This is interesting:
The US Supreme Court has ruled to vacate the a ruling by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, who was convicted of bribery charges in 2006 in a case that was widely seen as politically motivated.
The ruling was vacated in light of another recent ruling which revised the court’s opinion of an “honest services” fraud statute, a ruling that has helped former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Siegelman’s case will now be remanded to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals for a second consideration.
It doesn’t mean, however, that Siegelman is out of the woods. In March 2009, the Eleventh Circuit upheld bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges against Siegelman and refused a request for a new trial. They could easily do so again.
We’ll see if Rove and company still push this.
4jkb4ia
Cheers.
Pumps fists.
Sees that this confirmation hearing is so boring it has no thread devoted thereto.
General Egali Tarian Stuck
They have to, at least until the statute of limitations runs out for their own crimes of political racketeering.
BR
Meanwhile, the esteemed GOPers on the Judiciary committee, after talking about Thurgood Marshall’s “activism” and talking about how he wasn’t “obedient”, couldn’t name a single decision of his:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/thurgood-who-republicans-hard-pressed-to-disagree-with-marshall.php
fourlegsgood
I would like to see Siegleman released. That whole thing was complete and total bullshit.
In the meantime, Rove still walks free.
Oh, and Orin Hatch is a fucking asshole. But you guys already knew that.
Brian J
The last I remember, Rove was still denying even knowing Jill Simpson. My gut tells me that Rove would sell his mother into white slavery to protect his own ass, so I really don’t know what to make of his denial. It’s not like I have any firm proof one way or the other.
On a similar note, have there been any major developments as far as the firing of the U.S. Attorneys in recent months? I ask because my conservative relatives, who are certainly not moderate in most senses of the word, wouldn’t stop insisting that there wasn’t any problem with what happened. I think the idea that corruption could be so blatant was just too much of a shock to their systems.
bkny
i’m kinda sorry this isn’t gonna happen:
Lt. Gen. disinvited from Kagan hearing
By Eric Zimmermann – 06/25/10 07:50 PM ET
Judiciary Republicans have disinvited a controversial military officer from testifying at the confirmation hearing of Elena Kagan.
The minoity staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee had announced earlier Friday that retired Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin would appear before the panel next week, likely to discuss Kagan’s efforts to restrict military recruiting while dean of Harvard Law School.
The announcement that Boykin would no longer testify was made after The Hill and other media outlets reported his testimony.
Boykin was reprimanded by the military in 2004 for making numerous statements casting the war on terror in religious terms when appearing before Christian groups.
Brian J
@bkny:
I’m not. Despite having reason and facts on her side, I have no doubt there would be some sort of false equivalency attached to what happened.
Ash Can
@BR: That “cruel and unusual” bit is a 24-karat beauty. Jeff Sessions has no fucking business holding public office — or any position dealing with legal matters, for that matter.
Michael
@bkny:
It must’ve dawned on somebody that they might be opening a can of worms better left sealed. As I remember, he was instrumental in pardoning (or directly quashing the prosecution) of a number of the murderous killbots that were indiscriminately slaughtering people who weren’t insurgents.
catclub
@BR:
I think they mean that he brought and won Brown vs Board of Education. That is the activism they oppose.
Never mind the decision was unanimous.
bkny
@catclub:
gosh, you’d think a unanimous decision by the supreme court would be worthy of democrats pointing that out … silly me.
Zifnab
@fourlegsgood: That’s the thing about Siegelman. I have absolutely no fucking clue whether he is guilty of anything or not. Maybe he did break the law. Maybe he crossed the line and the GOoPers decided to throw the entire book at him just to make the incident into a media circus. Or maybe this is just Clinton-style criminalization of winning office with a (D) in front of your name.
With all the smoke in the air, it’s hard to tell. But one thing isn’t hard to tell. The Republicans were so busy trying to nail a political opponent, they killed any faith whatsoever that I might have in the Alabama judicial process. I might have no idea whether Siegelman was out of line, but it was blatantly obvious that Bob Riley, the Alabama DA’s office, the Bush USA that helped push the case, and a host of other players crossed it on numerous occasions.
eemom
@fourlegsgood:
yeah, Oren Hatch is a BIG fucking asshole, and IMO his questioning of Kagan made him look really stoopid, too.
Diane Feinstein didn’t strike me as the brightest light on the Constitutional Christmas tree, either.
bemused
@Brian J:
I guess your relatives wouldn’t believe what David Iglesias, a republican, has said publicly about his experience. He and other conservative attorneys who spoke out against the firings are probably just not “real” republicans.
eemom
Milbank actually has a pretty good piece today on the absolute mind blowing idiocy of the republicans trying to demonize Thurgood freakin Marshall, of all people.
Phoenix Woman
They just updated the story — apparently, it’s not the entire ruling that’s vacated, just the part that kept Siegelman from being able to appeal. Still, it means he’s not out of hope.
