Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Patriot Act Test Case

Hi Gang,

The forces of theo-nationalism have suffered a defeat in what was hailed by former Attorney General Ashcroft (remember him?) as a test for the Patriot Act.

I'm not familiar with all the details of the case but from what I understand this guy was a loudmouth professor with a post-modernist, knee jerk, anti-western agenda. He's the kind of guy the ill informed assume typify social science. I find his ilk incredibly annoying. But being annoying and even offensive is not against the law.

A jury of 12 good people and true have acquitted this fellow on 8 out of 17 charges and were "hung" on the rest.

I have two questions:

(1) To our resident legal experts: Can you fill us in on the details and significance of this case?
(2) Do we think that a panel of judges would have acquitted this guy? In other words, is this case a vindication of the jury system?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Which is more accurate, a clock that is stopped or one that is 5 minutes behind? The clock that is stopped is accurate twice a day, the other one is never right. But that's absurd. So just because a jury sometimes gets it right is not a vindication of the jury system.

That being said, this strikes me as an instance of jury nullification. The jury refused to apply the law as strictly and outrageously as written. Good for them. And for us all. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

Yes, LTG. You've got it. Now wait for the appeal and the retrial on the other 9 charges. 

// posted by USWest