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OBABL Links & Resources
In Contempt
Feb
11
Ex-Leflore County (Mississippi) Judge Solomon Osborne will be publicly reprimanded for using racially inflammatory comments. While not the N-word rampage Judge Cofield went on, the Mississippi Supreme Court still felt for his real talk observations Judge Osborne deserved a slap on the hand. Of course, he’d already felt forced to resign. From Nat’lLawJournal:
The case stems from Osborne’s remarks at a Sept. 13, 2006, meeting of the Greenwood Voters League — which the court describes as a “predominantly African-American political organization.”
A local newspaper quoted Osborne — who is black — as telling the group, “White folks don’t praise you unless you’re a damn fool. Unless they think they can use you. If you have your own mind and know what you’re doing, they don’t want you around.”
The Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance received 48 complaints about Osborne’s comments, and filed a complaint against him alleging that he engaged in conduct that brought the judicial office into disrepute, among other things. Osborne answered the complaint by initially denying he made the comments printed in the newspaper, and said the charge violated his First and 14th Amendment rights.
Following a formal hearing on the issue, the commission recommended that Osborne be removed from office and restrained from seeking judicial office again. The Mississippi Supreme Court rejected the commission’s argument that Osborne violated the state law that prohibits judges from promoting the political agenda of a political organization. It also rejected Osborne’s argument that his comments constituted protected speech. Instead, the Mississippi Supreme Court agreed with the commission that Osborne violated state laws that prohibit judges from publicly announcing bias based on race and demeaning the prestige of office.
Feb
3
Disbarred Former Mayor Released From Prison; Headed To Dallas For New Job
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Many a newspaper has credited Barack Obama with lifting newsstand sales; but another black attorney has done his part to keep his local paper afloat. The DetroitFreePress with its complete coverage of the Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick text message scandal had another opportunity to milk that cow when Kilpatrick was released from his 99 day prison stay.
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick left jail early this morning with a new look, an apparent new appreciation for freedom, and a new high-powered lawyer who said he doesn’t have any plans to sue anybody …Yet.
The former mayor’s legal team now includes litigator extraordinaire, Willie Gary, known here affectionately as Big Willie, so a lawsuit can’t be too far behind. According to Gary:
[Kwame's] not bitter; he said he learned a lot. He said this has been an experience that he’ll never forget. And he thinks because of it he’ll be a better person,” Gary said. “Right now he’s just concerned about getting home to his mom, his sister and, of course, his other family.
And why should he be bitter? As the legal market implodes around us, this felon and disbarred lawyer has all but locked up a new gig.
Kilpatrick, though, will not have to visit the county probation office before he leaves Detroit for a five-day job-hunting trip. The officer was to visit him in jail before his release, according to Russ Marlan, state corrections spokesman.
Kilpatrick is expected to know whether he has the undisclosed job in Texas by Wednesday. It’s money his lawyers have said he will need to help pay off $1 million in restitution to the City of Detroit as part of his October perjury pleas in the scandal.
Jan
27
Judge Drunk On Power Or Just Drunk?
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This post comes to us via a tipster. Connecticut Superior Court Judge E. Curtissa Cofield was arrested back in October on suspicion of drunk driving. From the Courant:
About 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 9, Cofield, 60, was driving through a highway construction zone on Route 2 in Glastonbury when her car sideswiped a parked state police cruiser occupied by Trooper Michael Kowal. Prosecutor John Whalen said that the judge’s eyes were bloodshot and that she smelled of alcohol. Urine samples showed her blood alcohol content was 0.16 percent at 1 a.m. on Oct. 10 and 0.17 percent at 2:04 a.m., he said — twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
But that’s not the saddest part of this tale. Just released video shows Judge Cofield going on a N-word rampage.
Here are some of her greatest hits:
Referring to the black police officers she asks, “Which one, the head n—– in charge? … Washington. OK. That’s H-N-I-G….”
Hearing that, Cofield interjects: “Oh, no. We don’t. We’re ghetto Negroes. We don’t have Triple-A.”
Earlier, when asked if she was injured, Cofield replied: “Yeah, I am. I’m humiliated by your f—–g attitude.”
Asked if she was ill, Cofield replied, “I’m sick of being treated like a freaking Negro from the ‘hood,” and added: “Write it down, write it. Did you hear what I just said?”
Asked what her illness was, Cofield said: “Negro-itis.”
“Do you need to take any medication now?” Washington asked.
“Yeah, I need to take anti-Negro, ummm …”
When he asked what she weighed, Cofield replied: “Why don’t you look at me, tell what you think?”
Dec
10
Earlier, we reported The Honorable Jesse Jackson Jr.’s strong desire to be the new “one” in the US Senate. Now the congressman has been caught on tape “interviewing” with recently arrested Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Rep. Jackson says he did nothing wrong. We sure hope that’s true, but at the very least, please don’t let him have a mouth like his father.
