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Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supreme Court. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

There Is STILL No 4th Amendment In Indiana

Sept 20th, 2011
posted by F. Grey Parker

This is not hyperbole. In May, one of the worst decisions in Indiana's history was handed down by this state's Supreme Court. Today, that court doubled down. As of this writing, there is an apparent lack of coordinated pushback. Some civil rights attorneys here are saying, off the record, that they fear the current SCOTUS might not strike down this assault on the 4th Amendment.

From NWI:
"The Indiana Supreme Court has affirmed its controversial ruling that Hoosiers have no right to ever physically resist police entry into their homes.

In a 4-1 decision, the state's high court said Tuesday the common law rule that "a man's home is his castle" cannot be used as a defense if a person is accused of attacking a police officer entering a home in an official capacity.

"Our holding does no more than bring Indiana common law in stride with jurisdictions that value promoting safety in situations where police and homeowners interact," wrote Justice Steven David for the court.

The ruling stemmed from an alleged 2007 Evansville domestic violence incident where Richard Barnes shoved a police officer trying to enter Barnes' home to investigate after Barnes told the officer he couldn't come in.

Barnes claimed the jury in his misdemeanor battery case should have been instructed that Barnes had a lawful right to resist what he considered an illegal police entry into his home.

In May, the five-member Supreme Court rejected Barnes' appeal, 3-2, saying Hoosiers have no right to resist even unlawful police entry into their homes." EMPHASeS OURS

Monday, June 27, 2011

Today In WTF? Wisconsin Edition

June 27th, 2011

After the miraculous discovery of unsecured votes in the 11th hour of the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court election, one might have thought that the victor, Justice David Prosser, would be mindful that his every action would need to bear greater scrutiny. After all, Prosser didn't have the most sterling of reputations prior to the debacle.

Just before the vote, Meg Jones wrote for the Journal Sentinel:

"Prosser recently acknowledged that he called Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a "bitch" behind closed doors and threatened to "destroy her" more than a year ago when the court split over removing fellow Justice Michael Gableman from a criminal case as he faced an ethics allegation."

Flash forward to just two weeks ago. Not only has Justice Prosser seemingly learned no lessons in decorum, much less humility, it is alleged that he has taken his resentment and animosity towards his fellow female justices to dangerous new levels.

From the JS:
"Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley late Saturday accused fellow Justice David Prosser of putting her in a chokehold during a dispute in her office earlier this month.

"The facts are that I was demanding that he get out of my office and he put his hands around my neck in anger in a chokehold," Bradley told the Journal Sentinel."


If true, the actions stipulated by Justice Bradley constitute a felony assault under Wisconsin law.

Now, if you thought that this was the WTF? moment, hold onto your hats. Leave it to the resident, senior legal expert at FOX News, Greta Van Susterin, to devolve the discussion further. In a post from her Gretawire site, a post that has been subsequently scrubbed, Van Susterin coolly analyzed the breaking news and argued that Chief Justice Abrahamson must resign. You read that right.

Greta Van Susterin as quoted by ThinkProgress:

"And while I have no idea who is off the wall (Justice Prosser or Justice Walsh or both), I do know one thing, CHIEF JUSTICE SHIRLEY ABRAHAMSON sure is not doing her job to lead the court and to give confidence to the people of Wisconsin. She needs to step aside and let someone else attempt to run that zoo."



Greta seems to have actually argued that a male Justice allegedly physically assaulting a female Justice is the result of a failure to lead on the part of... another female Justice. Again, Van Susterin has removed the post from her site without comment.

We are requesting that any reader who has a cached version of the Gretawire piece or a screenshot to contact us. The story continues to develop...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Bad News Here In Indiana

May 17th, 2011

Well, we used to have the 4th Amendment in Indiana. Dan Carden reports for NWI:

"INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.

In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by police still can be released on bail and has plenty of opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court system."

Everyone in America should be enraged by this. We are supposed to be guaranteed the following under the Constitution.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Not anymore. Not here in Indiana.



Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Jon Stewart Takes On The Zero Taxed Corporations

March 29th, 2011

Jon Stewart: "I know the Supreme Court has ruled that corporations are people. But I didn't realize those people were assholes."