be a person of strong character and high moral principles,'' Koufax wrote. ``He has an unshakable love for his culture and does his best to serve as a role model to the players he represents, especially Latin players.''
Dominguez's defense team said the agent asked his old friend to travel from Southern California for the sentencing -- but he could not make the trip. Koufax, ranked 26th among The Sporting News' ''100 Greatest Baseball Players,'' instead wrote the letter.
''I have always considered Gus to be a person of strong character and high moral principles,'' Koufax wrote. ``He has an unshakable love for his culture and does his best to serve as a role model to the players he represents, especially Latin players.''
Dominguez's defense team said the agent asked his old friend to travel from Southern California for the sentencing -- but he could not make the trip. Koufax, ranked 26th among The Sporting News' ''100 Greatest Baseball Players,'' instead wrote the letter.
Monday, July 09, 2007
Two very interesting articles from today's papers:
1. Jay Weaver covers the Chuckie Taylor case and explains that the accuser's ID is going to be released:
For months, Miami prosecutors and defense lawyers representing the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor have wrestled over one main issue: the identity of the man who accused the younger Taylor of torturing him five years ago in a police agent's home in Liberia.
Prosecutors have wanted the information kept a secret for the victim's safety; Taylor's attorneys have sought its disclosure to mount a defense for a September trial in federal court.
Thanks to a recent judge's order, Charles ''Chuckie'' Taylor Jr. and his defense team are finally going to learn his accuser's name.
But there's a catch. Taylor is only allowed to see the alleged victim's name. His lawyers cannot give him ''any tangible materials'' identifying his accuser. Nor can Taylor, who is in federal custody, disclose the accuser's name without his lawyers' approval.
And, his identity cannot be made public by either side until trial.
The strict rules about the alleged victim's name are yet another uncommon development in the unique Miami case against Taylor, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen born in Boston and raised in the Orlando area. It is the first U.S. prosecution of a human-rights violation committed in a foreign country.
2. Vanessa Blum has this article about Padilla co-defendant Amin Hassoun. Blum details how Hassoun is the focus of the government's case and that in the wiretapped calls "Padilla comes across as an almost peripheral figure." Here's a bit more:
In private, Hassoun's views were something less than neighborly.On a 1996 call played for jurors, Hassoun can be heard fuming over a photo published in an Islamic newsletter of a Muslim man shaking hands with Hillary Clinton."The only way to deal with those people is with the sword," he says.Hassoun's lawyers are the first to concede their client's words were sometimes offensive. But that, they say, does not make him a terrorist."He may have ranted and raved, he may have a big mouth, and yes, he did engage in provocative, passionate and political speech, but at all times he did so to help protect and defend Muslims under attack," attorney Jeanne Baker said in her opening remarks to the jury.Hassoun; Padilla, 36; and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 45, are charged with taking part in a terror cell that sent money, equipment and human recruits to support violent Islamic groups overseas. All three have pleaded not guilty.Though Hassoun and Padilla both initially were arrested just weeks apart in 2002, Padilla's case has drawn more attention because of the "dirty bomber" label and high-profile legal challenges to his 3 ½ year detention without charges at a U.S. Navy brig.
1. Jay Weaver covers the Chuckie Taylor case and explains that the accuser's ID is going to be released:
For months, Miami prosecutors and defense lawyers representing the son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor have wrestled over one main issue: the identity of the man who accused the younger Taylor of torturing him five years ago in a police agent's home in Liberia.
Prosecutors have wanted the information kept a secret for the victim's safety; Taylor's attorneys have sought its disclosure to mount a defense for a September trial in federal court.
Thanks to a recent judge's order, Charles ''Chuckie'' Taylor Jr. and his defense team are finally going to learn his accuser's name.
But there's a catch. Taylor is only allowed to see the alleged victim's name. His lawyers cannot give him ''any tangible materials'' identifying his accuser. Nor can Taylor, who is in federal custody, disclose the accuser's name without his lawyers' approval.
And, his identity cannot be made public by either side until trial.
The strict rules about the alleged victim's name are yet another uncommon development in the unique Miami case against Taylor, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen born in Boston and raised in the Orlando area. It is the first U.S. prosecution of a human-rights violation committed in a foreign country.
2. Vanessa Blum has this article about Padilla co-defendant Amin Hassoun. Blum details how Hassoun is the focus of the government's case and that in the wiretapped calls "Padilla comes across as an almost peripheral figure." Here's a bit more:
In private, Hassoun's views were something less than neighborly.On a 1996 call played for jurors, Hassoun can be heard fuming over a photo published in an Islamic newsletter of a Muslim man shaking hands with Hillary Clinton."The only way to deal with those people is with the sword," he says.Hassoun's lawyers are the first to concede their client's words were sometimes offensive. But that, they say, does not make him a terrorist."He may have ranted and raved, he may have a big mouth, and yes, he did engage in provocative, passionate and political speech, but at all times he did so to help protect and defend Muslims under attack," attorney Jeanne Baker said in her opening remarks to the jury.Hassoun; Padilla, 36; and Kifah Wael Jayyousi, 45, are charged with taking part in a terror cell that sent money, equipment and human recruits to support violent Islamic groups overseas. All three have pleaded not guilty.Though Hassoun and Padilla both initially were arrested just weeks apart in 2002, Padilla's case has drawn more attention because of the "dirty bomber" label and high-profile legal challenges to his 3 ½ year detention without charges at a U.S. Navy brig.
Hitting the ground running
Our new Chief Judge, Federico Moreno, has issued a bunch of administrative orders in his first week on the job. Julie Kay covers all the activity, including "revamp[ing] the way naturalization ceremonies and emergency motions will be handled by assigning judges on a rotating basis to oversee them." The Chief also assigned the judges to different committees. Here's a list of the chairs from the article:
He assigned Judge Joan Lenard to chair the committee on the clerk’s office; Judge Donald Graham to chair the committee on the budget; Judge Jordan to chair the committee on court reporters and interpreters; Judge Huck to chair the committee on magistrate judges; Judge Cooke to chair the committee on probation; Judge Donald Middlebrooks to chair the committee on rules; Judge Martinez to chair the committee on security; and Judge Altonaga to chair the committee on automation. He also appointed Graham as liaison to the Fort Pierce courthouse project; Judge William Dimitrouleas as liaison to the Fort Lauderdale courthouse project; Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley as liaison to the West Palm Beach courthouse project; Graham as liaison to the Criminal Justice Act panel; Judge K. Michael Moore as liaison to the General Services Administration; Judge Alan S. Gold as liaison to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; and Judge Jordan as liaison to the Volunteer Lawyers Project.
Here are the orders, courtesy of the DBR.
He assigned Judge Joan Lenard to chair the committee on the clerk’s office; Judge Donald Graham to chair the committee on the budget; Judge Jordan to chair the committee on court reporters and interpreters; Judge Huck to chair the committee on magistrate judges; Judge Cooke to chair the committee on probation; Judge Donald Middlebrooks to chair the committee on rules; Judge Martinez to chair the committee on security; and Judge Altonaga to chair the committee on automation. He also appointed Graham as liaison to the Fort Pierce courthouse project; Judge William Dimitrouleas as liaison to the Fort Lauderdale courthouse project; Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley as liaison to the West Palm Beach courthouse project; Graham as liaison to the Criminal Justice Act panel; Judge K. Michael Moore as liaison to the General Services Administration; Judge Alan S. Gold as liaison to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; and Judge Jordan as liaison to the Volunteer Lawyers Project.
Here are the orders, courtesy of the DBR.
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