Dec
8
Longtime Congressman and HLS alum, William Jefferson, was voted out of office Saturday. Some might say he was bested by an overpopulated field of black attorneys and terrible weather. Vietnamese American, Anh “Joseph” Cao (R), inked out a victory in New Orleans, a city that was a strong black district pre-Hurricane Katrina. In truth, Jefferson has been on borrowed time ever since the FBI found that loot in his freezer. OBABL fears Jefferson’s troubles are far from over. We see a bright orange jumpsuit is his future. What we are most surprised and disappointed by is Jefferson’s inability to bestow this seat on one of his offspring. This tactic was well executed by the parents of Rep. Kendrick B. Meek and The Honorable Harold Ford Jr. Surely one of Jefferson’s five daughters was qualified (three are graduates of both Harvard College and HLS). Foes of Affirmative Action will be happy to know that rather than depending on race, these girls had a legacy on which to rely.
Dec
5
Is Clarence Thomas Standing Between Obama and the White House?
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Is it just us or are African American media the only ones really interested in this story? What story you ask? The one that has President-elect Barack Obama being born not in Hawaii, but 11,000 miles away in his father’s native Kenya. We are to believe that his VERY pregnant mother flew from Honolulu to California, California to the East Cost, the East Coast to London, London to Cairo, then on to Nairobi. (Remember, this is before the age of direct flights).
Let’s indulge the nuts for a moment: Were this true, Obama would not be able to satisfy constitutional requirement that the president be a “natural born citizen.” Several have filed lawsuits and just recently a petition to stop the Electoral College from confirming Obama as the forty-fourth President of the United States was rejected by Justice David Souter. Some still aren’t willing to go away, so according to The Afro-American Newspaper:
On Nov. 6, Souter denied the stay. [Leo] Donofrio, following the rules of the procedure for the Supreme Court, re-submitted the application as an emergency stay in accordance to Rule 22, which states, in part, that an emergency stay can be given to another justice, which is the choice of the petitioner. Donofrio’s choice was Thomas. He submitted the emergency stay to Thomas’s office on Nov. 14.
Thomas took the application on Nov. 19 and on that day submitted it for consideration by his eight colleagues - known as a conference - and scheduled it for Dec. 5.
On Nov. 26, a supplemental brief was filed by Donofrio to the clerk’s office of the Supreme Court. A letter to the court explaining the reason for the emergency stay was filed on Dec. 1 at the clerk’s office.
Filing the application with Thomas was unusual, experts say, because by custom, when a justice rejects a petition from his own circuit, the matter is dead.
Thomas’ referral of the petition, however, was less extraordinary.
“It is not common, but it does happen,” said Susan Bloch, a Georgetown University Law professor and author of {Supreme Court Politics: The Institution and its Procedures}. “Generally, the justices do what the first justice does.”Conjecture has arisen over Thomas’ action, however, since he could have denied Donofrio’s request.
Trevor Morrison, a constitutional law professor at Columbia University School of Law, suggested that Thomas may have been seeking an end to the matter.
“My guess would be that Thomas referred the case to the conference so that the full Court can deny it. If Thomas denied the application on his own, then Donofrio would be free to go to the other justices for their consideration,” Morrison said.
“This way,” the law professor continued, “the matter would be done with. Applications of this sort are hardly ever granted.”
The saga, and Alan Keyes’ role in it, continues after the jump. Read more
Nov
21
Right Wing Empire Collapsing
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Fox News was the first place we saw this video of Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsing as he struggled to put a positive spin on the state of the conservative movement and the Republican Party in an address to the Federalist Society. (We’ve never heard so many “Oh, my Gods”!) This YouTube video may not stay up for long, so watch it while you can:
WaPo is reporting that the 67-year-old Mukasey will be fine. At least he’ll soon have plenty of time to rest:
Doctors at George Washington University Hospital have found no evidence that Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey suffered a stroke or any other major neurological or cardiac impairment when he collapsed last evening while delivering a speech to a prominent legal group, the Justice Department said this morning.
Mukasey was hospitalized overnight for observation and was undergoing routine tests this morning, spokeswoman Gina Talamona said. She said he apparently suffered a fainting spell.
To paraphrase Senator John McCain, we don’t wish the old AG luck, but we do wish him well as we here at OBABL do not count the FS among our friends. We share columnist George Curry’s view that they’ve taken every opportunity to turn back Civil Rights and undermine the economic and educational advancement of African Americans, most of us at least. There are a few black attorneys who’ve gotten in bed with the FS and made a little paper, but we must ask:
Was it worth your soul?
Pictures and bios of the sellouts African American Federalist Society members after the jump.
Nov
8
In Contempt: Roy Pearson
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Remember the black District of Columbia administrative law judge who sued his neighborhood dry cleaners for $54 million because they lost his $54 pants? Well, getting his face pressed in court once was not enough. Roy Pearson, who alleges dry cleaner deception, is appealing the decision and will likely lose because, as the WSJ Law Blog noted, the case is unprecedented. Judge Michael Farrell, in a line that prompted memories of those old Wendy’s commercials, asked Pearson: “Where is the fraud?” WaPo If you ask us, the judge was looking at him!
