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Supreme Court Justices and Their Campaign Contributions: Can Justice Be Purchased?
Articles have been written putting into question the study on which the following blog entry was based. The Tulane Law Review and Law School have apologized, but the authors, although admitting to their errors, stand by their conclusions and plan to publish a revised version of their law review article, according to an article in the New Orleans Times-Picayune. For more on this, click on this Louisiana Supreme Court press release dated September 15, 2008..
Even if it turns out that no relationship can be shown between campaign contributions and Supreme Court decisions, there is still the issue of appearance of impropriety, as well as the issue of pressure on elected judges not to ignore the interests of those who help them get elected.
Hidden away in yesterday’s New York Times is a column about a study undertaken by a law professor in a state that, one would think, would grow tired of governmental ethics scandals.
The professor is Vernon Palmer of Tulane University Law School in New Orleans, and the state is, of course, Louisiana.
Click here to read the rest of this blog entry.
This time the apparent culprits are the state’s Supreme Court justices. The scandal-to-be involves campaign contributions given to Supreme Court candidates by individuals who end up appearing before them, themselves or their businesses.
Prof. Palmer wrote each Supreme Court justice, asking him or her to adopt a rule that would make disqualification mandatory when someone comes before the court who gave a justice a campaign contribution. Palmer thought this was a conflict of interest. This doesn’t sound off the wall to me.
Not a word came in reply. Palmer did it again six months later. Not a word came in reply. If this is not an admission that the justices knew they were acting unethically, it is at least an admission that they have no common sense and no manners.
Lesson No. 1: When a prominent local law professor writes you a letter, answer it. You have a staff, you have e-mail, use them. A minute’s work can save you a lot of grief.
Palmer was apparently peeved and put together a statistical study of the justices’ votes over fourteen years, breaking them down by whether the plaintiff, defendant, or no one gave them money. The result was that there appears to have been an effect on their votes based on campaign contributions. The effect is more clear with respect to some justices than others.
The Times column by Adam Liptak shows the results, which will soon be published in the Tulane Law Review. The column also talks about similar problems in Ohio, where the Times itself did a study.
Politicians keep saying they can’t be bought, that this isn’t what campaign contributions are for. Studies like this one are useful to show that contributions are not just about sharing policies or respecting candidates, that campaign contributions can be a source of corruption. When Supreme Court justices won’t recognize this possibility, we are in trouble. It will be interesting to see what the Louisiana justices do and say in response. Palmer's study doesn't appear to have been mentioned yet by Louisiana's two principal newspapers.
- Robert Wechsler's blog
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lawgrace says:
Sun, 2008-02-17 16:10
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Hopefully, the upcoming Tulane Law Review which shall divulge facts about campaign contributions swaying judges' decisions will set off a probe of Louisiana's Judiciary. It goes without saying that a large proportion of Louisiana supreme court cases come from the lower courts. And, it also goes without saying that just as campaign contributions can (perhaps do) sway Louisiana supreme court justices, contributions can also sway lower judges' rulings.
Although it might be hard to prove whether contributions or bribes or perks influence judges’ decisions, IT IS NOT HARD to prove facts of manifest unfair, contrary-to-law rulings which occur far too often in Louisiana judges’ courtrooms! Further, it is glaring that some judges are clueless about jurisprudence, some are inept, and some judges deliberately issue unjust rulings for favored litigant(s).
Real estate foreclosures are predatory lenders' bonanzas because foreclosures enable PROPERTY FLIPPING, and flipping enables misleading investors concerning the housing market. In States like Louisiana, because Wells Fargo and Freddie Mac benefit from fraudulent foreclosures, ANY representation about $$$ billion dollar losses due to people defaulting on mortgages should be weighed against needless payments of legal fees to law firms which outmaneuver -and even persecute people who file court proceedings in opposition to fraudulent foreclosures and repossessions. In fact, it is no surprise that Freddie Mac's history of unlawful activities which have resulted in billions of dollars in fines, such as the $3.8 billion fine that Freddie Mac paid for making illegal campaign contributions elsewhere, has relevance to Louisiana's pervasive real estates and mortgage frauds.
