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Gingrich assails judges as he courts conservatives
Law News |
2011/12/20 10:25
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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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NY top court allows private securities claims
Headline Legal News |
2011/12/20 10:25
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Enforcement by the state attorney general against securities fraud doesn't pre-empt private common-law claims of negligence against investment companies, New York's top court ruled Tuesday.
The Court of Appeals rejected J.P. Morgan Investment Management's argument that New York's Martin Act gives the attorney general exclusive authority over fraudulent securities and investment practices. The court said Assured Guaranty (UK) Ltd. can sue J.P. Morgan.
We agree with the attorney general that the purpose of the Martin Act is not impaired by private common-law actions that have a legal basis independent of the statute because proceedings by the attorney general and private action have the same goal — combating fraud and deception in securities transactions, Judge Victoria Graffeo wrote.
Assured claimed breach of fiduciary duty and gross negligence, alleging J.P. Morgan invested heavily in risky mortgage-backed securities while committing to a conservative investment policy for reinsurance company Orkney RE II PLC, whose obligations Assured guaranteed. After the market crashed, Assured had to cover Orkney losses.
Here, the plain text of the Martin Act, while granting the attorney general investigatory and enforcement powers and prescribing various penalties, does not expressly mention or otherwise contemplate the elimination of common-law claims, Graffeo wrote. The unanimous ruling upheld a midlevel court, which had reversed a judge. |
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Calif. company due in court for Colo. fire deaths
Legal World News |
2011/12/19 11:29
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A California specialty painting company is expected to plead guilty in the 2007 deaths of five workers at a Colorado power plant, in the rare prosecution of a company.
RPI Coatings Inc. of Santa Fe Springs, Calif., is expected to plead guilty Monday to five misdemeanor counts of workplace safety violations resulting in death.
During a court hearing earlier this month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jaime Pena said the company likely would pay a substantial compensation to the victims' survivors as part of a plea deal.
The workers died after a fire broke out inside a pipeline at Xcel Energy's Cabin Creek hydroelectric plant near Georgetown, Colo., about 40 miles west of Denver.
A jury in June acquitted Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy Inc., which owns the power plant, of all criminal charges. The company has paid millions in compensation to the families. |
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Suspect in NYC woman's burning appears in court
Law News |
2011/12/19 11:28
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The New York man suspected of spraying a 73-year-old woman with gasoline and setting her on fire in an elevator was charged Monday with murder and arson.
Jerome Isaac appeared in court with the left side of his face badly burned and peeling. He said nothing. He was held without bail, and his lawyer requested solitary confinement for the 47-year-old, as well as medical attention.
Surveillance video from the elevator shows the attack.
According to the criminal complaint, Isaac sprayed Delores Gillespie with gasoline as she stood in the elevator that had just opened to the 5th floor of her apartment building. She crouched and cowered, grocery bags draped off her arms.
Isaac pulled out a barbecue-style lighter, authorities said, and used it to ignite a rag in a bottle. He waited a few seconds, then backed out of the elevator and tossed the flaming bottle in, authorities said. |
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Int'l court refuses to halt Rwandan's release
Legal News Digest |
2011/12/19 11:28
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International Criminal Court judges refused Monday to block the release of a Rwandan rebel prosecutors accuse of involvement in deadly attacks by a Hutu militia on villages in Congo in 2009.
The pre-trial judges ordered the release of Callixte Mbarushimana on Friday after dismissing all charges against him for lack of evidence. If he is freed, Mbarushimana would be the first suspect released from ICC custody since the court's inception in 2002.
Prosecutors had said they would appeal the ruling and asked the court to delay Mbarushimana's release pending the outcome of the appeal. But in Monday's written decision, judges ruled that Mbarushimana can no longer be detained because the 11 charges against him have been dismissed.
A warrant of arrest previously issued ceases to have effect with respect to any charges not confirmed by the Pre-Trial Chamber, the judges wrote. |
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