Brian J
@Zifnab:
There a petition signed by several states Attorneys General, from both sides, saying the entire process was severely fucked up. From Wikipedia:
Without knowing anything else about the case, that should tell you what happened was way out of line. One guy was put on probation; the other guy is taken to a maximum security prison and put in solitary confinement.
This is yet another reason why, no matter how frustrating and disappointing the Democrats may be, I will continue supporting them in any way possible. The alternative will be a return to the Bush years, only with less competence and far more corruption.
Brian J
@bemused:
I don’t remember the last time we spoke about this. It might have been before he came out with his book and started promoting it. Still, the fact that there was ample evidence that it was very unusual for the firings to take place at that point during an administration, and that most, if not all, of the states were swing states, didn’t make a difference. They are very conservative people, but I wouldn’t classify them as wingnuts. (One of my uncles regularly refers to Limbaugh as a blowhard entertainer, for instance.)
I usually don’t bring up politics with them any more. I don’t find (all?) of their opinions repulsive, nor do I become enraged unless insulted or spoken to as if I am an asshole. I just…would rather talk about other stuff.
kay
@Zifnab:
Agreed. It wasn’t just that. It was the response of major media to the whole US attorney story. They bent over backward to minimize it. They couldn’t wait to drop it. I felt as if they made a deliberate attempt not to convey to the public how really frightening politically-motivated prosecutions are, because prosecutors have so much raw power.
Talking to people about it was so disheartening, because they completely and profoundly did not get it.
“if he isn’t guilty of anything, they wouldn’t be going after him!” It just highlighted that whole point of view, which is so pervasive, and so completely wrong-headed. You wanted to bash your head against the wall.
brantl
@Zifnab: If you’re not sure that Siegleman didn’t break the law, you need to review the facts.
Siegleman appointed a guy to a non-paying job that the 2 previous governors appointed him to. Siegleman was not given any contribution that benefited Siegleman. The guy that testified against Siegleman was coached for many hours and wrote many different affadavits, testifying to different things in those affadavits. The judge who sat the case against Siegleman, ONE OF SIEGLEMAN’S POLITICAL ENEMIES, told the jury that the penalties for CHARGES THAT HAD BEEN DROPPED COULD BE CONSIDERED IN SENTENCING. That’s blatantly illegal in the United States, where do you live?
bemused
@Brian J:
We usually don’t get into politics much with our republican family members either. When you know they get most of their “info” from Fox, etc and it’s a damn good bet they don’t bother to fact check anything for themselves, talking about anything even touching on politics or issues just makes me tired. They don’t seem to be aware of the most basic information no matter what the topic is and react with blank looks or immediately pooh, pooh what is said. It’s pretty obvious that most of the time they have no idea what we are talking about.
NR
@General Egali Tarian Stuck:
Are you kidding? Obama isn’t about to prosecute them. It wouldn’t be bipartisan.
merrinc
@Brian J:
Thanks for sharing this. There’s a lot of good info out there about the case and reading it will break your heart.
Like a lot of others, I often felt that I had reached my maximum capacity for outrage during the Bush years. But what was done to Don Siegelman made me frightened to live in America.
dianne
The Siegleman case was my first major disappointment in the Obama Administration. According to Siegleman, (this was the 60 Minutes interview) he had won the governor’s race. The Baldwin County sheriff closed down the vote counting to the public, sent the press on their way under penalty of arrest and proceded to recount the votes behind closed doors. At the end, Riley became the winner.
After that, it all went downhill for Siegleman. They had to get him out of the way and this case was just window dressing to do just that.
I wanted to see the Baldwin County sheriff in jail and Siegleman vindicated and neither happened. My faith in Obama plummeted at that point and we were barely into the first month of his term. I send back all pleas for funds from the Dems with a “free Siegleman” message and won’t send another dime till he’s out from under this cloud. Maybe I won’t vote again till he can, also.
I’m originally from Alabama and nothing I’ve heard about this case surprises me in the least. They are so full of hate toward any Democrat, that it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I was glad to leave – they tolerated me
and probably prayed for me but underneath it all the hate was there.
Lurker
@dianne:
I’d be cool with this if the United States wasn’t 27% insane. Please vote. We need sane voters like you in every election.
$0.02
Brian J
@merrinc:
I’d like to think that most people don’t have to be worried, because in the grand scheme of things, most people aren’t important enough to matter to thugs like Rove and Cheney. Then again, when the consolidation of power is complete and people who do matter, who dare to disagree, are removed, they would probably come for everyone else.
sparky
@Brian J: now THAT’S a ringing endorsement for living in the USA: you will not be arrested and convicted in a sham trial. probably. maybe. unless someone in power dislikes you. or makes a mistake about your identity. or misreads your email.
sign me up!
burnspbesq
About goddamned time. The term “miscarriage of justice” was invented to describe this kind of stuff. Scott Horton’s reporting on this was the awesome.