Also, I recall the incredibly appalling views of Louisiana’s Justice Jeannette Knoll’s dissenting opinion about removing former judge Wendell Miller from the bench which seemed full of misplaced sympathy for Miller’s loss of job, and disregard for people ill-affected because of Miller’s proven lack of judicial ethics, including having sex in his chambers with another man’s wife. Knoll seemed to unable to conceptualize the bribes and favors Miller had to be under compulsion to disseminate –and accommodate for others to commit malfeasance while covering for Miller, as well as hush money and favors and abusing his public position. The fact that Miller’s escapades were even reported in the news, and a lawsuit award paid after Miller became sued was not enough for Justice Knoll to conclude that Miller’s days as a judge should have been history long ago.
Yet, whether cronyism, or contributions or whatever, the Federal as well as the State court systems in Louisiana appear to exist to gratify judges and NOT to facilitate justice. (Also see links concerning the long overdue call to impeach federal Judge Thomas Porteous.)
Also, unfortunately, niceties of colleague courtesy hinders attorneys from stating disparaging facts pertaining to fellow attorneys, even when such facts are irrefutably true. As such, wiggle room helps guilty lawyers and judges obfuscate activities of judicial collusion. But, res ipsa loquitur facts and evidence of court connivance cannot, nor should not be prettied up -especially when wiggle room steers away from exposure of wrongdoing, and steers away from corrective measures.
But even more critical, is that people and businesses have been irreparably harmed because of prejudiced, unjust judicial rulings. For myself, and people like me, I vigorously raise my voice and my pen; and name names –along with what they did / do on my website! (If Louisiana had had an Attorney General other than former Charles Foti, a lot misfeasance would have been revealed since Consumer Law violations and White Collar crimes are rampant in this State.) At any rate, the Louisiana Judiciary may look the other way, and the supreme court of Louisiana may continue its biased and atrocious way of doing things, but, even as it occurred for Senator David Vitter, the truth will continue to come out.
Consistent with Louisiana’s infamous corruption title– the court systems of Louisiana as a whole is a despicable regime. I personally believe that –as long as corruption, judiciary tryanny, and cronyism remains alive and well here –rather than pursue a Louisiana law degree, a person is better off bagging groceries at a friendly local grocer.
Unequivocal, prima facie facts and evidence of judicial corruption is posted in plain view at www.lawgrace.org. In fact, the following are links to certain postings which corroborate my accusations about the Civil court systems in Louisiana.
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Supreme Court of Louisiana Writ Application
http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/01/20/supreme-court-of-louisiana-writ-appli...
Odor of Judicial Corruption / Cronyims in Louisiana 4th Circuit
http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/01/11/odor-of-judicial-corruption-cronyism-...
Federal Judges' Pay Raise; New Orleans Federal Judiciary Call To Impeach
http://newsblaze.com/story/20080101084831tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-...
Mortgage Mess, Foreclosure Fraud and Impediments to Justice
http://newsblaze.com/story/20071203130614tsop.nb/newsblaze/TOPSTORY/Top-...
United States Chief Justice Roberts, Call to Impeach Judge Thomas Porteous
www.lawgrace.org/2008/01/05/united-states-chief-justice-robert%e2%80%99s...
New Orleans’ Corruption Watchdog? Inspector General?
http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/02/08/corruption-watchdog-inspector-general...
Judicial Corruption, Deception, Attorneys Brett Furr, Herschel Adcock, Matthew Mullins, Freddie Mac, Real Estate Flipping, etc.
http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/08/02/judicial-corruption-deception-clerk-o...
2006O2361 In RE: Judge Wendell R. Miller
www.lasc.org/opinions/2007/06O2361.pdf
Dangerous Clerk of Court, Dale Atkins: Killing Us Softly
http://www.lawgrace.org/2006/08/18/dangerous-clerk-of-court-dale-atkins-...
Anatomy of Judicial Corruption, Motion for Reinstatement
http://www.lawgrace.org/2007/09/04/motion-for-reinstatement-of-07-30426-...
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Barbara Ann Jackson (Katrina displaced from New Orleans)
www.lawgrace.org