Comments on: Fifth Circuit asks in Paul Minor case: Tell us how this is all connected with federal money?

By: Federico R. Porter

Federico R. Porter — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:07:22 +0000

Every injustice perpetrated by the Bush administration despots need to be revealed especially politically motivated dirty tricks like has happened to Paul Minor. I hope this case turns out to be an opportunity for full revelations of truth so that a full picture of Rov-Bush attacks on democracy will outed.

By: Paul Minor appeal

Paul Minor appeal — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:18:16 +0000

[...] a nexus to federal programs to trigger the application of the federal bribery statute. Tom Freeland explains (and has [...]

By: Anderson

Anderson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:28:43 +0000

No wonder that Scruggs thought $5000 and an “of counsel” slot would buy him a judge.

By: NotZachScruggs

NotZachScruggs — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:45:55 +0000

Is the pay difference due to Alabama judges having to do everything out in the open — isn’t it difficult to seal a case over there, rather than following our practice of sealing up the proceedings routinely, on the request of counsel?

By: Lost Gap 5

Lost Gap 5 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:42:18 +0000

No. We can’t. I was told the judges have not received a raise in 6 years and are ranked 50th. The Southeast average is no where close. Alabama judges apparently make 75% more than Miss. judges.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 11:57:59 +0000

Raising the question, what is wrong with Miss. that it can’t pay its own judges?

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:33:06 +0000

I was present for the first Minor trial one day representing a potential witness, who was not called, but I sat in on the trial for a few hours. I remember one of the witnesses was asked does the AO receive Federal Funding directly or through any grants and the simple answer was yes. I may be wrong but I don’t recall a big brew ha being made about it, it was a fairly straight forward witness. Seems to me the Fifth Circuit is asking how did the “bribery” connect (nexus) the Federal funds? I am pretty sure part of the Judge’s salaries or at least their office funding comes from Federal grants here and there.

By: Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr.

Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:28:25 +0000

To all, but particularly to Ben: The Clerk’s letter distracted me from the wording of the statute, which speaks in terms of “an agent of an organization or of a State, local…government, or any agent thereof”, and of “…such organization, government or agency”. Accordingly, the statute could be violated if the State or any agency thereof received Federal funds, regardless of whether the Administrative Office of the Courts of Mississippi received Federal Funds or not (I’d still like to know if the AO received Federal funds). The crime was a crime against the State government or agency thereof which received Federal funds, and was thus “Federal Program Bribery”. Frankly, this is precisely what I’d expect “Big Brother” to protect the public from, ie. conspiracies which attempt to corrupt an entire branch of State government which readily accepts Federal funds.(State and local government might not be so willing to prosecute filthy rich lawyers and prominent State Court Judges who protest that they were just “ear-wiggling”, not accepting bribes in exchange for favors which were never caught on wiretaps or confirmed by E-mail anyway). Agree or disagree?

By: Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr.

Ashton R. O'Dwyer, Jr. — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:08:02 +0000

To all, but patticularly to Ben: The letter from the Clerk distracted me from the wording of the statute. The statute specifies “such organization, government or agency”, and “an agent of an organization or of a State, local…government, or any agency thereof”. I’m from Louisiana, so I don’t know the Mississippi State Constitution. However, I will assume that the Judicial Branch of Government is a “true branch”, and is the State, just like the Executive or Legislative branches of State government. In short, the Judicial branch IS the State, or at worst (for the Federal government’s purposes) an agency of the State

By: WantedToBeALawyer

WantedToBeALawyer — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 03:37:33 +0000

Ahhh, if the AO does not receive more than $5,000 of federal money, my previous argument is invalid.

But, my wife, who was a Chancery Court Administrator, just informed me that she, her judge, and law clerk were all paid by the AO. Hmmm. Interesting. How many hours did these cases take?

Also, add in court reporters, in part. A judge makes over $100K, clerk about $50K, administrator about $40K, a court reporter about $40K. Hmmmm.

Also too, my wife dealt with the yearly budget, and she says “in the back of her brain” there was federal money in the budget. Phone calls tomorrow, will report back then.

Using the “two staple” argument, you could excuse every judicial bribery event in every court involving two private parties.