Comments on: Judge White Thumps The DOJ On EFF FOIA Case

By: Rayne

Rayne — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:41:08 +0000

Went poking around looking for other cases in which those two, McIntosh and Letter, were involved.

Definitely worth keeping an eye on them, although their history precedes GWB admin.

Take a look at this, for instance (speaking of pen registers…): United States Telecom Association, et al., Petitioners v. Federal Communications Commission and United States of America, Respondents; AirTouch Communications, Inc., et al., Intervenors

By: BayStateLibrul

BayStateLibrul — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:47:59 +0000

You’re right, I was the culprit who dropped the non sequitur @83. I thought I was making an a priori assumption that Yoo deserves a huge fine for bad lawyering. On further review, earlofhuntingdon is right, it was a leap of faith that deserves a five minute “roughing the lawyer” penalty….

By: Hmmm

Hmmm — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:25:19 +0000

I am not sure you meant to reply to my @87…?

By: earlofhuntingdon

earlofhuntingdon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:38:23 +0000

The Ohio case discussed in the NY Times involved run-of-the-mill trusts & estates planning services sold to the public by persons not licensed to practice law in Ohio (or, apparently, anywhere else). The documents were “washed” through an Ohio-licensed attorney, but that attorney did not or rarely spoke with any of the customers in order to verify the facts or advise on the appropriateness of the requested “product” in meeting the customer’s needs.

As some readers will know, the practice of law is licensed on a state by state basis. Admission and practice rules are similar, but not identical, and admission in one state is no guarantee of being admitted in another.

Only attorneys licensed to practice in a state may provide legal services to the public in that state. Various rules prohibit lawyers from working with most non-lawyers when providing legal services. They also prohibit various fee sharing arrangements even with other lawyers. Any such arrangements need to be disclosed to a client.

The citation to the Ohio case in the context of John Yoo is, to coin a phrase, a non sequitur. As a lawyer admitted in any state or the District of Columbia and employed by the federal government, Mr. Yoo’s practice of law for the government would have complied with applicable bar rules. That’s a separate question from whether Mr. Yoo’s services were competent or whether they were provided with intentional or reckless disregard for the law, and whether his conduct otherwise brought the bar and the practice of law into disrepute.

By: BayStateLibrul

BayStateLibrul — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:28:17 +0000

You could also say that he “marketed, sold, and prepared bogus legal justification for torture, that was harmful for the American people…”

By: earlofhuntingdon

earlofhuntingdon — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:21:52 +0000

Makes a lot of sense, if you were the CEO of a government that ran by the rules the Catholic Church used in hiding sexual predation for many decades.

If that government CEO were committed to open, transparent government and the rule of law, and s/he ran their defense this way, s/he would not be walking the talk, but would rather be a typically cynical politician.

By: BayStateLibrul

BayStateLibrul — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:19:37 +0000

He made up shit…

By: Mary

Mary — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:07:05 +0000

And in addition to “a lot of non-executive branch actors had ready access to incriminating but unclassified information” there’s what we discussed back with the discussion on the “telecoms are a branch of Gov” thread, that if “a lot of non-executive branch actors had ready access to” information that isn’t being turned over on the basis of privilege, rather than classification, privilege gets busted.

By: cinnamonape

cinnamonape — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:45:21 +0000

LooHoo#81:

I blame US Soccer!An embarassment for the regime…and they can’t go to war with the victor.

By: fatster

fatster — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:28:46 +0000

O/T: U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice of Austin, TX has died at 89. A remarkable man who did much for Texas' children's education, treatment of prisoners, housing the poor, and so forth.